Weekly - North America witnesses rare total solar eclipse and more
Weekly Space News - Quick and Easy
North America witnesses rare total solar eclipse
Last week, parts of North America experienced a very rare total solar eclipse. In some regions, people reported that even the solar lights went on for a short period of time. The phenomenon was also caught by the International Space Station. The picture below shows the image taken from the ISS, of the moon’s shadow (umbra) covering a large portion of the northern hemisphere.
NASA’s breakthrough solar sail ready for launch
NASA recently announced that its new, breakthrough solar sail technology is finally ready for launch. The Advanced Composite Solar Sail System is kind of like a satellite. It is a technology demonstration mission, that uses large sail-like structures to propel itself forward. It functions similarly to the sails on a boat. The only difference is that in place of the wind, it is the light particles from the sun (photons), that will be used to push the spacecraft forward. The solar sail is planned to be launched by April 24th.
US satellite has a close shave with unused military satellite
Last week, an expired Russian military satellite came dangerously close to colliding with a US weather satellite named ‘Timed’. Luckily, no collision occurred and the 2 large satellites missed each other by just a mere 10 metres. If they had collided, it could have had serious consequences as it could have dropped down to the earth and endangered several lives.
