Dwarf Planet - Pluto

Picture of the Day: Dwarf planet - Pluto

Description: Image of Pluto portraying Icy surface and the image taken by NASA's New Horizons Space probe of New Frontiers Program.

Image Source : NASA | New Horizons | Pluto

Image Credit: NASA

Tags: Dwarf planet - Pluto | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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OSIRIS-REX Mission arrival at Asteroid "Bennu"

OSIRIS-Rex mission of NASA to near earth asteroid "Bennu"

OSIRIS-REX Mission arrival at Asteroid "Bennu"

Highlights:

• The spacecraft arrived at asteroid "Bennu" which was discovered during Apollo mission of 1999
• The spacecraft travelled a distance of 2-billion kilometers
• First mission to asteroid Bennu

Mission Status:

        On 3 December 2018 at 17:00 UTC, NASA's OSIRIS-Rex mission spacecraft completed his journey to asteroid Bennu of which is at 2 billion kilometers away from earth. The spacecraft travelled the whole distance whose journey began in September 2016. It conducted a close flyby of Bennu's north pole on 4 December 2018.

      After the Hayabusa mission of Japan to asteroid Ryugu, OSIRIS-Rex is finding difficult in touching down on Bennu, and will be a challenging task. It is believed that the spacecraft will collect asteroid sample on 04 July 2020 and will return to Earth by 2023. 

Mission Overview:

      OSIRIS-Rex stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer is a asteroid sample return mission built and launched by NASA on 8 September 2016. The mission was planned for 7 years and elapsed 2 years and 2 months. The prime mission goal is to collect small asteroid sample of 101955 Bennu asteroid and return to earth for study analysis. The total cost of the mission is about $800 million excluding launch cost. It was categorized under New Frontiers Program after the Juno and New Horizons.University of Arizona is leading the spacecraft control and management.

Image Credit : NASA

Tags: OSIRIS-Rex Mission | Space Updates | Fornax Space Missions

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InSight lander updates and current status

InSight lander mission - First mission to explore deep into Mars to reveal the origin of planet.

Image from InSight lander portraying Mars | Second Image since landing

     National Aeronautics Space Administration - InSight Mars mission launched aboard Atlas-V on 05 May 2018 from Vandenberg launch site and continued its interplanetary journey of about 483 million kilometers. It successfully landed on Mars on 26th November 2018 at Elysium Planitia. It was designed and managed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA's California Institute of Technology. 

    After its touchdown, NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey image reported that solar panels were successfully deployed and it started generating solar power. A touchdown image was retained indicating successful landing and later surface image of Mars was transmitted by InSight lander.

   InSight lander landed with a micro-chip embedded with millions of participants names which will be embedded on Stones of Mars using laser spectroscopy. Previous NASA mission Mars Science Laboratory "Curiosity" also did the same. The contest was open online to register name worldwide.

   NASA achieved 8th attempt in successful landing with InSight lander succeeding Mars Polar Lander, Viking landers, Pathfinder, Phoenix and few rovers. The main objective of InSight mission was to explore interior Mars and to observe seismic activity using seismometer and a heat flow probe.

  Along with InSight, NASA launched two CubeSats to demonstrate the technological working of CubeSat in deep space. And it was aimed to act as a relay between lander and ground stations on earth during the course of landing. It succeeded in transmitting signals from lander to earth. These two CubeSats were named as MarCO.

Latest image from InSight showing landing leg - Reason for which it tilted

  Now InSight completed 8 sols (7 days) of operation. Current status reports that, the lander is slightly tilted from its original position. It will be barrier for further operations and mission accomplishment. Scientists believe that InSight may or may not accomplish its planned mission. 

Image Credit : NASA

Tags: InSight lander updates | Space Updates | Fornax Space Missions | NASA InSight

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ISRO on HysIS Mission - Successfully launched PSLV-C43

PSLV-C43 carrying Hysis (India) and 30 international satellite form Sriharikotta, India

India's most successful launch vehicle PSLV-C43 ( Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle of C43 Series) lifted off from First launch pad on 29 November 2018 at 09:57 IST (Indian Standard Time) from Satish Dhawan Space Center (Sriharikotta - SHAR) carrying India's Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite along with 30 international satellites.

Hysis is a primary satellite having mass of 380 kilograms for earth observation. The satellite is configured with Mini Satellite-2 designated as (IMS-2).

Highlights:

• ISRO successfully launched PS:V-C43 on 29 November 2018
• It carried India's Earth Observational Satellite 
• It successfully placed 30 international satellites from 8 different countries

Mission Objectives:

• The primary objective is to study the earth's surface
• To study near infrared and short wave infrared regions of electromagnetic spectrum

Onboard Satellites:

        The PSLV-C43 consisted of 1 Micro Satellite and 29 Nano Satellites from 8 different countries.

Image Credit: ISRO

Tags: PSLV-C43 Launch | Launch Updates | Fornax Space Missions

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InSight Mars Lander Entry Vehicle

Mars - Insight lander - Landing Vehicle or Entry Vehicle

Picture of the Day: InSight Mars Lander Entry Vehicle

Description: NASA's InSight Mars Lander Entry vehicle before reaching Mars - A Artist concept of InSight Mars Lander

Image Source : NASA | New Horizons | Pluto

Image Credit: NASA

Tags: InSight Mars Lander Entry Vehicle | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle

Orion Spacecraft | NASA | Next Generation Multi-purpose crew vehicle

Picture of the Day: Orion Spacecraft

Description: Orion spacecraft - NASA's next generation multi-purpose crew vehicle for frequent manned mission to International Space Station and beyond..

Image Source : NASA

Image Credit: NASA

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Mini Supernova Explosion

Mini Supernova Explosion in Deep Space               Image Credit: National Aeronautics Space Administration

Picture of the Day: Mini Supernova Explosion

Description: A group of astronomers have found a mini supernova explosion. A paper describing its results published in March 10 in Astrophysical Journal. Know More

Image Source : NASA Chandra X-Ray Telescope

Image Credit: NASA Chandra X-Ray Telescope | Dai Takei

Tags: Mini Supernova Explosion | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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First Image of Mars from CubeSat NASA

Mars captured by NASA's MarCo Mission (Cubesat)

NASA's first mission - MarCo - a cubesat for testing its operations in deep space activities. This cubesat directed towards Mars along with Mars InSight lander which is aimed to land in November 2018.

During its course of travel, CubeSat transmitted its first image targeting Mars on 3 October 2018. The first ever image of the red planet produced by tiny satellite. Above image released by NASA on its website on 23 October 2018. This cubesat consist of two spacecraft MarCo-A and MarCo-B.

The primary objective of this Cubesat is to test the survival chance in deep space and to act as relay between NASA's InSight Mars lander and Earth during the course of entry, descent and landing. The above image is taken at a distance of 12.8 million kilometers away from the Red Planet.

To achieve its prime objective, it has to travel 85 million kilometers more for InSight landing. Both the spacecraft have already travelled 399 million kilometers.

To know more about MarCo mission : MarCO Mission - Tiny Cube Sat | NASA

Image credit: NASA

Tags: Space Updates | Fornax Space Missions

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Lockheed Martin Space Systems Concept of Lunar Lander

Lockheed Martin Concept of Moon Base Lander

Picture of the Day: Lockheed Martin Space Systems Concept of Lunar Lander

Description: Lockheed Martin plans to land 62 ton manned mission (Lunar Lander) on Moon for a 14 days research and exploration. It is aimed to sent 4 Astronauts to Moon.

