News tagged with orbital debris

NASA studying ways to make 'tractor beams' a reality

Tractor beams -- the ability to trap and move objects using laser light -- are the stuff of science fiction, but a team of NASA scientists has won funding to study the concept for remotely capturing planetary ...

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 31, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (21) | comments 38 | with audio podcast

Satellite landed, exact site not yet known: NASA

A decommissioned NASA satellite, the biggest piece of US space junk to fall in 30 years, has crash-landed but the precise location is not yet known, the US space agency said early Saturday.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 24, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 9

Finding ET may require giant robotic leap

(Phys.org) -- Autonomous, self-replicating robots -- exobots -- are the way to explore the universe, find and identify extraterrestrial life and perhaps clean up space debris in the process, according to a Penn State engineer, ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 18, 2012 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (7) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

NASA bus-sized satellite to crash-land this week

What goes up must come down. But where?

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 21, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 5

NASA refines satellite crash course, a bit

NASA on Thursday refined the crash course of a six-ton defunct satellite, saying it is likely to miss North America, though its exact landing spot remains unknown.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 22, 2011 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (7) | comments 5

European space freighter is destroyed after mission

A robot freighter was destroyed on Tuesday in a scheduled operation after a successful mission to supply the International Space Station (ISS), the European Space Agency (ESA) said.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jun 21, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 4

SETI's telescopes to go back online, resuming hunt for alien life

This week the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute announced that it had raised more than $200,000 from a crowd-sourced fundraising effort that launched earlier this spring. The money, which came from ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Aug 10, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (12) | comments 27

A mission to clear dangerous debris from space (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- New UK technology is set to play a major part in clearing dangerous clouds of debris hurtling around the Earth's lower orbit.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 28, 2010 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (14) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

International Space Station to manoeuvre to dodge debris

The Russian mission control centre has decided to manoeuvre the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday to avoid collision with space debris, Russian news agencies reported.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 26, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1

Space station faces steady threat from orbiting space junk

Now that the space shuttle is retired, NASA and space agencies around the world will focus on the International Space Station for the rest of this decade - and cross their fingers that it lasts that long.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 25, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 9

Debris from way out there

"Well, here it is," said aerospace engineer William Ailor as he paused next to the hulking metal shells arrayed along the plaza outside a visitor entrance at Aerospace Corp.'s El Segundo, Calif., headquarters.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1

Radar prototype begins tracking down space junk

Several times a year, the International Space Station needs to perform Debris Avoidance Maneuvers to dodge the ever-growing amount of space junk hurtling around in Earth orbit. Additionally, our increased ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 09, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

UARS update: NASA refines crashing satellite's debris region and location

This video from Analytical Graphics, Inc. shows an updated animated analysis of the break up of the the 6 ton, bus-sized UARS satellite. It likely will burn up at an altitude between 80-45 kilometers, with an estimated 26 ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

NASA says satellite will hit Earth Sept 23 US time

The US space agency has narrowed down its prediction of when a defunct six-ton satellite will crash back to Earth, saying on Wednesday that it is expected to land on September 23, US time. ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1

NASA satellite plunges into Pacific off California

A bus-sized US satellite that hurtled unpredictably toward Earth crossed over Africa and the northern Atlantic before likely plunging into the Pacific Ocean off California, NASA said on Saturday.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 24, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 5