Orbital debris poses a risk to spacecraft, but it’s a risk we can manage.
This Sucker’s Nuclear?
Radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or RTGs are used to power spacecraft when solar panels aren’t up to the job.
Falcon Rising
The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa 2 has launched successfully, and is on its way to the asteroid 1999 JU3. The mission is the successor to the first Hayabusa mission, which landed on the asteroid 25143 Itokawa, and returned dust particles from the asteroid to Earth. This new mission will also strive to return samples to Earth, but it is also more ambitious. The …
Song for a Comet
So we’ve sent a spacecraft into space, put it in orbit near a comet, landed on it with a smaller probe, and listened to the comet’s song. What an amazingly human thing to do.