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JPL

Rockets

The Biggest Rockets That Never Were – Part 2!

From the fertile imaginings of the 1950s and 60s in the American aerospace industry came a wealth of Space-launcher ideas in all seemingly conceivable (and sometimes, inconceivable) shapes and sizes. So as we continue to investigate some of the ‘biggest rockets that never were’ and cannot examine them all, let’s Read more…

By Nick Parke, 3 yearsSeptember 18, 2020 ago
Robot Exploration

Voyager Goes Interstellar

A rare astronomical event due to occur in the late 1970s inspired the desire to send a spacecraft to the most distant planets in our Solar System and beyond. That decision almost 40 years later has meant humans have created and launched a spacecraft which has travelled to the boundary Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 years ago
image of Sojourner rover
Rockets

Putting Wheels on Mars

NASA’s Curiosity rover’s safe arrival in Gale Crater,Mars,thanks to some innovative technology,  is still being applauded throughout the world.It is easy to forget that the one-tonne robot is not the first Mars rover.The most incredible new-era technology had already been deployed on Mars by NASA, is executing crucial missions at Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 11 yearsAugust 7, 2012 ago
image_of mars rovers
Robot Exploration

Curiosity on Mars: How did NASA do it?

NASA Mars Exploration Program Team are now achieving such a level of accuracy in landing craft on the Martian surface that the targeted landing area for Curiosity was like an arrow hitting the bull’s-eye from hundreds of kilometres away. Proportionally this bull’s-eye equates to a landing zone on Mars measuring Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 11 yearsAugust 6, 2012 ago
Robot Exploration

Welcome to Mars!

I had my doubts, but NASA didn’t let us down when the Agency’s Curiosity rover was successfully landed in Gale Crater, Mars at 5.14 UTC on 6 August 2012.     The first images are unimpressive (but are of course from the hazcams, small low resolution cameras for evaluating potential Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 11 yearsAugust 6, 2012 ago
Robot Exploration

Curiosity Goes to Gale Crater

On 6 August, while many of us are enjoying the Olympics, staff at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be nervously watching their monitors, waiting for a message from Mars.If all goes well, their Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft will scream through the tenuous Martian atmosphere, until its parachute cracks open, followed Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 11 yearsJuly 31, 2012 ago
Robot Exploration

Spirit, this was your life!

Spirit, one of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers has finally transmitted its last data back to Earth. We look back upon the career of this valiant space explorer. Our neighbouring planet Mars came closer to Earth than it has for thousands of years, in August 2003. NASA had decided in 2000 Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsJuly 5, 2011 ago
Robot Exploration

Unique Martian Sky Crane Tested

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is to use a unique system called a “sky crane” to touch down next year on the Red Planet. Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have just released a video of this previously untried mechanism under test. (UPDATE: it all worked perfectly, for more detail see Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsJanuary 21, 2011 ago
Comets and Asteroids

Hartley 2: What has the Deep Impact flyby shown us?

NASA’s Deep Impact probe flew past comet Hartley 2 and revealed a odd-looking peanut-shaped nucleus. What are the first impressions from these exciting images? Only about a mile (1.6 km) from end to end, the nucleus of Comet Hartley2 is hardly the most impressive member of the Solar System. Never Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsNovember 5, 2010 ago
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RSS Intergalactic Craic
  • S3Ep2 - Wee Bitta Craic: Bout Ye Zuri?
    In the latest Wee Bitta Craic episode, Alice and Ethan ask Zuri all about how she came to be at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium doing her PhD. Find out more about Zuri's journey to get to where she is today, and laugh along as the guys have quality banter. If you love listening to our […]
  • S3Ep1 - Wee Bitta Craic: Welcome Ethan, Alice and Zuri!
    Want a Wee Bitta Craic? Then say hello to some of our PhD students, Ethan, Alice and Zuri. They will be hosting their own Wee Bitta Craic episodes and will give you an insight into the life of a PhD students here at AOP!
  • Season 3 - What's the craic?
    What's the Craic? Intergalactic Craic is back and it's shaking things up! Join Heather and her brand new co-host to find out more!
Welcome to Astronotes

Hello and welcome to Astronotes, the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium’s official blog. Here you will find the latest news and views from all those who work in our organisation, from the fascinating worlds of astronomy and space exploration. We hope you will come here to learn what is hot and exciting, profound or even weird from worlds beyond ours . So that's the introduction out of the way, now on with the Universe!

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