快船和彗星号
(原标题: The Clipper and the Comet)
2024-10-17
浏览次数: 18
美国宇航局的木卫二快船现在正驶向地球外的海洋世界。这张照片拍摄于肯尼迪航天中心，拍摄于10月14日猎鹰重型火箭成功发射的前一天。照片中，这艘大型航天器被塞进了猎鹰重型火箭顶部的有效载荷整流罩中。欧罗巴快船的星际航行将首先把它带到火星，然后返回地球，然后在重力辅助轨道上到达木星，这将使它能够在2030年4月进入木星轨道。一旦绕木星轨道运行，飞船将飞越木卫二49次，探索木星的卫星，它的全球地下海洋可能具有支持生命的条件。在泛光灯照亮的火箭旁边的背景是土钦山-阿特拉斯彗星，大约在彗星最接近地球的一天之后。这颗肉眼可见的彗星是目前傍晚天空的宠儿，它来自遥远的奥尔特云生长画廊：2024年的特钦山彗星
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NASA's Europa Clipper is now headed toward an ocean world beyond Earth. The large spacecraft is tucked into the payload fairing atop the Falcon Heavy rocket in this photo, taken at Kennedy Space Center the day before the mission's successful October 14 launch. Europa Clipper's interplanetary voyage will first take it to Mars, then back to Earth, and then on to Jupiter on gravity assist trajectories that will allow it to enter orbit around Jupiter in April 2030. Once orbiting Jupiter, the spacecraft will fly past Europa 49 times, exploring a Jovian moon with a global subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life. Posing in the background next to the floodlit rocket is Comet Tsuchinsan-ATLAS, about a day after the comet's closest approach to Earth. A current darling of evening skies, the naked-eye comet is a visitor from the distant Oort cloud Growing Gallery: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in 2024
© Ben Cooper