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Spacecraft
hideA spacecraft is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters space then returns to the Earth. For an orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters a closed orbit around the planetary body. Spacecraft used for human spaceflight carry people on board as crew or passengers. Spacecraft used for robotic space missions operate either autonomously or telerobotically. Robotic spacecraft that leave the vicinity of the planetary body are space probes. Robotic spacecraft that remain in orbit around the planetary body are artificial satellites. Starships, which are built for interstellar travel, are so far a theoretical concept only (aside from a handful of interstellar probes such as Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager, and New Horizons).
Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and space tourism. Spacecraft and space travel are common themes in works of science fiction.
For more information about Spacecraft, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with spacecraft
Superconductor magnet spacecraft heat shield being developed
Nov 26, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- European space agencies and an aerospace giant are developing a new re-entry heat shield that will use superconductor magnets to generate a magnetic field strong enough to deflect the superhot ...
Mystery of the Solar Tsunami -- Solved (w/ Video)
Nov 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) is telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as ...
Saturn's Mysterious Hexagon Emerges from Winter Darkness
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- After waiting years for the sun to illuminate Saturn's north pole again, cameras aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft have captured the most detailed images yet of the intriguing hexagon shape ...
Monster Waves on the Sun are Real (w/ Video)
Nov 25, 2009 |
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Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft are telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as the "solar ...
Cassini's Big Sky: The View from the Center of Our Solar System
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- When NASA's Cassini spacecraft began orbiting Saturn five years ago, a dozen highly-tuned science instruments set to work surveying, sniffing, analyzing and scrutinizing the Saturnian system.
Scientists explain puzzling lake asymmetry on Titan
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 29, 2009 |
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Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) suggest that the eccentricity of Saturn's orbit around the sun may be responsible for the unusually uneven distribution of methane and ethane ...
Dawn Enters Asteroid Belt -- For Good
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Dawn spacecraft re-entered our solar system's asteroid belt today, Nov. 13, and this time it will stay there.
Cassini Sends Back Images of Enceladus as Winter Nears
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft has sailed seamlessly through the Nov. 21 flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus and started transmitting uncalibrated temperature data and images of the rippling terrain. ...
Ghostly 'Spokes' Puff Out From Saturn's Ring's (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Massive, bright clouds of tiny ice particles hover above the darkened rings of Saturn in an image captured by the Cassini spacecraft on Sept. 22, 2009, around the time of Saturn's equinox. ...
NASA to launch sky-mapping spacecraft
Dec 06, 2009 |
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(AP) -- NASA's latest space telescope will scan the sky in search of never-before-seen asteroids, comets, stars and galaxies, with one of its main tasks to catalog objects posing a danger to Earth. The sky-mapping ...
Image: Prometheus Plays Tug of War with One of Saturn's Rings
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The diminutive moon Prometheus whips gossamer ice particles out of Saturn's F ring in this image taken by the Cassini spacecraft on Aug. 21, 2009.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbite Team Plans Uplink of Protective Files
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The team operating NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter plans to uplink protective files to the spacecraft next week as one step toward resuming the orbiter's research and relay activities.
Keeping Mars Contained
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 04, 2009 |
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When robotic spacecraft bring a sample of Mars back to Earth, scientists will need specially-designed facilities to study the samples and prevent them from escaping to the outside world.
NASA: Floating 'junk' no threat to space station
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 28, 2009 |
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(AP) -- NASA says a piece of old space junk that it's been tracking for a few days is no threat to the International Space Station.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Spacecraft Out of Safe Mode
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter today has been taken out of the precautionary 'safe mode' it had been in since August.
