Radar images capture snowman-shaped object tumbling past Earth

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The universe appears to have sent us an early Christmas present: the large asteroid that tumbled safely past Earth last week was, in fact, two asteroids melded into one object that resembles a snowman. The asteroid, named 2024 ON, zipped past Earth on Sept. 17 at 19,842 mph (31,933 kph), which is roughly 26 times the speed of sound. The space rock is huge — 1150 feet (350 meters) long, about the size of a skyscraper — but it safely floated past Earth at a distance of 620,000 miles (1…

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Japan launching spy satellite on penultimate mission of H-2A rocket early Sept. 26

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Japan’s workhorse H-2A rocket is set to fly for the second-to-last time early Thursday morning (Sept. 26). An H-2A topped with a secret spy satellite called IGS-Radar 8 is scheduled to lift off from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center on Thursday at 1:24 a.m. EDT (0524 GMT and 2:24 p.m. local Japan time). Space.com will provide a webcast of the launch, if one is made available. According to NextSpaceflight.com, IGS-Radar 8 will head to sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), a polar path in which satellites cruise over patches of Earth at the same local…

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SARP West 2024 Oceans Group

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9 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Oceans group, from the 2024 Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) West Coast cohort, poses in front of the natural sciences building at UC Irvine, during their final presentations on August 13, 2024. NASA Ames/Milan Loiacono Faculty Advisor: Dr. Henry Houskeeper, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Graduate Mentor: Lori Berberian, University of California, Los Angeles Lori Berberian, Graduate Mentor Lori Berberian graduate student mentor for the 2024 SARP West Oceans group, provides an introduction for each of the group members…

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SARP West 2024 Whole Air Sampling (WAS) Group

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10 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Whole Air Sampling (WAS) group, from the 2024 Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) West Coast cohort, poses in front of the natural sciences building at UC Irvine, during their final presentations on August 13, 2024. NASA Ames/Milan Loiacono Faculty Advisor: Dr. Donald Blake, University of California, Irvine Graduate Mentor: Katherine Paredero, Georgia Institute of Technology Katherine Paredero, Graduate Mentor Katherine Paredero, graduate student mentor for the 2024 SARP West Whole Air Sampling (WAS) group, provides an introduction for…

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SARP West 2024 Terrestrial Ecology Group

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10 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Terrestrial Ecology group, from the 2024 Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) West Coast cohort, poses in front of the natural sciences building at UC Irvine, during their final presentations on August 12, 2024. NASA Ames/Milan Loiacono Faculty Advisor: Dr. Dan Sousa, San Diego State University Graduate Mentor: Megan Ward-Baranyay, San Diego State University Megan Ward-Baranyay, Graduate Mentor Megan Ward Baranyay, graduate student mentor for the 2024 SARP West Land group, provides an introduction for each of the group…

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2024 SARP West Closeout

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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) 2024 West Coast cohort poses in front of the natural sciences building at UC Irvine, during their final presentations on August 12, 2024. NASA Ames/Milan Loiacono On August 12-13, 24 students from the West Coast cohort of NASA’s Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) gathered at University of California, Irvine (UCI) to present their final research to a room of mentors, professors, family, and NASA personnel. SARP is an eight-week summer internship for undergraduate…

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Canon PowerShot Zoom digital monocular review

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The Canon PowerShot Zoom is a bit confusing at first. Most of its features as a camera are equally well matched by your average phone and undoubtedly surpassed with almost any modern digital camera. You realize the camera’s point only once you start using the 400mm zoom. Canon calls the PowerShot a monocular, but we find it’s better understood as a really small digital camera with the addition of a two-position zoom lens. This feature makes it a unique take on the monocular market. The lens is 100/400mm (equivalent) with…

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NASA Sets Coverage for Agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 Launch, Docking

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NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov walk across the crew access arm at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Credit: SpaceX NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff is targeted for 1:17 p.m. EDT, Saturday, Sept. 28, from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This is the first human spaceflight mission to launch from that pad. The targeted docking time is…

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NASA’s Art Program is Back

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The inaugural murals for the relaunched NASA Art Program appear side-by-side at 350 Hudson Street, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York City. The murals, titled “To the Moon, and Back,” were created by New York-based artist team Geraluz and WERC and use geometrical patterns to invite deeper reflection on the exploration, creativity, and connection with the cosmos.

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SpaceX launching 20 Starlink internet satellites to orbit early Sept. 25

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SpaceX plans to launch 20 more of its Starlink broadband satellites, including 13 with direct-to-cell capability, from California early Wednesday morning (Sept. 25). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 20 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, on California’s central coast, Wednesday at 3:01 a.m. EDT (0701 GMT; 9:01 p.m. on Sept. 24 California time). You can watch the action live via SpaceX’s X account; coverage will begin about five minutes before launch. If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come…

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