Discovery Space: Exploring The Solar System Space probes travel through space for months or years, journeying millions or even billions of miles to their destinations. Along the way, they help expand our knowledge of unexplored regions. Space probes are unmanned spacecraft designed to gather information about the sun, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and the space … Read more
Discovery Space: Human Beings in Space Space is an unfamiliar and extremely dangerous environment for human beings. People are only able to create environments for living and working in space with extensive technical support. An unprotected person in space would be exposed to an environment that is airless and a near vacuum. Without the pressure … Read more
Discovery Science: Satellite Technology Artificial satellites are spacecraft that orbit the Earth or other bodies in space. They carry out tasks that are difficult or impossible to undertake from the Earth’s surface. Satellites are monitored and directed from ground stations. While in orbit, sensors determine their position with respect to the Earth or sun. They … Read more
Discovery Space: The Development Of Space Travel EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE Just 12 years separated the launch of the first satellites and the first manned moon landing. Today, humanity’s presence in space is limited to near-Earth orbit, where astronauts carry out research in a weightless environment. Meanwhile, countless satellites circle the Earth on scientific and technical … Read more
Discovery Space: Extrasolar Planets Our solar system is not the only one of its kind; more and more planets in the vicinity of distant stars are being found all the time. Even though finding planets similar to Earth is particularly difficult, it is an especially compelling search and remains the goal of many research projects. … Read more
Discovery Space: Pluto Pluto was discovered in 1930 in a review of astrophotographic images, but since 1992 more and more celestial bodies have been detected in the region of its orbit. Consequently, it is now considered only one of the many icy objects located on the far side of Neptune’s orbit. Pluto, whose diameter is … Read more
Discovery Space: Uranus and Neptune Uranus and Neptune are the two giant outer planets of the solar system. Neptune is further from the sun and is not visible with the naked eye. Uranus is slightly larger than Neptune, and both planets are about four times larger than the Earth. Their gaseous envelopes resemble Jupiter and … Read more
Discovery Space: Outer Planets The outer solar system is dominated by four gaseous planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. They are followed by the dwarf planet Pluto and numerous other small celestial bodies. Other stars are also orbited by planets. In the near future, intergalactic telescopes may find Earthlike planets in outer space too, and … Read more
Discovery Space: Comets Comets are essentially chunks of dirt and ice. They have changed even less than asteroids since the beginning of the solar system. Therefore, comets can provide valuable information about their origin. Comets are celestial bodies that are invisible until they near the sun. Some comets have short orbital periods and are thought … Read more
Asteroids and Comets Asteroids and comets are probably remnants from the time the solar system formed. Consequently, they are fascinating to science, providing clues to the early life of the solar system. Asteroids Asteroids are irregularly shaped boulders, usually less than 60 miles (100 km) in diameter. They orbit the sun, generally in slightly elliptical … Read more
