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A startup company unveiled plans on Tuesday to develop a series of missions to prospect for water and other resources on near Earth asteroids and eventually those resources. Seattle-based Planetary Resources, Inc., plans to launch the first of its Arkyd line of spacecraft within two years. The small spacecraft will remain in Earth orbit, equipped with a telescope and sensors to identify asteroids with high amounts of water and other volatiles. Those asteroids will be visited by later missions, with ultimate plans to extract water ice from them to supply propellant depots. The company is also interested in later extracting precious metals from asteroids. The company is backed by a group of celebrity investors, including Larry Page, Eric Schmidt, and Ross Perot, Jr.
Spaceflight Now
VIDEO: ATLAS 5 ROCKET BLASTS OFF WITH MUOS 1 PLAY | HI-DEF VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: ATLAS 5 ROCKET SOARS DOWNRANGE PLAY VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: BEACH MOUND CAMERA PLAY VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: UP-CLOSE PAD VIEW PLAY VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: VIF ROOF PLAY VIDEO: ATLAS ROLLED BACK TO ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY
Tomorrow I'll be welcoming guest Robbie Herrick to the weekly Cosmoquest Science Hangout, which starts at 16:00 PDT / 23:00 UTC. Robbie is a Professor of Geophysics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Venus has spectacular geology, but we haven't sent a mission to Venus that could return new data on that geology since Magellan burned up in Venus' atmosphere on October 12, 1994. Robbie has managed to wring an entirely new data set out of Magellan, almost 20 years later: digital elevation models covering 20 percent of the planet, produced from Magellan's stereo image data.
The Planetary Society Blog
interesting blog. I like astronomy very interesting Theme http://www.cigs4girls.com/ by Jan 19
Universe Today
SpaceX Dragon approaches the ISS on COTS 2 test flight slated for May 19 liftoff and docking on Day 4. Astronauts will grapple it with the robotic arm and berth it at the Earth facing port of the Harmony node. Illustration: NASA /SpaceX In less than 48 hours, SpaceX is primed to make history and launch the first ever commercial rocket and spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) early Saturday morning on May 19.
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Explanation: It was visible around the world. The sunset conjunction of Jupiter and Venus was visible last week almost no matter where you lived on Earth. Anyone on the planet with a clear western horizon at sunset could see them. This week the two are still notable , even though Jupiter has sunk below the brighter Venus.
SOLAR STORM HEATS UP EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE: A flurry of solar activity in early March dumped enough heat in Earth's upper atmosphere to power every residence in New York City for two years. The heat has since dissipated, but there's more to come as the solar cycle intensifies. [ full story ] [ video ] MIDNIGHT ROCKET PLUMES--POSTPONED: Friday morning's launch of five rockets from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia has been postponed. New date: On Sunday, March 25th, between midnight and 3 am EDT, NASA plans a rapid-fire launch of five sounding rockets from Wallops.