Asteroid 1998 QE2 close to Earth on May 31th

Dead followers,

next Friday, on May 31th 2013, the asteroid 1998 QE2 will be close to Earth, closer than about 5.8 million kilometers, or about 15 times the distance between Earth and the Moon. The asteroid was discovered on August 19th 1998, by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program near Socorro, New Mexico. 

The Asteroid 1998 QE2 will be an outstanding radar imaging target for the Goldstone and Arecibo telescope in order to obtain a series of high-resolution images that could reveal a wealth of surface features. The closest approach of the asteroid occurs on May 31 at 1:59 p.m. Pacific (4:59 p.m. Eastern / 20:59 UTC).

"Whenever an asteroid approaches this closely, it provides an important scientific opportunity to study it in detail to understand its size, shape, rotation, surface features, and what they can tell us about its origin. We will also use new radar measurements of the asteroid's distance and velocity to improve our calculation of its orbit and compute its motion farther into the future than we could otherwise." said Lance Benner , the principal investigator for the Goldstone radar observations from +NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory  in Pasadena, Calif.

+NASA  places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. In fact, the U.S. has the most robust and productive survey and detection program for discovering near-Earth objects. Last year, the NEO budget was increased from $6 million to $20 million.

In 2016, +NASA  will launch a robotic probe, called the OSIRIS-REx to the asteroid (101955) Bennu. Aside from monitoring potential threats, the study of asteroids and comets enables a valuable opportunity to learn more about the origins of our solar system, the source of water on Earth, and even the origin of organic molecules that lead to the development of life. 

+NASA  recently announced developing a first-ever mission to identify, capture and relocate an asteroid for human exploration. Using game-changing technologies advanced by the Administration, this mission would mark an unprecedented technological achievement that raises the bar of what humans can do in space. Capturing and redirecting an asteroid will integrate the best of NASA's science, technology and human exploration capabilities and draw on the innovation of America's brightest scientists and engineers. 

More information about asteroid radar research is at: http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/ 

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Kepler Space Telescope is down

Dear followers,

bad news for the search for exo-planets. The U.S. space telescope Kepler which has increased the discovery of new planets since 2009, is paralyzed by a technical problem. This dysfunction could spell the premature end of his four-year mission, +NASA said yesterday (May 15th 2013).

Kepler is the first telescope dedicated to the search for planets sisters of the Earth in other solar systems in our galaxy, the Milky Way. So far it has detected 2,740 potential exo-planets which 122 were confirmed to the day using telescopes and other equipment.

Credit: wikipedia

+Kepler Space Telescope is blocked by the malfunction of a mechanism which allows the telescope to focus on a given point in the sky towards said John Grunsfeld, the head of the science division of the U.S. space agency. "The telescope was put into safe mode" to ensure that the solar panels facing the sun to recharge the batteries and continue to communicate with Earth, he said.

Engineers found last week that it did not move despite gyroscope controls from the ground. This problem had already occurred in July with another gyro Kepler has stopped working, said the head of NASA.

"Unfortunately Kepler is not a place where you can send astronauts" to fix it, he said, explaining that the engineers' carefully examined the data (...) to see if it is possible to resume the scientific activities of the telescope. " But "we are not yet ready to declare the end of Kepler," insisted John Grunsfeld, arguing that "in all respects the Kepler mission was a success."

In April, astronauts had announced the discovery by Kepler, two exoplanets with the greatest similarity to Earth ever recorded and where water could remain liquid and potentially allow life to exist.

An Atlas 5 rocket successfully took-off from Cape Canaveral

Dear follower,

2 days ago, in Baikonur the Proton rocket had liftoff. Today, in Cape Canaveral, the Atlas 5 has successfully carried a replacement Global Positioning System satellite for the United States Air Force.
The Centaur upper stage completed its second burn and released the Global Positioning System 2F-4 satellite into the navigation network.

