When was stardust launched

Mars Observer. Inertial Stellar Compass. Viking 1. Intelligent Payload Experiment. Deep Impact. Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry. Mariner 3. Mars Cube One. After visiting two comets and returning pieces of one to Earth and traveling nearly 5.

But even in its death throes, Stardust will yield valuable data for spacecraft engineers. Ground controllers commanded the spacecraft to fire up its four rocket thrusters one last time to use up its remaining fuel today March Engineers watched closely while the probe's propellant tank ran dry to help future missions gauge their fuel reserves more precisely. Stardust's demise comes after a long track record of scientific feats achieved by the Discovery-class mission.

JPL's lucky peanuts are an unofficial tradition at big mission events. DART's mission is to determine if flying a spacecraft into a small solar system body could be a reliable technique to deflect an asteroid. Futuristic electric thrusters emitting a cool blue glow will guide the Psyche spacecraft through deep space to a metal-rich asteroid. What's the next big thing? What might space missions in and beyond set out to discover? It's suspected that about 5, years ago a comet swept within 23 million miles of the Sun, closer than the innermost planet Mercury.

Models and lab tests suggest the asteroid could be venting sodium vapor as it orbits close to the Sun, explaining its increase in brightness. Full Moon Guide: August - September Perched atop a stand in a high-ceilinged clean room, DART is beginning to look like the intrepid spacecraft that will aim itself directly into an asteroid.

Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets, are rocky remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system. NASA approved the Near-Earth Object Surveyor space telescope to move to the next phase of mission development after a successful review.

Click for more. Earth's Moon Poster - Version I. Cassini Noodle Mosaic of Saturn.