The Emptyness of Space is Bustling with Activity

This past week was eventful to say the least for space.  After my last post the Dawn spacecraft began its orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres and has also began to gather more information on the small planet.  On Wednesday the rocket booster for NASA's Space Launch System, which will be carrying Orion into space, went for a test blast.  The booster was turned on its side for the test and produced around 3.6 million pounds of trust.  Once all the information about the test is confirmed the booster will be sent to Kennedy Space Center in Florida where it will prepped to launch Orion for another test flight.  Today, March 12, NASA will launch their Magnetospheric Multi-Scale mission.  This mission will launch four satellites into space with the mission to measure the sun's magnetic field and how it effects Earth's, specifically the effect of solar flares.  The satellites will be carried by an Atlas V rocket and the launch can be seen on NASA TV starting at 8 p.m. with the launch around 10:44 p.m., weather permitting.  Finally the website SPACE.com has been publishing what it would be like to live on another planet in our solar system.  Each week they write about another planet and it is a very interesting article.  It can be found at  http://www.space.com/28355-living-on-other-planets.html.

NASA's Magnetospheric Multi-Scale mission satellites and their Atlas V rocket are rolled out to the launch pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station ahead of a planned March 12, 2015 launch.                                                                               Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

At the Orbital ATK test facility, the booster for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket was fired for a two minute test on March 11. The test is one of two that will qualify the booster for flight before SLS begins carrying NASA’s Orion spacecraft and other potential payloads to deep space destinations.

Image Credit: 

NASA