Tag Archives: NASA

Closing in on Ceres

Posted on 18 February 2015 by catholicsensibility

The Dawn spacecraft is nearing the dwarf planet and largest asteroid Ceres. Nice pair of images on the APOD site today. Scientists are pondering the white spots on the surface, but I’ve seen things like this before. Compare Ceres (imaged … Continue reading →

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Satellite Imagination: Pioneer’s Near Miss

Posted on 14 May 2013 by catholicsensibility

In 1961, UCLA grad student Michael Minovitch (image here) figured out the gravity assist maneuver for space travel. The young mathematician, working for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), crunched some numbers. And the numbers showed that if a rocket was aimed … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Satellite Imagination | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment