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Watch a test of the rocket NASA says will go to Mars and see what 3.6 million lbs of thrust looks like

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NASA achieved a significantmilestone Wednesday when its new Space Launch System completed a two-minute test fire that NASA says will eventually help it fly astronauts to Mars. The test of the rocket motor at Orbital ATK's Utah test facility in Utah was a key step toward qualifying the rocket ready to fly. At 11:30 a.m. a burst of fire gushed from the 177-feet long rocket with a thunderous roar.

With the booster laying on its side, the rocket, operating atabout 3.6 million pounds of thrust, or 22 million horsepower, set off huge plumes of smoke, and officials said that it appeared to go off flawlessly.

"I am very happy,"Alex Priskos, manager of NASA's SLS Boosters Office, said on NASA TV. "Great test. Just a fantastic result. ... This thing was about as perfect ... as it could be."

NASA's new Space Launch System completed a two-minute test fire that the agency says will eventually help it fly astronauts to Mars. The test of the rocket motor at Orbital ATK's Utah test facility in Utah was a key step toward qualifying the rocket ready to fly. (NASA)

The test follows a successful launch late last year of the Orion spacecraft, which flew further than any vehicle designed for humans had gone in more than 40 years. Ultimately, NASA plans to use the SLS to launch Orion to an asteroid, and, it hopes, eventually to Mars.

After its first test flight in 2018 originally planned for 2017 but delayed because of funding issues SLS is then expected to perform its first manned flight in 2021.

But after that flight, future mission destinations remain uncertain, the Government Accountability Office has said.

NASA plans one more test next year, and was clearly pleased with the way this one went.

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Watch a test of the rocket NASA says will go to Mars and see what 3.6 million lbs of thrust looks like

BT: Nasa 4,000 Pinoy, nananatuli sa Libya sa kabila ng kaguluhan – Video

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BT: Nasa 4,000 Pinoy, nananatuli sa Libya sa kabila ng kaguluhan
Balitanghali is the daily noontime newscast of GMA News TV anchored by Raffy Tima and Pia Arcangel. It airs Mondays to Fridays at 11:30 AM (PHL Time). For more videos from Balitanghali, visit...

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BT: Nasa 4,000 Pinoy, nananatuli sa Libya sa kabila ng kaguluhan - Video

NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Reaches Dwarf Planet Ceres

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NASAs Dawn spacecraft has just made history by becoming the first mission to orbit a dwarf planet.

The probe went into orbit around the icy world of Ceres Ceres at around 7.39am EST today, when it was around 38,000 miles from the planet.

Dawn then signalled its mission controllers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) to let them know that it was on track and thrusting with its ion engine. The message took around an hour to get through to JPL and indicated that the spacecraft was in orbit around Ceres as planned.

Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres was known as a planet, then an asteroid and later a dwarf planet, said Marc Rayman, Dawn chief engineer and mission director at JPL, in a statement. Now, after a journey of 3.1 billion miles and 7.5 years, Dawn calls Ceres home.

The successful orbit is a double milestone for Dawn, since it also makes the craft the first mission to orbit two different extraterrestrial targets. Dawn has already spent time from 2011 to 2012 exploring the giant asteroid Vesta. Both Vesta and Ceres are the two most massive space rocks in our Solar Systems main asteroid belt between Mars Mars and Jupiter.

Ceres is seen from NASAs Dawn spacecraft on March 1, just a few days before the mission achieved orbit around the previously unexplored dwarf planet. The image was taken at a distance of about 30,000 miles. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA)

The latest pictures phoned home by Dawn show Ceres as a crescent thats mostly in shadow because its trajectory has put it on the dark side of the dwarf planet. From mid-April, when Dawn comes out into the sun, it will be sending back nearer and nearer close-ups as it lowers its orbit around the planet.

We feel exhilarated, said Chris Russell, principal investigator of the Dawn mission at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). We have much to do over the next year and a half, but we are now on station with ample reserves, and a robust plan to obtain our science objectives.

NASA didnt just choose Ceres and Vesta for study because of their massive size, theyre also interesting because despite growing up in the same part of the early Solar System, they developed into two different kinds of bodies.

Vesta is a dry space rock with a surface that shows signs of resurfacing, much like Earth and other rocky bodies in the inner Solar System. Ceres has a much more primitive surface that contains water-bearing minerals and may have a weak atmosphere. Its more like Titan Titan and the large icy moons of the outer Solar System.

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NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Reaches Dwarf Planet Ceres

NASA's Dawn Reaches Historic Orbit Around Icy Dwarf Planet Ceres

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NASAs Dawn spacecraft has just made history by becoming the first mission to orbit a dwarf planet.

