Friday, June 19, 2015

Summer 2015 Space Exploration!

Wow! What a summer! Dawn at Ceres, Rosetta and Philae at a comet perihelion! And my favorite, New Horizons at Pluto! All were launched in the previous decade, and all have now reached their primary mission. In addition to the mission websites linked above, the planetary society is writing timely and detailed updates on the missions.

Dawn is the first spacecraft to visit Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt. There are several very bright spots on Ceres which have drawn quite a bit of interest. Frankly, no one knows what they are.

Rosetta is not the first spacecraft to visit a comet, but certainly has the best camera so far. Plus, Philae, a little 100 kg lander successfully landed on the comet last fall and have enabled us to study comets far more than any previous mission.

New Horizons was the most significant, in my opinion, space probe to launch while I was in college, getting my aerospace engineering degree. We've never sent anything to Pluto, and our knowledge of Pluto is very vague. Only a few years ago in 2011 and 2012 did we discover the fourth and fifth moons of Pluto.

Just a note on orbital mechanics, in order to get to Pluto in only nine years, we can't really afford the fuel to slow down the trajectory and stay there. It's going something like 13.77 km/s, 30,800 miles per hour. The fuel required to slow down would cost hundreds of millions of dollars so the spacecraft was built without large fuel tanks to save money and designed to simply make a flyby.

8 comments:

  1. Testimony On How My Life was Transform through the help of a God-sent Lender..

    Hello everyone, I am Kathie Roper by name, am writing this Testimony because am really grateful for what Mason Diego did for me and my family, when I thought there was no hope he came and make my family feel alive again by lending us loan at a very low interest rate of 2%. Well I have been searching for a loan to settle my debts for the past three months all I met scammed and took my money until I finally met a God sent Lender. I never thought that there are still genuine loan lenders on the internet but to my greatest surprise i got my loan without wasting much time so if you are out there looking for a loan of any amount i would advise you to email Mr Diego via: { diegoloancompany@yahoo.com } or call (608) 728-8913 and be free of internet scams. thanks... Kathie Roper from California, USA.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good Day !!

    I am Hwa Jurong, a Reputable, Legitimate & an accredited money
    Lender. I want to use this medium to inform you that i render reliable beneficiary
    assistance as I'll be glad to offer you a loan at 2% interest rate to
    reliable individuals.

    Services Rendered include:

    *Home Improvement
    *Inventor Loans
    *Car Loans
    *Debt Consolidation Loan
    *Line of Credit
    *Second Loan
    *Business Loans
    *Personal Loans
    *International Loans.

    Please write back if interested.
    Upon Response, you'll be mailed a Loan application form to fill. (No social
    security and no credit check, 100% Guaranteed!) I Look forward permitting me to
    be of service to you. You can contact me via e-mail: hwa_jurong@yahoo.com.sg or hwajurong12@gmail.com
    Yours Sincerely,

    Hwa Jurong(MD).

    ReplyDelete
  3. OUR writers tend to be dedicated professional qualified inside diverse courses. i will then write papers inside science, math AND rush eassay writing visit this site http://rushessaywriting.com/

    ReplyDelete
  4. TESTIMONY FROM SATISFIED CLIENTS
    Hello Everybody:
    I am comfort a resident/citizen of the United Kingdom.
    I am 52 years of age and an entrepreneur/businesswoman. I once had
    Difficulties in financing my project/business initially when I started
    And a good friend of mine introduced me to Mr Rami Water who is a Business mogul/financier to get a loan from his company. When I Contacted them it took just 24 hours to get my loan approved and
    Transfer to my account after meeting all their modalities as set forth in Their loan agreement/terms and conditions.
    If you need urgent financial assistance you can contact them today via
    This email address:
    Name: Mr Rami Water
    E-mail : ramiwater_loanfirm@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello applicant

    My names are Mr. Phil Howardson, and i am the owner of the firm known as Phil Howardson Loan Firm. I I just want to let you all know that i give out loans from 1,000.00 USD to a maximum amount of 10,000,000.00 USD with a lo loan duration of 6 months to 55 years with a low interest rate of 3%.

    We are people with good characters and with good heart because we are ordained to help the poor with their needs, so that is exactly what we are doing. Dear applicant, if you take a loan from us, you will never regret it because we are real and legit and we don't involve in any type of scam activities. Our English is very clear, our services are very smooth and affordable, our workers are well mannered because you can be treated as if you are also a family.

    I give you all a 100% that you will get this loan after you apply for it because we won't scam you, we are Christians, so scamming of our fellow humans is restricted from our lifestyle.

    Contact us today through our company email which is philloanfirm2@yahoo.com so that the loan processing will start as soon as possible.

    Email 1: philloanfirm2@yahoo.com
    Email 2: philloanfirm2@hotmail.com

    Phil Howardson

    ReplyDelete
  6. HOW I GOT MY LOAN FROM FABIAN LOAN COMPANY{fabianloanfirm@yahoo.com}
    Hi,
    I am Anna Ruben from United state of America, i stayed in Alabama, and i have a broke up business, until i found this company email who help me to gain a loan for business and now i want to used this short medium to thank the company for the fast and safe money they loan to me without any form of issue or delay, i loan 98,000.00USD form the company to save my business and lots more, i saw their mail on the internet, everyone always give testimony for what they did, so i quickly contacted them and they did everything for me without stress and my money was sent to my account 24hrs later, i was surprise and feel glad, now i now have a standard business control agent who help me and i will advice those who need urgent loan to contact them at [fabianloanfirm@yahoo.com] or cal him on his cell (347)707-8926 , he is a Good man and I know that he will help you immediately.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am Mrs.Sandra Bents from Germny, God has bless me with two kids and a loving husband, I promise to share this Testimony because of God favor in my life,2months ago I was in desperate need of money so I thought of having a loan then I ran into wrong hands who claimed to be a loan lender not knowing he was a scam. he collected 2,000USD from me and refuse to email me since. then I was confuse, but God came to my rescue, one faithful day I went to Court after the Case of my friend I share idea with a friend and she introduce me to ERIVAN LOAN COMPANY, she said she was given 50,000USD by MR ERIVAN , THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ERIVAN LOAN COMPANY . so I collected his email Address ,he told me the roles and regulation and I followed, then after processing of the Documents, he gave me my loan of 30,000POUNDS .you can contact him on via email : (erivanloancompany@yahoo.com) I am sure he will help you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. am Jonetta.I live in Chattanooga ,when i was in need of a loan of $85,000,i was scammed by those fraudulent lenders and a friend introduced me to Mr. Scott ,and he offered me the loan without any stress,you can contact him via scttspencer7@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.