Credit: Walter Scriptunas II 

Credit: NASAgovVideo

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The crew of expedition 35 to ISS is back on Earth

Dear followers,

the Canadian astronaut +Chris Hadfield, commander of the just-completed Expedition 35 aboard the International Space Station, landed safely few hours ago in Kazakhstan along with the other crew members Tom Marshburn and Roman Romanenko after five months in orbit. 

Credit: Mikhail Metzel

On aboard the ISS, Commander +Chris Hadfield took hundreds of photographs. Moreover he conducted conferences with students on Earth thanks to Hangout on +Google+ , he took his stories to social media, catching the attention of the world. 

His videos answered questions about everyday existence in zero-gravity with a dose of science mixed with humor.

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Proton rocket is taking-off in few minutes

Dear followers,

after the last processes, Proton rocket is taking-off in few minutes from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

The Eutelsat 3D communications satellite are carrying on. The live streaming video of the take-off could be find here:

http://spaceflightnow.com/proton/eutelsat3d/status.html

Stay tunes !

Beautiful annular solar eclipse on May 10th

Dear follower,

as we said you few days ago, a beautiful annular solar eclipse occurred on May 10th. This eclipse could be observed in Australia and Pacific area.

Many pictures of this event could be find on the web, but I would propose you some of the best of them. 

 Credit Geof Sims 

Credit Joerg Schoppmeyer

Moreover, a great video issued from russian satellite Elektro-L has been proposed

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ESA's Vega launcher performes new success with commercials satellite and micro-satellite

Dear follower,

after the successful launch of +NASA few days ago, +European Space Agency, ESA scores a second flight with the newest launch vehicle, Vega from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Two Earth observation satellites, ESA’s Proba-V and Vietnam’s VNREDSat‑1A, were released into different orbits, demonstrating the rocket’s versatility. Estonia’s first satellite, the ESTCube‑1 technology demonstrator, was also released into orbit.

After releasing the first satellite Proba-V, the upper stage performed a third burn and the top half of the egg-shaped Vega Secondary Payload Adapter was ejected. After a fourth burn to circularize the orbit at an altitude of 704 km, VNREDSat-1A was released around 2 hours into flight. ESTCube‑1 was ejected from its dispenser few minutes later.

ESTCube-1 is Estonia’s first satellite. This 1.3 kg CubeSat was designed and built by students from the University of Tartu with a contribution from the Finnish Meteorological Institute. It will deploy a 10 m-long tether to demonstrate electrostatic movement through the plasma flow, which could lead to electrostatic solar sails for propellant-less interplanetary travel.

Android Phone satellites sent by NASA down

Dear followers,

few days ago, we said you that +NASA has sent very small satellites called nano-satellite based on +Nexus one smartphone.  During the first day in orbit, the 3 satellites sent pictures taken in the space environment by the CMOS sensor. Both backgrounds received 100%, now receiving medium and high resolution packets.
here is presented 2 pictures received the April 24th.

The mission successfully ended Saturday, April 27, 2013, after predicted atmospheric drag caused the PhoneSats to re-enter Earth's atmosphere and burn up. No one has been able to hear from the satellites since, which confirms the predictions.

The PhoneSat team is continuing to develop the PhoneSats using consumer technology to greatly increase the capability of the satellite whilst developing with a low cost.
A next versions are launching late this year so stay tuned !!

Mars Curiosity rover back to work after 5 weeks break

Dear followers,

+NASA's Curiosity rover is back in business after a weeks-long communication gap caused by solar interference. The rover had been on its own since early April, when Mars slipped behind the Sun from Earth's perspective.

Sun can disrupt communications between the two planets in this alignment, which is known as a Mars solar conjunction, so Curiosity's handlers at Mission Control had temporarily stopped sending commands to the one-ton rover. Now, +NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory  engineers from +NASA  and academics from the University of Leicester in UK will be unable to send commands to the rover due to solar interference from the Sun.

