Word: orbits
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...Astrophysics, in Cambridge, Mass., is to collect reports of asteroids that might one day pass near Earth. On that Tuesday, he had been processing observations from an automated telescope in New Mexico when he noticed a pinpoint of light that might fit the profile. He calculated the object's orbit and, as usual, posted the information on the Minor Planet Center website for other astronomers to see. Then he went off to dinner with a friend...
...German amateur astronomer visited the Minor Planet website, noted the new object, called 2004 AS1, and noticed further that its brightness was expected to increase an almost unbelievable 4,000% in the next day or so--an indication that it was approaching with blistering speed. Then he plotted the orbit Spahr had calculated and realized that the chunk of rock, estimated at the time to be about 100 ft. across, was on a direct collision course with Earth--specifically, somewhere in the northern hemisphere--and only days away. At that size, it would probably explode in the atmosphere...
...ordinary tourist shuttle, though. It's an Ariane-5G rocket that will launch the Rosetta spacecraft on an ambitious journey halfway across the solar system to intercept and land on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is currently streaking across space at more than 100,000 km/h inside the orbit of Jupiter. "What's totally obsessing me is that we're launching into a comet and searching for the origins of life," says David Southwood, director of science at the European Space Agency (ESA), which is orchestrating the Rosetta project. "We're going out there, landing on a comet and doing our analysis...
...viewpoint "Why We Shouldn't Go to Mars" [Jan. 26], author Gregg Easterbrook argued that we should be researching advanced methods of propulsion to launch payloads into orbit affordably. But Easterbrook needs to understand that this is not going to happen all by itself. Exploration drives research, not the other way around. Ben Parris Garden City...
BUDGET: $2 BILLION In October it became the third nation to send an astronaut into orbit. It wants to land an unmanned vehicle on the moon by 2010--five years before NASA next plans to set foot there...