Word: orbits
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...letter sent last month to NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, former astronaut Rusty Schweickart, B612's chairman, called attention to the Apophis dilemma. He urged that a radio transponder, similar to those on commercial airliners, be landed on the asteroid so that astronomers might track its orbit precisely to determine if it will pass through a keyhole, and he requested that NASA quickly estimate the time required for both landing the transponder and a subsequent deflection mission that could alter the asteroid's orbit...
...that MN4 has been named Apophis, the Greek name for the Egyptian god of evil, destruction and darkness. But days after the initial discovery of the asteroid's trajectory, when astronomers found earlier, overlooked photos of the intruder in their archives and used them to refine estimates of its orbit, they were able to issue an all-clear. Apophis, it turns out, will come within as little as 15,000 miles from of Earth and will be visible to the naked eye in Europe and Africa on the evening of that April date, but will zoom safely past. Good news...
...there are still some reasons for concern. As it passes so close the asteroid, tugged by Earth's gravity, will change its orbital path. That could be very bad news. If the altered orbit results in Apophis passing through any of several "keyholes," specific regions of space only about 2,000 feet across, the asteroid would then return periodically to dangerously close encounters with Earth. Passage through the keyhole that astronomers think most likely to be the asteroid's target in 2029, for example, would bring it back to the near vicinity of Earth every seven years, beginning...
...students in Princeton, New Jersey. They erected a vast Aztec-style temple complex dedicated to the popped collar on the site of today’s Frist Center. The conflict even extended to popular heroes of the day. Alan Shepard (from New Hampshire) popped his collar during his post-orbit press conference. John Glenn (from Ohio) did not. By the 1980s, popping one’s collar had become a fashion statement for sailors and rowers—golfers had given it up once sweater sets became all the rage. As Lacoste regained market share throughout the decade...
...Should the liftoff take place as planned, it will be another 15 months before the spacecraft settles into its low, circular orbit around Mars. After that, it will have a full two years to conduct its surveillance work - a long life for a robot ship, and one that should return a rich trove of science...