Word: orbitals
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...covered in ice or snow; when the Voyager 1 spacecraft arrived at Saturn in 1981, it confirmed that long-distance impression. More intriguing was the way Enceladus behaved. Embedded inside Saturn's E ring - the outermost of the eight bands that make up the ring system - Enceladus seemed to orbit with a thick clump of ring matter trailing behind it, almost as if it were dragging the material in its gravitational wake. What astronomers suspected instead - and what Voyager confirmed - was that Enceladus was not dragging matter but expelling it, chugging through its orbits like a locomotive and leaving...
...long, 2-ton spacecraft is not designed for a landing, but rather will settle into a low lunar orbit just 30 miles (48 km) above the surface, or about half the altitude at which the Apollos flew. The ship will be fairly stuffed with scientific instruments, one of the most important - if least sexy sounding - of which will be its laser altimeter. The altimeter will bounce laser beams off the lunar surface and, by measuring the speed at which they reflect back up, calculate the moon's topography to within inches. That's critical since long-term lunar stays require...
...Aldrin found themselves piloting their lander over an unexpected boulder field just seconds before touchdown. That's less likely to happen this time, thanks to a camera that can visualize objects as small as a few feet across. What's more, since the LRO will be in a polar orbit instead of an equatorial one - or, vertical rather than horizontal - the moon's 28-day rotation will eventually carry virtually every spot on the surface beneath the camera's lens...
Shortly after the paired ships enter space, the LCROSS will separate from the LRO and embark on its own trajectory toward the moon. The LCROSS will lag behind, spending four months in a sweeping orbit that will carry it around both Earth and the moon; throughout its flight, it will remain attached to its upper stage rocket, separating from it only during its final approach to the moon. The rocket stage will then speed ahead, aiming for a deliberate crash in one of several craters in the south lunar pole in which the LRO's sensors will have detected signs...
...verdict will ever be carried out, it marked an important step forward in the evolution of international law, specifically relating to claims of human rights.Just after April Fools’ Day, North Korea launched perhaps its most ambitious rocketry project yet, which was intended to carry a satellite into orbit. Of course, this test was closely linked to the rogue state’s ballistic missile program, which, combined with its recently revealed nuclear deterrent, constitutes a definite threat to the stability of East Asia and much of the Pacific Rim. And in May, Pyongyang followed up by detonating...