News tagged with spacecraft
Ultra-cool companion helps reveal giant planets
(Phys.org) -- An international team of astronomers led by David Pinfield of the University of Hertfordshire has found a brown dwarf that is more than 99% hydrogen and helium. Described as ultra-cool, it has ...
May 10, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (6) |
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A close-up view of Mercury: Researchers find the planet may have had a dynamic past
New observations from a spacecraft orbiting Mercury have revealed that the tiny, pockmarked planet harbors a highly unusual interior — and the craft’s glimpse of Mercury’s surface topography ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 22, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (8) |
4
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Cassini spies wave rattling jet stream on Jupiter
(PhysOrg.com) -- New movies of Jupiter are the first to catch an invisible wave shaking up one of the giant planet's jet streams, an interaction that also takes place in Earth's atmosphere and influences the ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 13, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
0
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Maglev track could launch spacecraft into orbit
(PhysOrg.com) -- With the aim to make it easier to launch spacecraft into low Earth orbit (LEO), two researchers have turned to maglev technology to catapult a payload hundreds of miles above the Earth. While ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 13, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (58) |
37
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The annihilating effects of space travel
Long distance space travel could create the ultimate 'killer entrance', devastating your destination and anything around the arriving spacecraft, according to calculations by Professor Geraint Lewis and two ...
Mar 12, 2012 |
3.8 / 5 (24) |
34
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IBEX spacecraft measures 'alien' particles from outside solar system
(PhysOrg.com) -- Using data from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft, an international team of researchers has measured neutral "alien" particles entering our solar system from interstellar ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 31, 2012 |
5 / 5 (8) |
0
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Kepler announces 11 planetary systems hosting 26 planets
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified Kepler planets and triple the number of stars ...
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (24) |
7
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First of NASA's GRAIL spacecraft enters Moon orbit
(PhysOrg.com) -- The first of two NASA spacecraft to study the moon in unprecedented detail has entered lunar orbit.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 01, 2012 |
4.1 / 5 (9) |
15
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Voyager 1 hits new region at solar system edge
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region between our solar system and interstellar space. Data obtained from Voyager over the last year reveal this new region to be a kind of cosmic ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 05, 2011 |
4.8 / 5 (37) |
118
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Engineers fight for stranded Mars probe after 'sign of life' (Update)
Engineers fought desperately on Wednesday to save Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft after the Martian probe sent "a first sign of life" more than two weeks after being stranded in orbit.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 23, 2011 |
4.6 / 5 (18) |
15
Epic volcanic activity flooded Mercury's north polar region
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ever since the Mariner 10 mission in 1974 snapped the first pictures of Mercury, planetary scientists have been intrigued by smooth plains covering parts of the surface. Some suspected past ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 29, 2011 |
4.3 / 5 (6) |
2
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Venus Express unearths new clues to the planet's geological history
(Phys.org) -- ESA's Venus Express has been used to study the geology in a region near Venus' equator. Using near-infrared observations collected by the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC), scientists have found ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
May 23, 2012 |
5 / 5 (4) |
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Cassini spots tiny moon, begins to tilt orbit
(Phys.org) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft made its closest approach to Saturn's tiny moon Methone as part of a trajectory that will take it on a close flyby of another of Saturn's moons, Titan. The Titan flyby ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
May 22, 2012 |
4 / 5 (2) |
2
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SpaceX rocket launch aborted in last half-second (Update)
Engineers aborted the launch of a privately built spacecraft on a landmark mission to the International Space Station at the last second Saturday due to a rocket engine problem.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
May 19, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (11) |
19
SpaceX readies ambitious ISS launch
California-based company SpaceX was poised to launch its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station Saturday in what may be a historic mission for private spaceflight.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
May 18, 2012 |
5 / 5 (4) |
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Spacecraft
A spacecraft is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters space then returns to the Earth. For an orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters a closed orbit around the planetary body. Spacecraft used for human spaceflight carry people on board as crew or passengers. Spacecraft used for robotic space missions operate either autonomously or telerobotically. Robotic spacecraft that leave the vicinity of the planetary body are space probes. Robotic spacecraft that remain in orbit around the planetary body are artificial satellites. Starships, which are built for interstellar travel, are so far a theoretical concept only (aside from a handful of interstellar probes such as Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager, and New Horizons).
Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and space tourism. Spacecraft and space travel are common themes in works of science fiction.
For more information about Spacecraft, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
