OrbitalHub

NASA dixit:

“About a year ago, astronomers excitedly reported the first detection of electromagnetic waves, or light, from a gravitational wave source. Now, a year later, researchers are announcing the existence of a cosmic relative to that historic event. The discovery was made using data from telescopes including NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and the Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT).

The object of the new study, called GRB150101B, was first reported as a gamma-ray burst detected by Fermi in January 2015. This detection and follow-up observations at other wavelengths show GRB150101B shares remarkable similarities to the neutron star merger and gravitational wave source discovered by Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) and its European counterpart Virgo in 2017 known as GW170817. The latest study concludes that these two separate objects may, in fact, be related.”

Video Credit: NASA

NASA dixit:

“Operation IceBridge is NASA’s longest-running aerial survey of polar ice. During the survey, designed to assess changes in the ice height of several glaciers draining into the Larsen A, B and C embayments, IceBridge senior support scientist Jeremy Harbeck saw a very sharp-angled, tabular iceberg floating among sea ice just off of the Larsen C ice shelf.”

Video Credit: NASA

ESA dixit:

“The European Space Agency demonstrates its commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through the activities promoted by its ten directorates. Satellite data and space applications, as well as space technologies, play a major role in addressing issues ranging from health care and education through to climate change and human migration. ESA’s multifaceted technical expertise can provide policy makers, aid organisations and private companies with the necessary tools to support economic growth, social development and environmental protection.”

Video Credit: ESA

NASA dixit:

“Less than 2 minutes after the launch of a 58-foot-tall (17.7-meter) Black Brant IX sounding rocket, a payload separated and began its dive back through Earth’s atmosphere. When onboard sensors determined the payload had reached the appropriate height and Mach number (38 kilometers altitude, Mach 1.8), the payload deployed a parachute. Within four-tenths of a second, the 180-pound parachute billowed out from being a solid cylinder to being fully inflated. It was the fastest inflation in history of a parachute this size and created a peak load of almost 70,000 pounds of force.”

Video Credit: NASA

NASA dixit:

“NASA’s GPM Core Observatory satellite captured an image of Super Typhoon Yutu when it flew over the powerful storm just as the center was striking the central Northern Mariana Islands north of Guam. Early Thursday, October 25 local time, Super Typhoon Yutu crossed over the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. It was the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. The National Weather Service in Guam said it was the strongest storm to hit any part of the U.S. this year.

The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite, which is managed by both NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA analyzed Yutu on October 24 at 11:07 a.m. EDT (1507 UTC)/ 1:07 a.m. Guam Time, October 25. GPM estimated rain rates within Super Typhoon Yutu fusing data from two instruments aboard: the GPM Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar or DPR, which covered the inner part of the storm, and the GPM Microwave Imager or GMI that analyzed the outer swath, just as the center was passing over the Island of Tinian.”

Video Credit: NASA Goddard

Wikipedia dixit:

“The New Shepard reusable launch system is a vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL), suborbital crewed rocket that is being developed by Blue Origin as a commercial system for suborbital space tourism. Blue Origin is owned and led by Amazon.com founder and businessman Jeff Bezos and aerospace engineer Rob Meyerson.

The name New Shepard makes reference to the first American astronaut in space, Alan Shepard, one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts, who ascended to space on a suborbital trajectory similar to that planned for New Shepard. Prototype engine and vehicle flights began in 2006, while full-scale engine development started in the early 2010s and was complete by 2015. Uncrewed flight testing of the complete New Shepard vehicle (propulsion module and space capsule) began in 2015. Flights with test passengers were planned for 2018, with commercial passenger flights initially planned to begin in 2018 as well.

On 23 November 2015, after reaching 100.5 km (62.4 mi) altitude (outer space), the New Shepard booster successfully performed a powered vertical soft landing, the first time a booster rocket had returned from space to make a successful vertical landing. The test program continued in 2016 and 2017 with four additional test flights made with the same vehicle (NS2) in 2016 and the first test flight of the new NS3 vehicle made in 2017.”

Video Credit: Blue Origin