environment
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NASA Needs Ideas to Study Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Apophis
Asteroid 99942 Apophis is fast approaching our home planet for an uncomfortably close encounter in 2029. In order to prepare for the rare event, NASA is calling for ideas for low cost missions to rendezvous with Apophis, but the space agency already has a pair of asteroid probes ready to take on the task. NASA…
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SpaceX’s Giant Starship Tapped to Launch Starlab’s Giant Steel Space Station
Starlab Space’s forthcoming space station is so big and heavy that only the formidable SpaceX Starship megarocket can launch it into orbit, but the one-time delivery option comes with distinct benefits. Starlab Space, like several other commercial ventures, is racing to deliver a commercial space station to orbit in anticipation of the International Space Station’s…
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After Ingenuity: Bigger, Bolder Aircraft for Exploring Aliens Worlds
The little helicopter touched down with the Perseverance rover in 2021. On January 25, NASA announced that the flying vehicle had to perform an emergency landing which damaged one of its rotors and ended its mission. This reminds us that space exploration is still difficult to do. But Ingenuity’s three years on Mars proved that…
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The ISS Is Getting a New Pair of Creepy Robot Arms
Astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) are about to make a new cyborg friend in the form of two short mechanical arms that will do their bidding in the cold, dark vacuum of low Earth orbit. California-based startup GITAI is launching its 4.9-foot-long (1.5-metres) autonomous dual robotic arm system, called S2, to the…