Image Source : www.humanmars.net

Image Credit: Lockheed Martin Space Systems | Human Mars

Tags: Lockheed Martin Space Systems Concept of Lunar Lander | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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BepiColombo Launch 20 Oct 2018

Mission to the Mercury

BepiColombo launch from French Guiana

     A collaborative mission between European Space Agency and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency to the smallest planet in our solar system Mercury lifted off from launch pad at French Guiana Research Center, Kourou on 19th October 2018 at 02:45 AM according to UK standard time.

The spacecraft BepiColombo intended to spend 7 years cruise towards the planet. It will separate into two spacecraft and will conduct orbit around Mercury for a year. It is delineated that, the mission cost was around $2 billion USD dollars.

    The spacecraft was launched onboard Arianespace Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle carrying the spacecraft together. It will explore and gather more information about the inner most planet in our solar system. This attempt was so long since Messenger intended to flyby observations.

    BepiColombo planned to begin its observation in December 2025 following the series of one of Earth flybys, two to Venus and six flybys to Mercur. Travelling from Earth's orbit to Mercury takes longer time. Perhaps, it allows scientists and engineers to test their instruments onboard before reaching Mercury's orbit.

    It has Mercury Planetary Orbiter designed and built by European Space Agency | Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter built by Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.

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Massive Explosion of a Supernova in Deep Space

Picture of the Day: Supernova - Massive explosion in deep space releasing tremendous amount of energy

Image Source : Hubble Space Telescope Official Site | www.hubblesite.org

Image Credit: ESA | NASA | Hubble Space Telescope

Tags: Massive Explosion of a Supernova in Deep Space | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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Futuristic Big Spaceship

Futuristic Big Spaceship - Imaginary Concept

Picture of the Day: A Big Spaceship departing form Earth's orbit - An Imaginary Concept

Image Source : Space Images | www.pixabay.com

Image Credit: Pixabay

Tags:Futuristic Big Spaceship | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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Juno Spacecraft - Jupiter

Juno Spacecraft

Picture of the Day: Juno Spacecraft

Image Source : www.pixabay.com

Image Credit: Pixabay | NASA

Tags: Juno Spacecraft | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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International Space Station - ISS

International Space Station - NASA

Picture of the Day: International Space Station

Image Source : www.pixabay.com

Image Credit: Pixabay | NASA

Tags: International Space Station | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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Saturn Eclipse

Saturn Eclipse

Picture of the Day: Saturn Eclipse Captured by Cassini-Huygens Spacecraft

Image Source : European Space Agency Official Site

Image Credit: ESA Cassini-Huygens Probe

Tags: Saturn Eclipse | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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Titan-III lifting-off from launch pad

Titan III Rocket lifting-off from launch pad

Picture of the Day: Titan-III lifting-off from launch Pad

Image Source : NASA Blogs | Launch Updates

Image Credit: NASA 

Tags: Titan-III launch | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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Discovery Space Shuttle - Standing in the Launch Pad

Discovery Space Shuttle Standing in the Launch Pad

Picture of the Day: Space Shuttle - Discovery

Image Source : NASA Blogs

Image Credit: NASA 

Tags: Discovery Space Shuttle | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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Core of the Cygnus

Core of Cygnus

Picture of the Day: Core of the Cygnus

Image Source : www.hubblesite.org  

Image Retrieved from : www.pixabay.com

Image Credit: ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope

Tags: Core of Cygnus | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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Orion Nebula | M42 Star

Orion Nebula in the constellation of Orion 

Picture of the Day: M42 Star | Orion Nebula

Image Source : www.hubblesite.org

Image Credit: ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope

Tags: Orion Nebula | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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Spacex manned mission to Jupiter

Spacex manned spaceship approaching Mars

Picture of the Day: Spacex's Spaceship approaching Jupiter | A Concept of manned mission to Jupiter

Image Source : Spacex | BFR

Image Credit: BFR | Spacex | Planetary Misisons

Tags: Spacex manned mission to Jupiter  | Picture of the Day | Fornax Space Missions

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