Fire in the SkyS


Meteor

NEOShield to assess Earth defence

Jonathan Amos
BBC.co.uk
Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:21 UTC
Image
© NASA/JPL/JHUAPL
NEOShield is a new international project that will assess the threat posed by Near Earth Objects (NEO) and look at the best possible solutions for dealing with a big asteroid or comet on a collision path with our planet.

The effort is being led from the German space agency's (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin, and had its kick-off meeting this week.

It will draw on expertise from across Europe, Russia and the US.

It's a major EU-funded initiative that will pull together all the latest science, initiate a fair few laboratory experiments and new modelling work, and then try to come to some definitive positions.

Industrial partners, which include the German, British and French divisions of the big Astrium space company, will consider the engineering architecture required to deflect one of these bodies out of our path.

Should we kick it, try to tug it, or even blast it off its trajectory?
Read More...
Meteor

Space invasions: what to do when stuff falls from the sky

Alice Gorman
The Conversation
Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:14 UTC
Image
© Pat DaltonNearly 8,000 objects have been identified for possible collision with Earth
In the past six months, it seems something has fallen from the sky every second minute. In September, the UARS satellite re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, causing a media frenzy. In October, the German satellite Rosat re-entered, with much less fanfare. Before Christmas, there were reports of space junk falling near Esperance in Western Australia.

And skywatchers were out in droves when the Quadrantid meteor shower put on its annual display earlier this month. Last weekend, the Russian Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, the country's 19th attempt to reach Mars, plunged back to Earth amid much speculation about the effects of its toxic fuel.
Read More...
Meteor

NASA Satellite Witnesses a Comet's Plunge into the Sun


Scientific American
Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:21 UTC
A sun-watching spacecraft has for the first time tracked a comet's path all the way into the solar atmosphere

As dramatic exits go, it's on par with Major T. J. "King" Kong riding a falling nuclear bomb like a rodeo bull at the end of Dr. Strangelove. A NASA spacecraft has documented a comet's demise as it plunged toward the sun at 600 kilometers per second, broke apart and vaporized inside the solar atmosphere.
Image
© NASA / SOHO
The comet, known as C/2011 N3 (SOHO), met its fiery fate on July 6. The object's official name designates that it was discovered in early July 2011 by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. Many comets meet a similar end, but astronomers and solar physicists have never been able to track a comet's trajectory all the way into the depths of the solar corona, the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere.
Read More...
Meteor

Scientists: Mars Rocks Fell in Africa Last July


Associated Press
Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:14 UTC
Meteorite
© Darryl Pitt, Macovich Collection, via APA Martian meteorite was recovered in December last year near Foumzgit, Morocco.

Washington - Scientists are confirming a recent and rare invasion from Mars: meteorite chunks from the red planet that fell in Morocco last July.

This is only the fifth time scientists have chemically confirmed Martian meteorites that people witnessed falling. The small rock refugees were seen in a fireball in the sky six months ago, but they weren't discovered on the ground in North Africa until the end of December.

Scientists and collectors of meteorites are ecstatic and already the rocks are fetching big bucks because they are among the rarest things on Earth.

A special committee of meteorite experts, which includes some NASA scientists, confirmed the test results Tuesday. They certified that 15 pounds of meteorite recently collected came from Mars. The biggest rock weighs over 2 pounds.

Astronomers think millions of years ago something big smashed into Mars and sent rocks hurtling through the solar system. After a long journey through space, one of those rocks eventually landed here. It plunged into Earth's atmosphere, splitting into smaller pieces and one chunk shattered into shards when it hit the ground.

This is an important and unique hands-on look at Mars for scientists trying to learn about the planet's potential for life. So far, no NASA or Russian spacecraft have returned bits of Mars, so the only Martian samples scientists can examine are those that come here in a meteorite shower.
Read More...
Meteor

Russia's Mars probe crashes into Pacific

Stuart Williams
The Sydney Morning Herald
Mon, 16 Jan 2012 02:28 UTC
Image
© Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesRussian specialists working with the Fobos-Grunt spacecraft in 2011 before its launch
Russia believes fragments of its Phobos Grunt probe crashed into the Pacific ocean on Sunday after a failed mission to mars, a spokesman for its space forces says.

The splashdown marks an inglorious end for the Phobos Grunt probe, which Russia launched in November and hoped would scoop up a sample from Mars' largest moon, phobos, and bring it back to earth.

"According to information from mission control of the space forces, the fragments of Phobos Grunt should have fallen into the Pacific Ocean on Sunday morning," spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin told the Interfax news agency.

There was no immediate comment from Russia's space agency Roscosmos, which throughout the day, as the probe approached earth, had given wildly different predictions about where it could land.
Read More...
Clock

Doomed Russian Mars Probe Just Hours From Crashing to Earth

Tariq Malik
Space.com
Sun, 15 Jan 2012 11:23 UTC
A botched Russian Mars probe is just hours away from a fiery doom when it plunges into Earth's atmosphere in a fatal crash. It won't fall over the United States, but may crash into the Atlantic Ocean, Russian space officials said today (Jan. 15).

