by David Todd | Sep 22, 2014 | ESA, exploration, NASA
At 0138 GMT on 22 September 2014, NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft fired six of its spacecraft thrusters to successfully slow itself into an orbit around the planet Mars. The orbit achieved was a 44,600 x 380 km orbit at 75...
by David Todd | Sep 20, 2014 | exploration, NASA, Satellites
On 11 September 2014, NASA’s DAWN spacecraft which is currently travelling to the Ceres asteroid having previously visited the asteroid Vesta, has entered safe mode. The cause of the event is thought to be a high energy particle of space or solar radiation...
by David Todd | Aug 15, 2014 | ESA, exploration, JAXA, NASA, Russia
After its Space Launch System (SLS) design passed its technical and budget reviews, NASA has now formally committed itself to building this giant rocket. And it may be just in time now that a “Cold War” has apparently been “refrozen” and a new “Space Race”...
by David Todd | Aug 7, 2014 | ESA, exploration, Science
After a 6.4 billion km passage lasting 10 years and involving velocity accelerating flybys of Earth and Mars, at 0800 GMT on 6 August 2014, European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission rendezvoused with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The Rosetta spacecraft will...
by David Todd | May 8, 2014 | Add category, ESA, exploration, NASA, Satellites, Science
Planetary Scientist, Professor Colin Pillinger, has passed away at the age of 70 after suffering a brain haemorrhage. He had been suffering for several years with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Pillinger worked for the Open University based in Milton Keynes. He gained...
by David Todd | Mar 12, 2014 | exploration, NASA, Satellites, Science, Seradata News
The NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft put itself into a precautionary safe standby mode on 9 March after an unscheduled swap from one main computer to another. The mission’s ground team has begun restoring the spacecraft to full operations. Full...
