spacecraft Archives

Spacecraft Could Clean Up Trash Orbiting Earth

January 12, 2017April 7, 2021 Science Connectedsatellites, space junk, spacecraft

There is a lot of trash orbiting earth. More than 170 million pieces and counting, in fact. The pieces of trash range from tiny bits of metal to entire satellites no longer in use. By Katherine Lindemann Human activity in space has left behind a lot of trash orbiting earth, from tiny bits of metal to entire satellites no longer in use. This debris poses a danger to new and ongoing missions. Inna Sharf is an aeronautical engineer at McGill University and is working on ways to remove it from…

Astronomy and Astrophysics

New Horizon’s Pluto Flyby

July 14, 2015September 2, 2015 Science Connectedastronomy, NASA, solar system, space, spacecraft

NASA’s spacecraft New Horizons entered its closest approach with Pluto yesterday, as part of its nine-year mission to study the last of the nine “classical” planets in our solar system. Later today, we will receive the first “phone home” communication from the spacecraft. Here on Earth, scientists are eagerly awaiting today’s transmission from New Horizons. One of them is Noemi Pinilla-Alonso, an astrophysicist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and formerly of NASA. Our friends at ResearchGate recently chatted with Pinilla-Alonso about her hopes and plans for the long-awaited data.…