The spacecraft, Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mars moon probe, has been stranded in Earth orbit since its November launch due to an engine failure that prevented it from beginning its journey to the Red Planet. The probe may fall any time between 12:50 p.m. EST and 1:34 p.m. EST (1750 to 1834 GMT), with a potential crash zone in the Atlantic, west of northern Africa, but exactly where the spacecraft will crash is still uncertain, Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) officials said in a statement.

According to the latest prediction from Roscosmos, the final orbit of Phobos-Grunt will pass over southern South America, Asia, southern Europe and parts of Africa. North America, including the United States and Canada, Central America and Australia are in the clear, since the Mars probe will not be flying over those regions, according to the latest crash zone map.

Image
© Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos)This map shows a potential crash zone for the failed Russian Mars probe Phobos-Grunt as reported by Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) in the afternoon of Jan. 15, 2012.
Read More...
Satellite

Russia Mars probe 'crashes into Pacific Ocean'


The Telegraph, UK
Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:51 UTC
Russia said fragments of its Phobos-Grunt probe, which spiralled back to Earth after failing to head on a mission to Mars crashed on Sunday into the Pacific Ocean, a spokesman for its space forces said.
Image
© Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesRussian specialists working with the Fobos-Grunt spacecraft in 2011 before its launch

"According to information from mission control of the space forces, the fragments of Phobos Grunt should have fallen into the Pacific Ocean at 1745 GMT," spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin told the Interfax news agency.

There was no immediate comment from Russia's space agency Roscosmos, which throughout the day, as the probe approached Earth, had given wildly different predictions about where it could land.

Mr Zolotukhin said that the space forces had closely followed the probe's course. "This has allowed us to ascertain the place and time of the fall of the craft with a great degree of accuracy," he told Interfax.
Read More...
Meteor

Russia Mars Probe 'Crashes Into Pacific Ocean': Military


Raw Story
Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:26 UTC
Phobos-Grunt
© n/a
Russia believes fragments of its Phobos-Grunt probe which spiralled back to Earth after failing to head on a mission to Mars crashed Sunday into the Pacific Ocean, a spokesman for its space forces said.

"According to information from mission control of the space forces, the fragments of Phobos Grunt should have fallen into the Pacific Ocean at 1745 GMT," spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin told the Interfax news agency.

There was no immediate comment from Russia's space agency Roscosmos, which throughout the day, as the probe approached Earth, had given wildly different predictions about where it could land.

Zolotukhin said that the space forces had closely followed the probe's course. "This has allowed us to ascertain the place and time of the fall of the craft with a great degree of accuracy," he told Interfax.

According to the ITAR-TASS news agency, the probe should have splashed down 1,250 kilometres (800 miles) west of the island of Wellington off the coast of Chile.

A landing in the ocean would be a huge relief for Russia after earlier reports suggested it could crash into the territory of South America, possibly Argentina.

The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft should have been on an expedition to Mars' largest moon but instead became stuck in an Earth orbit that has become lower and lower as it becomes increasingly tugged by the Earth's gravity.

Source: Agence France-Presse
Read More...
Meteor

US: Glowing hot meteorite discovered in Castro Valley backyard

Chris De Benedetti
Hayward Daily Review
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:49 UTC
Meteorite_1
© Anda Chu Mitch Medeiros, of Castro Valley, holds a two-pound rock that may be a meteorite in Castro Valley, Calif. Friday Jan. 13, 2012. Medeiros found the rock in his backyard Wednesday and phoned Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Friday morning. The lab is working with Medeiros to help him identify the rock.
Meteorites plummeting to earth? In Castro Valley?

It wasn't exactly pennies from heaven, but if the smoldering, dark-colored rock discovered on Mitch Medeiros' property did indeed fall from the sky, it may fetch the 55-year-old a fortune. If, that is, it's a verifiable meteorite.

Whatever it is has turned life upside down for the retired truck driver.

Medeiros said his phone has continued to ring since he told friends his dog -- an energetic 2-year-old black Labrador retriever named Bella -- led him Wednesday to a small dirt pile that was spewing steam in the backyard of his Castro Valley hills home.

"She was the one who found it. I never would have known," he said.

While Bella barked in excitement, Medeiros shoveled the rock out of a fresh, foot-deep hole. It was glowing "like a barbecue coal," he said.

Comment: Meteorites officially cannot be warm or hot when they reach the ground. So much for official science then.

Read More...
Meteor

Canada: Meteor Flashes Through Edmonton Sky

Brenton Driedger
iNews880.com
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:51 UTC
Did you see that ball of white that flew through the sky Friday morning?

Our newsroom was getting calls, emails, and tweets from listeners, and some are convinced they saw a meteor at around 7:30am.

"I saw this huge flash come right across the sky going west to east," says James, who was driving near Thorsby at the time. "Just by chance I caught the whole thing. It was very, very bright and very low to the ground."

Most callers agree that the light disappeared as quickly as it came.

"This was quite bright -- a big chunk of white," says Pat, who was driving on 153 Avenue near Castledowns Road. "(It only lasted) about two or three seconds. They go fast. You notice them, and then before it hit the ground or before it disappeared near the horizon, it was out."

Frank Florian from the Telus World of Science didn't see it, but by the description he's fairly confident that this was a meteor.
Read More...