NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is set for launch on 31 July to begin it’s journey to the Sun’s corona to help us understand more about the solar wind and why the corona is so hot.
World space news and astronomy outreach through (Milky Way) Kiwi eyes.
Category: Space News
Tiangong-1 demise, 1 April, no 1 April joke
The Chinese Tiangong-1 space station is predicted to conduct an uncontrolled re-entry sometime during 1 April 2018, NZ time.
Living off space – asteroid mining
Asteroid mining is seen as a lucrative source of income and, on the surface, it appears to be a way of accessing almost limitless resources. It’s not that simple though, it’s difficult, expensive and at the edge of our technological ability. But it won’t be that way forever.
BFR, SLS, KRK and Long March 9 and probably in that order
The US has two options for getting to Mars within the next decade and a half with the ambitious plans from SpaceX and the more risk adverse plans of NASA. Both Russia and China also have some plans for Mars and have design work underway to build large rockets to support missions to Mars and to the Moon.
Europa Clipper is looking a bit more secure, yay for astrobiology
It looks like NASA is going to get a good amount of funding in a bill set to fly through the US Congress and Senate. This is great news for programmes such as Europa Clipper that have dependencies on the SLS programme.
NASA and the Space Launch System and Mars, eventually
NASA’s plans to get to Mars are a bit slower than Elon Musk’s. They have many more steps and have plans to achieve some quite impressive things such as space station orbiting the Moon and capturing an asteroid.
Humanity’s humanity star
The Humanity Star that was launched by Rocket Lab is expected to burn up tomorrow as it re-enters the atmosphere.
Observing the Moon, the best stuff to look at
As part of Moon week it’s a good opportunity to have a look at some of the most amazing features to observe on the Moon, so get your telescopes ready and have a look at these.
The chronicles of the Head Cheese: Who owns the Moon?
The question of who owns the Moon has always been an interesting topic. Fortunately we have a treaty system to say that no one can own the Moon – but before this there were some very interesting and somewhat crazy claimants.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been whizzing around the Moon since 2009 collecting loads and loads of data that is going to be very useful for when humans return to the lunar surface.
The early Moon missions
This article looks at some of the earlier mission to the Moon including some of the missions from the Luna and Ranger programmes of the Soviet Union and the United States.
It’s Moon week, according to us
The Moon has been with us for quite a while and Milky-Way.kiwi is going to celebrate our long term companion by declaring this Moon Week.
India’s Mars mission – Mars Orbiter Mission
India launched its first interplanetary mission in 2013, sending the Mars Orbiter Mission to Mars to have a look at the planet’s surface and atmosphere.
How we are understanding more about the stuff surrounding stars
We are getting a better and better at understanding how planetary systems are formed. This article tracks the historic development of the heliocentric model and how that relates to understanding the formation of our own Solar System.
Our Very Own Super Massive Black Hole – SMBH
We are understanding a little more about the Super Massive Black Hole at the centre of our galaxy and observations are also revealing that Einstein was right about his theory of general relativity.
It’s life Jim (maybe), but not as we know it
The discovery of hydrogen in the plumes shooting out of Enceladus got everyone excited that the conditions might be right for life inside the icy moon. Now a lab experiment confirms that life could really be possible in those conditions likely to be found on Enceladus.
Surfing the Martian Atmosphere
The European Space Agency launched the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter in 2016 and it is nearly in its target orbit around Mars and will soon begin is mission of looking for evidence of past life.
Peering Into The Interior of Mars – The Mars InSight Mission
The Mars InSight lander is due to launch in a couple of months and this article briefly covers what this mission is all about.
Low cost to low orbit
The market for low cost access to space is heating up. This article looks at the aerospike engine and how that might influence low cost space launches.
Take responsibility for what you put in space
If you put something into space then you have to think about what happens to it in the future so that it doesn’t cause problems for anyone else, either in space or on Earth. A […]
The future of the International Space Station
The International Space Station is due for retirement from 2024 when no one has yet committed any funds for its continued use. This articles reviews what options might then be available after 2024 to replace the current functions.
