When New River Community College instructor Jeff Levy was considering what project to have students in his engineering design technology program work on this year, he took a shot in the dark: He emailed someone he had never met who had no direct ties to the community and who also worked halfway across the country, retired NASA astronaut Dr. Franklin Chang Diaz, CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company in Houston, Texas.
That email turned into a lengthy phone call. And that phone call turned into a unique educational opportunity for NRCC students in Levyâs class.
Chang Diaz and his team at Ad Astra had often worked with Ph.D. program students, but typically not with first- and second-year community college students. But once he learned what Levy was interested in pursuing, he was immediately interested in helping those in Levyâs program learn more about his own passion for space travel, and in turn, perhaps he could inspire that same passion in a new generation of learners.
Chinese Long March Rocket Breaks up Over The Indian Ocean Published May 9th, 2021 - 05:21 GMT
The Pentagon said on May 5, 2021 it is following the trajectory of a Chinese rocket expected to make an uncontrolled entry into the atmosphere this weekend, with the risk of crashing down in an inhabited area. STR / AFP
Highlights
Long March 5B core stage reentered atmosphere over Maldives on Saturday
China s Long March rocket stage has reentered Earth s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, north of the Maldives, the US Space Agency has confirmed.
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The rocket broke up upon reentry, which occurred at 10.24pm U.S. Eastern Time on Saturday, according to officials, who have not yet given exact coordinates of where it reentered.
A huge 18-ton chunk of China s Long March space rocket is now set to land in the Pacific - but predictions are changing by the minute as it hurtles towards Earth.
The latest estimates project re-entry will take place early on Sunday morning, with most agencies predicting it will emerge between 2am and 4am UK time.
The Aerospace Corporation says the rocket will arrive at around 2.11am UTC, with the European Union’s Space Surveillance and Tracking team estimating 2.30am.
Space-Track agrees, saying the Long March fragment should arrive within hours.
The rocket s path is too unpredictable to pinpoint exactly where it will crash, but recent forecasts have suggested it may fall in the Pacific Ocean.
Kessler Syndrome and the (growing) problem of Space Debris
Not a topic directly related to
Gadget Master, perhaps, but we do often cover space matters… it’s Space Debris.
Specifically, check out the interesting new video from the European Space Agency, entitled “Time to Act”, which explains the growing problem of space debris caused by defunct and colliding satellites in orbit.
It’s time to act, says ESA, “to ensure humanity’s access to space is guaranteed for future generations”.
The background threat is the development of an unstable debris environment in some orbit regions, which is known as the ‘Kessler syndrome’ (a vicious cycle with each collision causing more debris that increases the chances of further collisions). Imagine the range of satellite-based information systems that could be affected…