Mangalyaan completes 1000 days in orbit & other space news
Space News Recap | June 12 — June 18
Solar System
New Horizons
The Principal Investigator of the New Horizons mission, Alan Stern, tweeted that his team spent three days trying to zero in on the mission’s next target. News quickly followed, and the target is called 2014 MU69.
Juno
Images from Juno after its seventh dive orbit around Jupiter show stunning cloud formations. The four white storms on top are called “String of Pearls.”
Cassini
The craft spotted bright methane clouds in the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan after a flyby. This is not unusual; Titan has an active hydrocarbon cycle like we have a water cycle on earth.
Mars
India’s Mangalyaan has successfully completed 1000 days in orbit. You can read more about the Mars Orbiter Mission here.
Elon Musk has published his paper that details his plans to colonize Mars. The plan includes 1000 spaceships, each carrying 100 people, and putting 1 million people on Mars within the next 100 years.
Sun
New research has shown that the sun likely had a twin that tugs at comets and other bodies, flinging them towards the earth. The study states that each star that is like the sun is formed with a twin. Our twin has been hypothesized for a while and nicknamed Nemesis.
Launches
SpaceX
SpaceX has postponed a launch of the BulgariaSat-1 to replace a fairing valve. The next launch window will be later this month.
China
China launched a satellite into space atop its rocket Long March 3B on Sunday at midnight. But there has been no confirmation of a successful delivery.
In Orbit
ISS
An uncrewed Russian cargo ship resupplied the ISS with tons of fresh food and other supplies.
KFC (?!!)
A private firm by the name of World View Enterprises is scheduled to carry — of all the things — a KFC burger into space for marketing the product.
History: On this day
June 16
Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963.
June 18
American astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman and the third American to go to space in 1984.