The probe went into orbit around the icy world of Ceres Ceres at around 7.39am EST today, when it was around 38,000 miles from the planet.

Dawn then signalled its mission controllers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) to let them know that it was on track and thrusting with its ion engine. The message took around an hour to get through to JPL and indicated that the spacecraft was in orbit around Ceres as planned.

Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres was known as a planet, then an asteroid and later a dwarf planet, said Marc Rayman, Dawn chief engineer and mission director at JPL, in a statement. Now, after a journey of 3.1 billion miles and 7.5 years, Dawn calls Ceres home.

The successful orbit is a double milestone for Dawn, since it also makes the craft the first mission to orbit two different extraterrestrial targets. Dawn has already spent time from 2011 to 2012 exploring the giant asteroid Vesta. Both Vesta and Ceres are the two most massive space rocks in our Solar Systems main asteroid belt between Mars Mars and Jupiter.

Ceres is seen from NASAs Dawn spacecraft on March 1, just a few days before the mission achieved orbit around the previously unexplored dwarf planet. The image was taken at a distance of about 30,000 miles. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA)

The latest pictures phoned home by Dawn show Ceres as a crescent thats mostly in shadow because its trajectory has put it on the dark side of the dwarf planet. From mid-April, when Dawn comes out into the sun, it will be sending back nearer and nearer close-ups as it lowers its orbit around the planet.

We feel exhilarated, said Chris Russell, principal investigator of the Dawn mission at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). We have much to do over the next year and a half, but we are now on station with ample reserves, and a robust plan to obtain our science objectives.

NASA didnt just choose Ceres and Vesta for study because of their massive size, theyre also interesting because despite growing up in the same part of the early Solar System, they developed into two different kinds of bodies.

Vesta is a dry space rock with a surface that shows signs of resurfacing, much like Earth and other rocky bodies in the inner Solar System. Ceres has a much more primitive surface that contains water-bearing minerals and may have a weak atmosphere. Its more like Titan Titan and the large icy moons of the outer Solar System.

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NASA's Dawn Reaches Historic Orbit Around Icy Dwarf Planet Ceres

Ceres: Bright spot on dwarf planet is a twofer, NASA spacecraft finds

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NASAs Dawn spacecraft has snapped even clearer views of Ceres, but its surface just keeps gettingcuriouser and curiouser. A strange bright spot on the dwarf planet now appears to have a companion spot shining right next to it.

Bright spots are often thought to have icy origins, though a Dawn project member has said that the readings from Ceres dont appear consistent with pure water ice. However, the missions lead scientist has now floated another possible explanation.

This may be pointing to a volcano-like origin of the spots, but we will have to wait for better resolution before we can make such geologic interpretations," Dawn principal investigator Christopher Russell of UCLA said in a statement.

Mysterious Ceres is one of fivedwarf planets (which include Pluto) and the largest member of the asteroid belt stretching between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Because asteroids are rocky leftover building blocks of planetary formation, studying these space fossils could help reveal what the early solar system looked like.

Ceres is also in a unique position in the asteroid belt, said Carol Raymond, Dawns deputy principal investigator and a geophysicist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The really neat thing about Ceres is that its kind of straddling a lot of boundaries between ... the rockier asteroids in the inner part of the asteroid belt and the wetter asteroids in the outer part of the belt, Raymond said in an earlier article.

But little has been known about this dwarf planet -- the best images, until Dawn came along, had been grainy shots taken by NASAs Hubble Space Telescope in 2003 and 2004. Back then, scientists thought the dwarf planet would have a smooth, icy surface.

But Dawns newer images -- getting clearer as the spacecraft approaches its target -- show bright spots and darker areas that reveal that the surface is much rougher than may have been expected. The most recent shots show that the brightest spot actually has a little companion, in the very same basin.

What we expect at Ceres is to be surprised, so its getting off to a good start, Raymond noted in an earlier article. As Dawn approaches Ceres and enters orbit March 6, increasingly high-resolution images will offer an unprecedented look at the dwarf planet.

Ceres is one of a few icy water worlds in our solar system (includingSaturns moon Enceladus and Jupiters moon Europa) that could potentially harbor a subsurface ocean and some potential for microbial life.

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Ceres: Bright spot on dwarf planet is a twofer, NASA spacecraft finds

NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Makes History As It Reaches Dwarf Planet Ceres – Video

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NASA #39;s Dawn Spacecraft Makes History As It Reaches Dwarf Planet Ceres
http://www.undergroundworldnews.com WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- After more than seven years traveling, NASA #39;s Dawn spacecraft has reached Ceres. "NASA #39;s Dawn spacecraft has become the ...

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NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Makes History As It Reaches Dwarf Planet Ceres - Video


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