- Industry: Astronomy
- Number of terms: 6727
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Planetary Science Research Discoveries (PSRD) is an educational site sharing the latest research by NASA-sponsored scientists on meteorites, asteroids, planets, moons, and other materials in our Solar System. The website is supported by the Cosmochemistry Program of NASA's Science Mission ...
Landing site of Apollo 11 on the Moon on July 20, 1969; Mare Tranquillitatis.
Industry:Astronomy
A global mapping mission to the Moon launched in 1994 by the U. S. Department of Defense, with science support from NASA.
Industry:Astronomy
The largest of the known asteroids; a dwarf planet. Also called 1 Ceres because it was the first asteroid to be discovered (by Piazzi in 1801).
Industry:Astronomy
An explanation for the shift in an asteroid's orbit around the Sun due to a thermal thrust caused by the body's uneven heating by sunlight. The illuminated side of an asteroid absorbs the sunlight and heats up. After a short delay produced by thermal inertia, the asteroid re-radiates the thermal energy and this causes a recoil spin that pushes the asteroid away from its current orbital path. In 2003, scientists used radar data from the Arecibo Observatory of Asteroid 6489 "Golevka" to obtain the first-ever measurements of the Yarkovsky Effect. (Named for the Russian engineer who came up with the idea around the year 1900. )
Industry:Astronomy
A pattern found in iron meteorites due to a change in crystal structure of iron-nickel metal grains during cooling. This structural change produces a pattern of crystallographically oriented kamacite (low-nickel content, usually up to 7. 5 wt% nickel) plates in taenite (high-nickel content, ~20 to 50 wt% nickel).
Industry:Astronomy
U. S. Mission to Mars, composed of two spacecraft, launched in 1975. Viking 1 and Viking 2 both consisted of an orbiter and a lander. Primary mission objectives were to obtain high resolution images of the Martian surface, characterize the structure and composition of the atmosphere and surface, and search for evidence of life. Viking Mission website from the National Space Science Data Center.
Industry:Astronomy
