This week’s cosmic review is quite interesting with amazing news. So, let’s dive right in to…
Parker Space Probe
Our star Sun has always fascinated us. But we never really reached the Sun and never go to observe it close enough. Well, NASA has plans for that and now they are close to make it possible. The Parker Space Probe is the one that NASA has for its first mission to touch the Sun. This spacecraft is about the size of a small car and is intended to travel right in to the atmosphere of Sun. You might be wondering how this spacecraft could survive the extreme heat of Sun. The spacecraft is provided with a 4.5 inch thick carbon composite shield which would withstand a temperature of 2500 F. Moreover another interesting fact of this mission is that NASA has for the first time named the spacecraft after a living individual. As this mission was named after Eugene Parker who is an astrophysicist and the one who has done phenomenal work on stars and their behaviour.
The most interesting thing about this mission is that, now it’s possible for you to be on the mission. Not literally but, you can now submit your names online which would be placed on the microchip aboard the spacecraft as your name will go along the spacecraft as travels through the Sun’s atmosphere. Sounds interesting right, why don’t you give a try then…
Be a part of the mission and register your names through this link:
http://go.nasa.gov/HotTicket
An interstellar visitor
It was on October 19th,2017 that this interstellar visitor , simply a rocky object from another star system was discovered for the first time. It was named Oumuamua and is the first object in our solar system from another star system. It was on the discussion table recently as scientists check the object for FM band signals on a speculation that it could be a interstellar spacecraft. But scientists didn’t found any life sign on it and continue to observe this interesting traveller.
SpaceX
The CRS14 mission is still underway as the Dragon Capsule is docked to the ISS for cargo transfer after a Falcon9 launch from SpaceX on 2 April,2018. After two days , the capsule was docked to ISS. The only thing now left to finish the mission successfully is its recovery as Dragon prepares for a splashdown in the Pacific.
The next launch for SpaceX would come from yet another Falcon9 which would be carrying NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS) which is scheduled to be launched on 16th April and the launch window being 6:32-6:33 EDT( 0402-0403 the next day ,IST).
ISRO
The recent GSLV launch which carried GSAT-6A satellite onboard was unsuccessful as the satellite suffered a power glitch after getting into the orbit.
ISRO has successfully launched yet another navigational satellite IRNSS-1l which is seventh of it's kind . It was launched aboard PSLV at 0404hrs IST on 12th April,2018. The regional navigation satellite system(NavIC) constellation is now complete with 7 satellites and is now highly efficient.
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