Blog about NASA activities
NASA has announced that its OSIRIS-REx space probe has found traces of water in the asteroid Bennu, reached on December 3. This is water bound to minerals present on Bennu’s surface, hydrated silicates formed in the very early stages of the solar system’s history, when the first small bodies such as the asteroids started forming.
NASA has confirmed that its Voyager 2 space probe has entered interstellar space. The instruments still operating confirmed that it passed through the outer boundary of the heliosphere, called heliopause, where the influence of solar wind ends meeting interstellar particles. These results were presented by members of the Voyager mission team today at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) being held in Washington these days.
A little while ago the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft was captured by the Canadarm2 robotic arm on the International Space Station. Alexander Gerst, assisted by his colleague Serena Auñón-Chancellor, managed the operation then started moving the Dragon to the berthing point at the Poisk module. The cargo spacecraft blasted off last Wednesday.
A little while ago the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in its CRS-16 (Cargo Resupply Service 16) mission, also referred to as SPX-16. After just over ten minutes it separated successfully from the rocket’s last stage and went en route. This is the 16th mission for the Dragon spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station with various cargoes and then return to Earth, again with various cargoes.
