Astronomers have identified the most distant known object in our solar system — a dwarf planet nicknamed Farfarout that orbits far beyond Pluto. This remote mini-planet swings so far away from the sun that from Farfarout's perspective Earth and Saturn look like neighbours.
With an orbit that's an average of 132 times the distance between Earth and the sun, or 132 astronomical units (AU), it beats "Farout," the previous record holder for most-distant solar object; Farout orbits the sun at an average of 124 A.U. Farfarout's technical name is 2018 AG37, and it will likely get an official name as a dwarf planet down the road.
Feb 12, 2021
Tianwen-1 Spacecraft Enters in Orbit around Mars
China says it has successfully put its Tianwen-1 mission in orbit around Mars.
It's the first time the country has managed to get a spacecraft to the Red Planet and comes a day after the United Arab Emirates accomplished the same feat.
Tianwen-1, or "Questions to Heaven", comprises an orbiter and a rover.
Engineers will bide their time before despatching the wheeled robot to the surface, but the expectation is that this will happen in May or June.
This orbit insertion underlines again the rapid progress China's space programme is making.
It follows December's impressive mission to retrieve rock and soil samples from Earth's Moon - by any measure a very complex undertaking.
Feb 11, 2021
SpaceX's Crew-1 Astronauts Break 47-year US Space Record
Four astronauts living aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have broken a 47-year-old record after spending the longest time in space by a crew launched from U.S. soil.
The astronauts, collectively known as Crew-1, Michael Hopkins, Shannon Walker and Victor Glover of NASA and Soichi Noguchi of the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), were also the first full mission crew to be transported into orbit by a private company. (A smaller demonstration mission to the ISS, crewed by just two astronauts who stayed in space for a short while, preceded Crew-1 by several months.)
Crew-1 arrived aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule launched into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 15.
The Crew-1 astronauts took their place in the history books after spending their 85th day aboard the ISS.
The previous record of 84 days was set in 1974 by the Skylab 4 crew.
Feb 10, 2021
UAE's Hope Probe Enters Mars Orbit in First Arab Mission
The United Arab Emirates' first mission to Mars reached the red planet and entered orbit after a seven-month, 494 million km journey, allowing it to start sending data about the Martian atmosphere and climate.
This makes the UAE the fifth space agency to reach the planet. The Mars programme is part of the UAE's efforts to develop its scientific and technological capabilities and reduce its reliance on oil. The UAE Space Agency even has a plan for a Mars settlement by 2117.
Indian Space start-up Agnikul Cosmos announced the successful test-firing of their semi-cryogenic rocket engine, which has been fully manufactured, as a single piece, using 3-D printing technology. Agnikul's semi-cryogenic engine, called Agnilet, would be fulled by rocket-grade kerosene and uses liquid oxygen (stored at -183 degrees celsius) as an oxidizer.
Rocket engines are usually comprised of hundreds of parts that serve various purposes, but according to the company, Agnilet was designed to encapsulate all of these into just one piece of hardware. So, this automates the making of an entire engine.
Feb 08, 2021
UAE's 'Hope' Probe to be First in Trio of Mars Missions
The first Arab space mission, the UAE's "Hope" probe, is expected to reach Mars' orbit, making it the first of three spacecraft to arrive at the Red Planet.
The United Arab Emirates, China and the United States all launched projects to Mars last July, taking advantage of a period when the Earth and Mars are nearest.
If successful, the wealthy Gulf state will become the fifth nation to ever reach Mars -- a venture timed to mark the 50th anniversary of the unification of the UAE -- with the China mission due to become the sixth the following day.
"Hope", known as "Al-Amal" in Arabic, will orbit the planet for at least one Martian year, or 687 days, while the Tianwen-1 from China and the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover from the US will both land on Mars' surface.
World's Largest Radio Telescope- Square Kilometre Array
An intergovernmental organisation called the SKA Observatory was launched in order to give a push to radio astronomy. The launch came after the SKAO Council held its first meeting, and it aims to build and operate two radio telescope networks, which would be the largest and most complex ones ever conceived.
With these two networks, the intergovernmental organisation hopes to answer some fundamental questions regarding the universe. The two networks will be based in South Africa and Australia.
Under the organisation, two radio telescope networks would be set up, and they would not be a single telescope but an array of antennas and dishes of radio telescopes.
The network that would be set up in South Africa would consist of as many as 197 dishes having a diameter of 15 metres each, and these would be located in the Karoo region. Of these dishes, 64 already exist and are being operated by SARAO or the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO).
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