On March 13, 2010, SpaceX conducted a successful static firing test of the Falcon 9 first stage. SpaceX targets April 12, 2010, as the date for the first launch of Falcon 9.
Archive for 2010
The 3D visualization of the Mars surface is based on data acquired by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA\’s Mars Express mission.
Read more about ESA\’s Mars Express Mission…
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| Credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett |
On March 6, 2009, the Delta II launch vehicle carrying the Kepler spacecraft lifted off from Launch Complex 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
In May 2009, Kepler started to hunt for other Earth-like planets in our galaxy. The technique used by Kepler to discover exo-planets is called transits. The large field of view of the Kepler telescope simultaneously captures the light of a very large number of stars in the Cygnus and Lyra constellations.
Kepler scientists already announced the discovery of five exoplanets named Kepler 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b, and 8b. The data collected by Kepler was also used to detect the atmosphere of the HAT-P-7b giant gas planet.
Kepler is expected to be operational until at least November 2012. Scientists hope to discover exo-planets in the habitable zone of other stars. The habitable zone is a region around a star where water can exist in liquid form on the surface of a planet. You can find more information about Kepler on NASA’s Kepler Mission website.
On March 4, 2010, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-P was launched on top of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV launch vehicle, from launch pad 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Once in geostationary orbit, GOES-P became GOES-15, the latest satellite in a fleet of satellites that help predict weather in North America.
ESA\’s Mars Express performed the closest flyby of Phobos, the largest moon of Mars, on Wednesday, March 3, 2010. The spacecraft passed by at an altitude of 67 km. The animation of Phobos was created using the data collected by the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera in 2008.
Credits: NASA
Pioneer 10 was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station\’s Launch Complex 36A on March 2, 1972. On December 3, 1973, Pioneer 10 sent back the first close-up images of Jupiter. On June 13, 1983, the spacecraft passed the orbit of Neptune.
Pioneer 10 is heading in the direction of Aldebaran, the orange giant star which is the Bull\’s Eye in the Taurus Constellation. The last contact with the probe was established in 2003.
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