Curiosity landed inside the red planet's huge Gale Crater in August last year, kicking off a two-year surface mission to determine if Mars has ever been capable of supporting microbial life. The rover has already checked off its main mission goal. Before conjunction, Curiosity collected samples from a hole it drilled 6.4 centimetres into a rocky outcrop called John Klein.

The rover's analysis of these samples allowed mission scientists to determine that Mars was indeed habitable billions of years ago. Curiosity's post-conjunction plan involves drilling another hole nearby, to confirm and extend scientists' understanding of the John Klein area, mission officials have said.

When that work is done, Curiosity will likely begin the 10 kilometres trek to the base of Mount Sharp, the mysterious 5.4 km-high mountain that rises from Gale's center. Mars solar conjunctions occur every 26 months, so veterans of NASA's Mars missions are used to dealing with them, the report said.

Solar eclipse of May 10, 2013

Dear follower,

after an Lunar eclipse few days, a solar eclipse will take place on May 9 - 10 (UTC), 2013. This solar eclipse will be an annular solar eclipse with a magnitude of 0.9544. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. 

Actually, an annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun, causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring), blocking most of light coming from the Sun. An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region thousands of kilometers wide.

Annularity will be visible from northern Australia and the southern Pacific Ocean, with the maximum of 6 minutes 3 seconds visible from the Pacific Ocean east of French Polynesia.

So Australian and Pacific followers, we are waiting from great images from you ! ;)

Video summarizing SpaceShip Two flight (prepare/take-off/powered rocket/landing)

After one day of the test flight a video of the SpaceShip two play has been released by +Virgin Galactic.
The video summarizes of the different steps of the flight:

• Taxiing
• Take-off from Mojave
• Powered rocket
• The landing at the Spaceport in Mojave, California, USA

Enjoy the video 

(Credit : +Virgin Galactic )

Huge hurricane on Saturn, first time in color

The spacecraft Cassini, sent by +NASA  has provided scientists of the +NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory  the first close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn's north pole. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of +NASA , the +European Space Agency, ESA and the Italian Space Agency.
High-resolution pictures and video indicated the hurricane's eye is about 1,250 miles wide, 20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth.

(Credits: +NASA )

Photos and Video of the successfull SpaceShipTwo test flight

Dear followers,

yesterday was a big step of space tourism and for the team of +Richard Branson and +Virgin Galactic . After some rumor, finally the #SS2 with WK2 take-off from the spaceport in Mojave, California, USA.
For the first time, the spacecraft SpaceShipTwo (SS2) fired her rocket motor in flight. The vehicle exceeded the speed of sound. 

(Credit : +Virgin Galactic )

(Credit: Ken Brown)

(Credit: Kenneth Brown/Aerospace Photography

SpaceShipTwo test flight successfully done ! More Photos, video, and details to follow

Dear follower,

this morning, the rumor about a new test of rocket-powered fight of the SpaceShip two has been shared we you.

Today we have the confirmation about this flight from +Richard Branson and +Virgin Galactic . The weather seems be perfect, cool morning temperatures and light winds out of the west at  Spaceport at Mojave, California, USA. All world news will be attended to this great event.

16:03 GMT or 7:03 PDT: The take-off was performed at  with success !

7:47 (PDT): WhiteKnightTwo (pilots: Mackay, Nichols) has reached today's target release altitude of 47K ft. SpaceShipTwo release and it is now flying freely.

You could find here several picture taken by Mark Greenberg from +Virgin Galactic

Photo: Mark Greenberg

Photo: +Virgin Galactic 

A video of the first part of the flight is proposed by 23ABC  News  http://www.turnto23.com/video/video

Other pictures and video will be proposed soon

Rumor : first Rocket-Powered Flight of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo in Mojave California !

The space tourism company +Virgin Galactic  seems ready to be go for its first rocket-powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo — a commercial rocket ship for passenger space travel.

