Posted on 11/24/2022 3:37:17 PM PST by BenLurkin
A tiny asteroid explorer that launched on NASA's moon mission last week still hasn't phoned home.
Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout was one of 10 cubesats that hitched a ride to space on NASA's Artemis 1 mission, which launched on Nov. 16. The spacecraft was designed to sail on sunlight to fly past a small asteroid dubbed 2020 GE about a year from now.
NEA Scout personnel are hoping that the spacecraft's unusual propulsion strategy could help them track down the cubesat. Packed into the small satellite was a reflective, silvery solar sail that unfolds to 924 square feet (86 square meters)
Had everything gone smoothly, NEA Scout planned to deploy its sail in early December, according to a NASA spokesperson, then use the solar radiation hitting it to reach the asteroid. Instead, despite not having heard from the spacecraft, NASA personnel broadcast a command for "an emergency solar sail deployment" twice on Monday (Nov. 21) in hopes that the highly visible sail could help them find the cubesat.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
NASA might be focusing on diversity at the expense of competence
Pretty much like everything in society today. Did you see the Macy’s Day parade? Diversity on parade would have been a better name.
Imagine if NASA was woke in 1958. We would not even have ever launched a rocketsuccessfully and never would have made it to the moon.
Von Braun would have never been allowed even though he was a genius.
I heard the hosts say LGBT and I thought, that’s it, I’m done watching this garbage.
Someone forgot to activate the SIM card?
“Whitey on the Moon.”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=goh2x_G0ct4
No, this is a money thing. NASA has to launch Artemis before Starship did it’s orbital or the entire program could be cut for cost savings. Boeing has too much money tied up into it. NASA threw out all of the safety standards just to get the rocket to launch. The lost of some cubesats is a minor thing.
It just sucks for Les Johnson the primary investigator, this was supposed to be his retirement capstone, now they have to build another one.
He is good people from down in Huntsville. There are a bunch of smart rednecks who can do high-end math down there.
“Boeing has too much money tied up into it”. Maybe Boeing should just stick to what they do best. Whatever that is?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.