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Hot Topic
Solar System
Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids
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Hayabusa Rounds Earth
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
05/21/04 |
| The Japanese mission to return asteroid samples to Earth performed a successful flyby of our home planet and moon, while this first-of-a-kind probe picked up speed towards its ultimate destination beyond Mars. |
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Edward Lu: Why Move an Asteroid?
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
05/16/04 |
| The global defense against asteroids includes proposals to change the orbit of a hazardous, incoming rock. Doing this engineering in space by 2015 has much to do with how to control another world's orbit--with nothing but empty space to push off of. |
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Piecing Together a Permian Impact
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
05/13/04 |
| The largest extinction event in the history of life has been tied to an Australian crater called the Bedout crater now dated to be 250.7 million years old. There are several lines of evidence that indicate the Bedout crater was caused by a meteor impact rather than volcanic activity. |
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Russell Schweickart: Charged With Planetary Destiny
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
05/08/04 |
| When will defending the planet mean simply calling on the "Ace Asteroid Mining and Moving Company" to nudge an asteroid gently out of the way? Russell Schweickart discusses the best ways to protect the planet from emerging asteroid threats. His timeline is within the decade to alter an asteroid's orbit. |
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Genesis Timeline
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
05/07/04 |
| Capturing solar wind is the task of the Genesis mission. The flight nears its conclusion with the September return to Earth of the first extraterrestrial samples since Apollo. |
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Martian Moon Rock a Meteor?
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
04/23/04 |
| A meteor that fell in 1980 in Yemen has at least one Russian scientist believing that it's most likely origination point was the Martian moon, Phobos. |
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Impact Risk Calculator
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
04/12/04 |
| A new online calculator can estimate the damage caused by asteroid strikes. When used to calibrate the dinosaur-killing strike 65 million years ago, what is now Houston would have been shaken by earthquakes and windy shockwaves. |
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Extraterrestrial Sample Return
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
04/05/04 |
| The Genesis mission to capture solar wind and return about 20 micrograms to Earth completed its sampling last week. Set for a September 8th safe return, the probe's next phase features a dramatic helicopter grab out of mid-air. The helicopter-hook is intended to cushion an otherwise hard landing. |
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Spaceguard Redux, Put to Test
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
03/19/04 |
| A team of asteroid hunters discovered Monday night that the closest approach yet of a 30-meter object would pass Thursday inside the orbit of the Earth-Moon system. This size of asteroid gives little warning - three days notice--and is nearly half the diameter of the 1908 asteroid that struck Siberia. |
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Stardust Jets Millions of Miles
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
03/18/04 |
| The Stardust mission in early January took the highest resolution surface image of a comet yet. By superimposing the pockmarked surface against the background glowing jets of gas, scientists now hope to understand how comets literally evaporate into space as they orbit the Sun. |
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