There is a palpable buzz of a possible test flight of SpaceShipTwo on Monday April 29, (TODAY !!!!) at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California. The test is rumored to be a 20-second burn of SpaceShipTwo's novel hybrid rocket motor in flight.

SpaceShipTwo is designed to use the rocket motor to power private launches that will carry six passengers and two pilots to suborbital space and back. So the possible test flight would be a major milestone for the spacecraft and +Virgin Galactic .

"We're hoping to break the sound barrier. That's planned Monday," Branson told the Las Vegas Sun. "It will be a historic day."

Few words about ESA

The +European Space Agency, ESA  (ESA) is Europe's gateway to space. Its mission is to share the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.

+European Space Agency, ESA  is an international organization with 20 Member States. By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, it can undertake programs and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country.

What does ESA do?

ESA's job is to draw up the European space program and carry it through. ESA programs are performed to learn more about Earth, its immediate space environment, our Solar System and the Universe. Moreover, ESA take care about the development of satellite-based technologies and services, and to promote European industries. ESA also works closely with space organizations outside Europe.

Who belongs to ESA?

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. Canada is also involved in some projects under cooperation agreements. Poland exchanged accession agreements with ESA, in September 2012 to become the 20th Member State of us.

Hungary, Estonia and Slovenia are 'European Cooperating States. " Other countries have signed cooperation agreements with ESA.

Where is the headquarters of the ESA?

ESA's headquarters are located in Paris, where decisions are policies and programs. ESA also has positions in a number of European countries, each of which has different responsibilities:

EAC, the European Astronauts Centre in Cologne, Germany;
ESAC, the European Centre for Space and Astronomy in Villanueva de la Canada, Madrid, Spain;
ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany;
ESRIN, ESA's center for Earth Observation in Frascati, near Rome, Italy;
ESTEC, the European Space Research and Technology Centre, Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
A new ESA center has opened in the UK, at Harwell, Oxfordshire. ESA also has liaison offices in Belgium, the U.S. and Russia; A launch base in French Guiana and ground / tracking stations in various parts of the world.

This article has be written by Alexandra triantopoulou

Progress 51 cargo spacecraft is docking soon: watch it in live !

The Progress 51 cargo spacecraft is going to dock to the International Space Station. The automated approach and docking is planned at 8:26 a.m. EDT. 

2 days ago a problem happened during the antenna deployment after the resupply craft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan April 24.

You could follow and watch the docking to ISS in live on +NASA TV there.

D-3 before the Mars Curiosity comeback !

As we said previously, +NASA and +NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers can not anymore communicate with Mars +Curiosity due to the Sun.
However, this problem will take the end soon ! Actually in 3 days (the May 1st) the engineers and scientists will be able to receive and send data to the Mars rover !!!

Partial Lunar eclipse tomorrow

The first of the three lunar eclipses of the year will occur tomorrow. All the Earth except North or South America will see it. The best place to see it will be in India and the close countries.

Earth’s darkumbra shadow barely clips the full moon for 27 minutes, causing the third-shortest partial lunar eclipse in the 21st century. There are two more lunar eclipses later this year, but both are penumbra. People will get to see a full-looking moon shining near the golden planet Saturn.

Don't forget to use special glasses to look the Lunar eclipse ;)

You could find more images of Lunar eclipse on the website of Daniel McVey

An other meteorite ... this time in Connecticut, USA

After the meteorite seen in Argentina (video and photo), and other stone crashes in USA this time !

A rock that crashed through a house in Connecticut last weekend has been confirmed to be a meteorite.
The owner of the house, Larry Beck called police on April 20, 2013 and said a baseball-sized rock crashed through his home the night before, causing damage to his roof and pipes in the attic before cracking the ceiling in his kitchen.
Police reported that people from several towns in the area had called to report a loud boom that rattled windows last Friday evening.

Source from NBC Connecticut