A Zenit-3SL rocket blasted off from Sea Launch today, carrying PanAmSat’s Galaxy 16 communications satellite. The rocket lifted off from the Odyssey Launch Platform at 0750 GMT (3:50am EDT), and reached geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) nearly an hour later. The spacecraft will eventually be positioned at 99-degrees West Longitude, and provide HDTV television and data services throughout North America. This is the third launch for Sea Launch this year; three more are still planned.
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Discovery will Launch July 1, Despite Objections
It’s been a long hard road to bring the space shuttle fleet back to service after falling foam led to the destruction of Columbia. Although Discovery launched again last year, hopes sunk after the external fuel tank shed foam again, even after all the new safety measures taken by NASA. Once again, NASA thinks it’s ready for launch. This time Discovery will blast off on July 1, to link up with the International Space Station. But the launch decision didn’t come easy.
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Virgin Galactic Updates on Plans For SpaceShipTwo
Scaled Composite’s SpaceShipOne claimed the X-Prize when it reached an altitude of 100km for the second time in less than 2 weeks. Although this was a much simpler feat than reaching orbital altitude and velocities, many believed we were on the verge of a space tourism revolution. Virgin Galactic, one of the companies attempting to make a business out of suborbital flights recently unveiled details about SpaceShipTwo at a space tourism conference in London.
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Gas Giants Gobbled Up Most of Their Moons
Even though our Solar System’s gas giants vary widely in size and mass, they do have something in common. Each planet is roughly 10,000 times more massive than the combined mass of all their moons. During planetary formation, rocky moons grew out of the solid material surrounding each planet. As these moons grew larger, leftover gas slowed them down, and they fell into the planet to be consumed. The moons we see today were the last ones to form around their parent planets, after the gas had dissipated.
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Integral Spots a Burst Out of the Corner of its Eye
Even it it’s not actually watching the spot in the sky where a gamma ray burst goes off, ESA’s Integral observatory can detect it. Engineers have developed a technique that allows the spacecraft see blasts out of the corner of its eye. Integral’s detector can sense radiation that passes through the side of its detector array. Scientists can then analyze this radiation to gather information on the gamma ray burst. The technique was first used to detect solar flares, and then fine tuned to work for gamma ray bursts.
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Dark Matter First, Then a Galaxy
A new study from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope suggests that galaxies form within clumps of dark matter. This mysterious substance emits no light, but it does have mass, so it can pull on matter with its gravity. Astronomers believe there’s 5 times as much dark matter in the Universe as regular matter. This new Spitzer survey found that the amount of dark matter surrounding distant galaxies is surprisingly consistent.
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$250,000 Prize for Semi-Autonomous Robots
As part of its Centennial Challenges, NASA has encouraged inventors from outside the agency to demonstrate out of the box thinking. So far they’ve created challenges to craft better gloves, dig lunar soil, and power climbing robots. The next challenge is called the Telerobotic Construction Challenge, and offers a $250,000 purse to the team that can get their remote-controlled robots to build structures… on Mars. Of course, the robots won’t actually be on Mars, but for the teams involved, it’ll sure feel like they’re a world away.
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Fast Moving New Horizons Tracks an Asteroid
Still a decade away from its final meeting with Pluto, New Horizons tested out its instruments on a relatively nearby asteroid. The spacecraft turned its Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) on asteroid 2002 JF56 at a range of 1.34 to 3.36 million kilometers (about 833,000 to 2.1 million miles). Controllers were happy to see that the camera system was able to track the asteroid while the spacecraft was moving so quickly; it’ll need this capability when it reaches Pluto. Its next stop will be Jupiter, which it’s due to encounter on February 28, 2007.
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Airborne Infrared Telescope Gets Another Chance
During the recently announced NASA science cutbacks, several missions were cut or dramatically scaled back. One mission that was on the chopping block might be getting a second chance. The SOFIA mission is a powerful infrared telescope installed on a 747 airplane. It had recently been put on hold, but NASA officials announced today that they’re continuing its development. Although this gives the mission some hope of return, NASA is still watching its budget carefully, and still hasn’t fully committed to completing the mission.
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Main Engine Tests for New European Rocket
Development of Europe’s new Vega launcher is ready for a series of important tests. This new launcher is designed to launch smaller, lighter payloads than the much larger Ariane fleet of rockets. Engineers are now getting ready to test its first stage, a solid-fuel rocket motor that includes a steerable nozzle. If all goes well, the first launch of the Vega is scheduled for 2007 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
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