robot guy

The University of Arizona wants to send a spacecraft called OSIRIS to collect a sample of the Near Earth Aseroid RQ-36. They have put together the retro-look video Destination: Asteroid to explain their mission plan.


Space Video of the Day Archive

Today's space video shows the launch of the Dawn spacecraft, bound for the asteroids Vesta in 2011 and Ceres in 2015. I have argued before on this blog for the outright cancellation of the mission (and the firings and possible prosecution for fraud of the mission manangers, due to the enormous cost overruns and delays), but it is on it's way now. Hopefully the mission proves to be worth being nearly 40% over budget and several years late.


Space Video of the Day Archive

Asteroids hitting the earth can ruin your whole day, so astronomers are watching some very closely and trying to come up with deflection strategies.


Space Video of the Day Archive

Today's video has appeared on this blog before, just not as a part of the Space Video of the Day series. This is a 3-D video, so grab your red/blue glasses if you have them. The video was produced by JAXA, the Japanese space agency, from data acquired by the Hayabusa probe as it orbited the asteroid Itokawa.


Space Video of the Day Archive

The Dawn mission to the asteroids Ceres and Vesta has been delayed yet again. A launch in mid-June 2006 was cancelled when the program was told to stand down in November 2005 due to budget issues. The project was later resumed and rescheduled for launch aboard a Delta-II rocket. There was some damage to the vehicle during testing, but it was apparently not enough damage to delay the mission. The launch was scheduled for June 20th, then delayed to June 30th, July 7th, then the 8th, then the 9th, then the 15th, and now NASA has pushed it back to September.


Space Video of the Day Archive

The Hayabusa team has released this video showing asteroid Itokawa in 3D. Break out the red/blue glasses and enjoy.


Hayabusa has just recently started the two-year journey back to earth. When it lands in the Australian desert, we'll get to see if the sample collection was successful.

More here, here, here, and here.