Tweet

Metrotvnews.com: Agen ruang angkasa Amerika Serikat, NASA, berencana menyiapkan robot ruang angkasa untuk menangkap asteroid berukuran kecil dan menempatkannya di dekat bulan.

Robot itu dapat membantu astronaut yang melakukan ekspedisi di ruang angkasa.

Menurut Senator Bill Nelson, rencana tersebut paling cepat terwujud dalam waktu empat tahun dengan misi mendaratkan astronaut di sebuah asteroid untuk membawa batu ruang angkasa terdekat ke bumi.

Pesawat robot akan menangkap asteroid berukuran 7,6 meter dengan bobot 450 metric-tonne pada 2019.

Dengan menggunakan kapsul ruang angkasa Orion yang sedang dikembangkan, sekitar empat astronaut akan menyundul batu pada 2012 untuk eksplorasi jalan di ruang angkasa.

Nelson menyebutkan penggunaan robot akan membantu NASA mengembangkan kemampuan menjauhkan asteroid berbahaya dari bumi. (Telegraph)

Tweet

Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares rocket is set to launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Launch is targeted to occur between April 17-19 at approximately 5 p.m. EDT, the day of launch.

Antares is undergoing testing that will enable the rocket to eventually carry experiments and supplies to the International Space Station aboard a Cygnus cargo spacecraft. This test flight will not launch a Cygnus spacecraft or rendezvous with the space station.

Orbital is building and testing its new rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. A demonstration flight of Antares and Cygnus to the space station is planned for later this year. Following the successful completion of the COTS demonstration mission to the station, Orbital will begin conducting eight planed cargo resupply flights to the orbiting laboratory through NASA's $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract with the company.