Tag: NASA
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NASA gives go-ahead to fix Mars InSight lander’s flaw and launch it in 2018
An artist’s conception shows NASA’s InSight lander on Mars. The SEIS instrument is in the chamber shown to the left of the lander platform. (Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech) NASA has approved plans to fix a flaw on its InSight lander in time for a launch to Mars in 2018. The flaw involves a leak in a…
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Asteroid probe apparently unharmed in nearby SpaceX explosion, passes its FRR
The encapsulated OSIRIS-REx was lifted into the VIF on Monday. Credit: NASA-KSC/Dimitri Gerondidakis CAPE CANAVERAL — NASA says initial checks show no damage to the Atlas 5 rocket or the agency’s asteroid-bound OSIRIS-REx spacecraft that stood within the Vertical Integration Facility just a mile away from the SpaceX explosion Thursday. The United Launch Alliance vehicle…
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Animation of OSIRIS-REx mission from liftoff to return home
This NASA animation depicts the OSIRIS-REx mission beginning with liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Sept. 8, embarking on a voyage to rendezvous and orbit Asteroid Bennu. The spacecraft will use its cameras, laser and spectrometer instruments to map the mountain-size rock starting in late 2018 before performing…
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Probe hoisted aboard launcher to leave Earth next week on asteroid adventure
File photo of Atlas payload lift and mate. Credit: United Launch Alliance CAPE CANAVERAL — NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft today moved a step closer to starting a voyage to explore an uncharted world in our solar system — the mountain-sized Asteroid Bennu — by joining the booster rocket that will propel it from Earth next week.…
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Atlas 5 rocket rehearses countdown for upcoming launch to Asteroid Bennu
The venting Atlas 5 during today’s WDR. Credit: NASA-KSC/Kim Shiflett CAPE CANAVERAL — Running through a practice countdown to check systems before launching a NASA sample-return probe to Asteroid Bennu in exactly two weeks, an Atlas 5 successfully completed its Wet Dress Rehearsal today. The United Launch Alliance rocket will propel the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on…
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Photos: Atlas 5 rocket assembled for launch of asteroid sample return probe
At Cape Canaveral’s Vertical Integration Facility, adjacent to the Complex 41 launch pad, workers with United Launch Alliance stacked the Atlas 5 rocket that will propel NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on its voyage to Asteroid Bennu. On Monday, Aug. 8, the first stage was erected onto the mobile launch platform parked inside the assembly building. A…
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NASA ‘hears’ from lost spacecraft after nearly two years
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Credit: NASA NASA re-established contact with a wayward sun-watching science satellite Sunday nearly two years after the spacecraft suddenly dropped off line during a test, the agency said in a statement Monday. NASA’s Deep Space Network, or DSN, “established a lock on the STEREO-B (spacecraft’s) downlink carrier at…
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Sophisticated new U.S. weather observatory being readied for launch
The GOES R weather satellite folded up for launch. Credit: Lockheed Martin CAPE CANAVERAL — On the cusp of advancing U.S. weather forecasting, a powerful new satellite was shipped from its Denver factory to the Cape today in preparation for launch in November. The first-of-its-kind observatory dubbed GOES R was flown aboard an Air Force…
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Video: Preview of the OSIRIS-REx mission to sample an asteroid
Watch the pre-flight news conference that introduces NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on Sept. 8. The mission will reach Asteroid Bennu in 2018, capture a sample of the celestial body in 2020 and bring the specimen back to Earth in a special landing…
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Photos: Solar arrays attached to asteroid-bound OSIRIS-REx spacecraft
At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, workers have finished the pre-launch assembly and fueling of OSIRIS-REx for the asteroid sample return spacecraft for liftoff Sept. 8. The probe will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket en route to Asteroid Bennu to capture a specimen for return to Earth. Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing…