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An artist’s rendition of the TRAPPIST-1 system (not to scale). A new study shows that three of the planets in the habitable zone do not appear to possess hydrogen, which means their atmospheres could be similar to those of rocky planets, although that doesn’t guarantee they are habitable.

The TRAPPIST-1 star system is home to seven Earth-size planets, and a new study suggests that 3 of those planets’ atmospheres look similar to atmospheres found on rocky planets such as Venus or Mars.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers targeted the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system that lie in the star’s “habitable zone,” or the region where temperatures could be right to host liquid water on a planet’s surface — a critical ingredient for life as we know it. 

The researchers used Hubble to search for hydrogen and didn’t find a large abundance of the gas in three of the roughly Earth-size exoplanets: TRAPPIST-1d, TRAPPIST-1e and TRAPPIST-1f. (A fourth planet in the habitable zone, TRAPPIST-1g, will require more observations to estimate its hydrogen composition, according to a statement from NASA.) [Exoplanet Tour: Meet the 7 Earth-Size Planets of TRAPPIST-1]

Hydrogen acts as a greenhouse gas, which traps heat inside a planet’s atmosphere. For planets in the habitable zone, a hydrogen-rich atmosphere would render the surface extremely hot and unfriendly for life. Hydrogen is more abundant in gas-giant planets in Earth’s solar system, compared to rocky planets. Neptune, for example, has a very “puffy,” hydrogen-rich atmosphere, according to the statement. A lack of hydrogen means it’s possible that the TRAPPIST-1 planets have atmospheres that are “shallow and rich in heavier gases like those found in Earth’s atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, methane and oxygen.” 

An artist’s rendition of the TRAPPIST-1 system (not to scale). A new study shows that three of the planets in the habitable zone do not appear to possess hydrogen, which means their atmospheres could be similar to those of rocky planets, although that doesn’t guarantee they are habitable.

Credit: NASA and JPL/Caltech 

The three TRAPPIST-1 planets appear to have little hydrogen today, according to spectroscopic observations with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, but the study authors said it is possible that the planetary atmospheres contained hydrogen shortly after they formed. This suggests the planets’ atmospheres are closer in composition to those of the larger rocky planets in Earth’s solar system: Venus, Earth and Mars. 

All of the seven TRAPPIST-1 planets orbit closer to their parent star, TRAPPIST-1, than Mercury orbits the sun. Because TRAPPIST-1 is a dim red dwarf star, however, its habitable zone is much closer in than the habitable zone around the sun.

In the new paper, the researchers emphasized that more work is needed to understand what kinds of atmospheres surround the TRAPPIST-1 planets. NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch in 2019, should be able to get a better look, because TRAPPIST-1 is relatively close to Earth — just 40 light-years away. Webb will search for elements such as oxygen and compounds such as carbon dioxide, methane and water. Specific combinations of those molecules could indicate that a planet is habitable for life as we know it, or the likelihood that life is already present, according to the statement. 

“Hubble is doing the preliminary reconnaissance work so that astronomers using Webb know where to start,” study co-leader Nikole Lewis, an assistant astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, said in the statement. 

“Eliminating one possible scenario for the makeup of these atmospheres allows the Webb telescope astronomers to plan their observation programs to look for other possible scenarios for the composition of these atmospheres,” she said.

The lack of hydrogen does not directly imply that the planets are habitable, however. Their atmospheres could be oppressively hot, like that of Venus (which suffers from a runaway greenhouse effect) or extremely lightweight, like Mars’ atmosphere (which is so thin that water can’t flow on the surface).

This artist’s rendition shows what the planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system might look like.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“One of these four [TRAPPIST-1 planets] could be a water world,” Hannah Wakeford, a fellow at STScI and a co-author of the new paper, said in the same statement. “One could be an exo-Venus, and another could be an exo-Mars. It’s interesting because we have four planets that are at different distances from the star. So we can learn a little bit more about our own diverse solar system, because we’re learning about how the TRAPPIST star has impacted its array of planets.”

The new study was published yesterday (Feb. 5) in the journal Nature Astronomy.

TRAPPIST-1 made headlines last year after NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and other observatories confirmed the existence of seven rocky planets in the system. Four planets were announced last year as a part of that study, and the other three planets were discovered in 2016 by the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) in Chile, according to NASA. Hubble also did a previous hydrogen study of TRAPPIST-1b and 1c in 2016.

A separate study published today in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics suggests that some of the TRAPPIST-1 planets host a lot of water. Several ground-based and space-based telescopes surveyed the seven planets, estimated their density and determined that they are mostly rocky, with some of the planets holding up to 5 percent of their mass in the form of water. That’s roughly 250 times more than what Earth’s oceans hold, according to a statement from the ESO.

“The hotter planets closest to their parent star are likely to have dense, steamy atmospheres, and the more distant ones probably have icy surfaces,” ESO representatives wrote in the statement. “In terms of size, density and the amount of radiation it receives from its star, the fourth planet out [TRAPPIST-1e] is the most similar to Earth. It seems to be the rockiest planet of the seven, and has the potential to host liquid water.”

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — After the successful first launch of the Falcon Heavy megarocket yesterday (Feb. 6), which is propelling a Tesla electric car out into the solar system, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk still seemed surprised that the mission had succeeded.

“I had this image of a giant explosion on the pad, with a wheel bouncing down the road and the Tesla logo landing somewhere with a thud,” Musk told reporters here at Kennedy Space Center after the launch. “But fortunately, that’s not what happened.”

Instead, the launch went off almost without a hitch — the rocket’s second stage made it into orbit, and the Falcon 9 first stages that served as the rocket’s two side boosters detached and returned to land on Earth. [Out-of-This-World Photos from Falcon Heavy’s Historic Debut Flight]

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off on its first test launch Feb. 6, 2018; shortly afterward, its two first-stage side boosters separated and landed back at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Credit: SpaceX/Flickr

Only the center “core” booster failed to land on its intended drone ship: “Apparently it hit the water at 300 miles an hour and took out two of the engines on the drone ship,” Musk said. “That sounds like some pretty fun footage, so if the cameras didn’t get blown up as well, then we’ll put that out for a blooper reel.”

Musk arrived at the news conference late after visiting the two boosters that landed nearly simultaneously shortly after the launch. Although the side boosters aren’t set to fly again, both were in good flying condition, he said — luckily for SpaceX, as the boosters had new, “super expensive and awesome” titanium grid fins to help guide their flight.

After the launch, SpaceX surprised viewers with a livestreamed view from the red Tesla, showing the vibrant sphere of Earth passing by as the car (and the rest of the payload) rotated through space.

“I think it looks so ridiculous and impossible,” Musk said. “You can tell it’s real because it looks so fake, honestly. We’d have way better CGI if it was fake. The colors all look kind of weird in space. There’s no atmospheric occlusion; everything’s too crisp.”

He noted that SpaceX hadn’t tested the car’s materials for survival in space, although the mannequin riding in the driver’s seat is wearing a working spacesuit designed by the company. The car’s dashboard also hosts a miniature car with its own even tinier rider.

“It’s just literally a normal car in space — I kind of like the absurdity of that,” Musk said. “It’s kind of silly and fun, but I think that silly, fun things are important … I think the imagery of it is something that’s going to get people excited around the world, and it’s still tripping me out. I’m tripping balls here.”

SpaceX doesn’t have any plan for the electric car once it’s set on its elongated orbit around the sun, Musk said.

“After that it’s just going to be out there in space for maybe millions or billions of years,” he added. “Maybe discovered by some future alien race thinking ‘What the heck? What were these guys doing? Did they worship this car? Why do they have a little car in the car? And that’ll really confuse them.”

Musk said SpaceX was almost done with the development of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, and would soon turn its focus to the upcoming rocket currently nicknamed BFR. (The company’s Dragon spacecraft, which currently carries cargo to the International Space Station and may soon carry crewmembers, is nearing its last version as well, Musk said.) Although the Falcon Heavy could do that as well, and is capable of launching things directly to Pluto and beyond, the BFR is designed to work more efficiently for interplanetary travel.

But at least at the news conference, Musk held off on BFR discussion to celebrate the successful first launch of a vehicle with more than twice as much payload capacity of any other existing rocket — the most powerful working rocket in the world, which took SpaceX four more years of development than initially anticipated.

“Crazy things can come true,” Musk said. “I didn’t really think this would work — when I see the rocket lift up, I see a thousand things that could not work, and it’s amazing when they do.”

“I’ve seen rockets blow up so many different ways, so it’s a big relief for when it actually works,” he added.

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster and Starman passenger soar high above Earth after the successful first launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket on Feb. 6, 2018.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Starman is traveling through the solar system, riding in the driver’s seat of a midnight cherry Tesla Roadster with the top down.

The improbable, if also surreal scene, captured in a video broadcast back to Earth, unfolded live on Tuesday evening (Feb. 6) as a finale to SpaceX’s maiden launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket. The car served as a mass simulator, taking the place of a real payload given the risks that the test flight might have failed.

But it did not fail.

“I am really excited about today and proud of the SpaceX team,” said Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO and lead designer, in a post-flight press conference. “The mission seems to have gone really as well as one could have hoped.” [Related: See Epic Views of the Tesla Roadster in Space]

“I am still trying to absorb all that happened because it still seems pretty surreal to me,” he said.

The 230-foot-tall (70 meter) rocket lifted off on the thrust generated by 27 engines from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:45 p.m. EST (2045 GMT) Tuesday. As it climbed toward space, the Falcon Heavy survived Max Q, the point of maximum dynamic air pressure, and its two side boosters separated from the center core successfully, something SpaceX had never tried in flight before.

The boosters, each a modified Falcon 9 first stage that had flown before, touched down within seconds of each other at SpaceX’s landing zones at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The center core, which was intended to land on an ocean-based droneship, instead hit the water hard and exploded, the only blemish on an almost perfect first flight.

The Falcon Heavy, now the most powerful operational rocket in the world, not only reached space, but also demonstrated — with a second firing of its second stage engine — the booster’s ability to put a satellite directly into geosynchronous orbit.

And then the second stage engine lit again, putting the Roadster and its Starman passengeron what was expected to be a precessing Earth-Mars elliptical orbit, but, according to an update from Musk on Twitter, “exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt.” For the next few million, if not billion years or so, the Starman — named in tribute to the late David Bowie — will travel through the inner solar system.

‘Made on Earth by humans’

A circuit board inside Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster, now in deep space, is imprinted “Made on Earth by humans.”

Credit: SpaceX

The video sent back from the Roadster showed the car and its Starman passenger set against an almost full-disc Earth as it climbed to as high as 4,400 miles (7,000 kilometers) above the planet.

“You can tell it is real because it looks so fake,” Musk said. “We’d have way better CGI if it was fake. The colors look kind of weird in space. There is no atmospheric occlusion. Everything is too crisp.” [In Photos: SpaceX’s 1st Falcon Heavy Rocket Test Launch Success!]

The Roadster was not modified, nor apparently tested, to guarantee its survival on its trip into deep space.

“We did not really test any of those materials for space. It just has the same seats that a normal car has. It is just literally a normal car — in space. And I just kind of like the absurdity of that,” Musk said.

And as if a car in space was not enough of a spectacle, the Roadster carried with it a few subtle and not-so-subtle “Easter eggs.”

Beginning with the Starman itself, the spacesuit worn by the mannequin was not a costume, but rather marked the first in-space use of a garment designed for NASA astronauts to wear on SpaceX’s upcoming Dragon spacecraft crewed flightsto the International Space Station.

“That is actually the production design. The real one looks just like that,” described Musk. “In fact, that is one of the qualification articles. That is the real deal.”

“I figure it is a dangerous trip, you want to look good,” he said with a smile.

As the camera views changed from showing the Roadster from its side and front to a view looking over the Starman’s shoulder, another detail was revealed — on the dash screen was a sign with a science fiction-inspired message.

Prior to the launch in December, Musk was asked on Twitter if the Roadster would contain a copy of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams.

“Yes,” replied Musk, “plus a towel and a sign saying ‘Don’t Panic.’”

A more subtle, hidden message was shared by Musk on Instagram soon after the Roadster had entered space.

“Printed on the circuit board of a car in deep space,” wrote Musk, captioning a photo of the inscription reading, “Made on Earth by humans.”

The names of more than 6,000 of those humans — SpaceX employees — were engraved onto a plaque mounted on the payload attach fitting, the structure that held the Roaster onto the Falcon Heavy’s second stage.

“The work that goes into defining, building and launching a vehicle of this sort is no small feat. We’re super excited to be part of the Roadster’s billion-year journey through the solar system,” said Lauren Lyons, a SpaceX flight reliability engineer, during the company’s webcast of the launch.

Silly and fun, yet important

A Hot Wheels Tesla Roadster, complete with a tiny Starman, sits on the dashboard of Elon Musk’s Roadster after being launched into deep space.

Credit: SpaceX

Secured inside the Roadster is an Arch (pronounced “Ark”), a laser optical quartz storage device designed to survive the harsh environment of space. The disc was provided by the Arch Mission Foundation, whose stated goal is to “preserve and disseminate humanity’s most important information across time and space, for the benefit of future generations.”

“On the Arch that is being launched [on Falcon Heavy], the Foundation has stored Isaac Asimov’s classic sci-fi series ‘The Foundation Trilogy,’ which was the original inspiration for the Arch Mission,” said Lyons.

And then there is Hot Wheels Roadster on the dash of the real Roadster.

“On the dashboard, there’s a tiny Roadster with a tiny spaceman,” Musk said. “Hot Wheels made a Hot Wheels Roadster and a friend of mine suggested why don’t you put that Hot Wheels Roadster with a tiny spaceman on it in the car, too.”

“It’s kind of silly and fun, but silly and fun things are important,” he said. “I think the imagery of it is something that is going to get people excited around the world.”

It might also attract the attention of whoever encounters the car in millions, if not billions of years from now, postulated Musk.

“Maybe it’ll be discovered by some future alien race thinking, ‘What the heck were these guys doing? Did they worship this car?’” quipped Musk. “‘Why do they have a little car in the car?’ That will really confuse them.”

See more easter eggs and watch a replay of the live views of SpaceX’s Starman and the Tesla Roadster in space at collectSPACE.

Follow collectSPACE.comon Facebookand on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2018 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.

A long-exposure photo of the Falcon Heavy rocket’s first test launch on Feb. 6, 2018 shows the rocket’s curved trajectory as it lifts off from Kennedy Space Center and heads toward low-Earth orbit.

It’s a beautiful day for a rocket launch from my favorite launchpad. #FalconHeavy pic.twitter.com/OXmkSmvyoB

— Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) February 6, 2018

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Buzz Aldrin is in place to watch the Falcon Heavy rocket’s first test launch this afternoon (Feb. 6) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the rocket will take flight from the same pad that launched Aldrin’s unprecedented trip to the moon on Apollo 11.

Aldrin posted a photo on Twitter showing the view of his “favorite launchpad.” You can watch the launch live here on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX.

SpaceX’s first test launch of the heavy-lift rocket comes from Launch Complex 39A, the launchpad that hosted most of the Apollo mission launches (starting with the first test-flight of the Saturn V rocket, Apollo 4, in 1967) as well as several shuttle missions. In 2014, SpaceX leased the pad for its launches, and first launched a Falcon 9 rocket from the pad in 2017, landing the first-stage booster on a landing pad at Kennedy Space Center after launch.

Falcon Heavy boasts three Falcon 9 first stages, all of which it may attempt to land after the launch: the two side boosters on Kennedy Space Center landing zones and the center core on a floating barge. From his spot, Aldrin should have a clear view of the launch and most of the landing process for the first stages. If successful, the launch will boost a Tesla Roadster into an orbit that will intersect Mars’, although the planet won’t be there.

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

Give the gift of the entire solar system — including Pluto — with this gorgeous beaded bracelet. ($40 on Amazon)

Why we love it: Made with assorted stones like pearl, hematite, and agate, these high-quality beads are beautiful and unique representations of all the planets (and one dwarf planet) in the solar system. And Saturn even has a ring!

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A “Starman” in a red Roadster: SpaceX’s Tesla Roadster and spacesuited mannequin driver set to launch on the company’s first Falcon Heavy rocket.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX is poised to make history by launching the world’s fourth electric car into space.

Years in the making, the commercial spaceflight company is preparing to launch its first Falcon Heavy rocket, which as its name implies, is a heavy-lift booster built from a core stage and two of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 recoverable rockets. According to SpaceX, when the Falcon Heavy lifts off, it will be “the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two.”

Only NASA’s Saturn V rocket, which carried six crews — and three electric cars — to the moon almost 50 years ago, could deliver more payload to orbit. (The space shuttle had more thrust at launch than the Falcon Heavy, but had a lower payload capacity.) [Watch SpaceX Launch Falcon Heavy at 1:30 pm ET] 

Even though the Falcon Heavy is based on the design of the proven (and flight-proven, or reflown) Falcon 9, its configuration is new and so carries new risks. The rocket’s 27 Merlin engines must fire in unison and the two side mounted boosters need to separate from the core — something SpaceX has never done in flight. 

“Going through the sound barrier, you get supersonic shockwaves. You could have some shockwave impingement, or where two shockwaves interact and amplify the effect, that could cause a failure as it goes transonic,” said Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO and chief designer, in a call with reporters on Monday (Feb. 5) “Then around Max-Q, which is maximum dynamic air pressure — that is when the force on the rocket is the greatest — and that’s possibly where it could fail as well.”

“We’re worried about ice potentially falling off the upper stage onto the nose cones of the side boosters,” Musk continued. “That would be like a cannon ball coming through the nose cone. And then the separation system has not been tested in flight. We have tested everything that we could think of for the separation of those side boosters on the ground, but this is the first time it has to operate in flight.”

As such, Falcon Heavy’s success on its maiden mission is not a sure thing and so placing a satellite or some other operational payload on board wasn’t considered a prudent move. Test flights typically carry a mass simulator, taking the place of the payload in the form dead weight, like concrete or steel blocks.

“That seemed extremely boring,” Musk wrote on Twitter in December, just before revealing what would top the rocket.

“We decided to send something unusual, something that made us feel,” he said. “The payload will be an original Tesla Roadster, playing [the song] ‘Space Oddity,’ on a billion-year elliptic Mars orbit.” 

‘Starman in [a] Red Roadster’

More specifically, Musk, who is also the CEO and product architect at Telsa, said it was his personal “midnight cherry” Roadster.

Photographs of the electric car taken prior to it being encapsulated in its protective fairing for launch revealed a few more details.

Strapped into the driver’s seat is a mannequin dressed in a spacesuit of the same black and white style as SpaceX designed for NASA astronauts to soon wear for flights on the company’s Dragon spacecraft to and from the International Space Station. Musk referred to the driver as “Starman” — another nod to the late David Bowie — in a tweet on Monday (Feb. 5).

“If you look closely you’ll see a little Easter egg on the dashboard,” Musk teased, talking to reporters.

The photos appear to show a miniature version of the Roadster, complete with its own tiny Starman, on the dash of the convertible.

The (full-size) car is mounted atop the Falcon Heavy’s second stage such that its front is higher than its rear. The second stage will fire its single Merlin engine three times, first to place the it and Tesla into space, then to demonstrate the Heavy’s ability to insert satellites directly into geosynchronous Earth orbit and then finally, if all goes to plan, to thrust the Roadster into deep space.

Between the second and third burns, the Roadster will coast for six hours, passing in and out of the Van Allen belts, a concentrated region of radiation that surrounds Earth.

“We’re going to be testing something on this flight which we’ve never done before, a six hour coast in deep space that’s going to go through the Van Allen belts,” said Musk. “So, it is going to get whacked [by radiation] pretty hard.”

“The fuel [for the second stage] could freeze and the oxygen [for the engine] could vaporize, all of which could inhibit the third burn which is necessary for trans-Mars injection,” he said. [From Shaking to ‘Cannonballing’ Ice: Here’s What the Falcon Heavy Faces on Epic Test Flight]

If the stage survives the “grand tour” of the Van Allen belts and successfully fires its engine for a third time, then the Tesla will leave Earth on a journey to out where Mars circles the sun.

“It will go out to Mars orbit,” said Musk, “about 400 million kilometers from Earth, about 250 to 270 million miles, and be doing 11 kilometers per second [7 miles per second].”

“It is going to be in a precessing elliptical orbit, with one part of the ellipse being in Earth orbit and the other part being in Mars orbit. So essentially, it will be an Earth-Mars cycler and we estimate it will be in that orbit for several million years, maybe in excess of a billion years, and at times it will come extremely close to Mars and there is a tiny, tiny chance it will hit Mars,” he said, adding that the chances of an impact with the Red Planet was “extremely tiny.” 

SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket stands poised for launch on Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Credit: collectSPACE.com

Following in their tire marks

Musk’s Tesla Roadster will be the first car that was built to be driven on Earth to be launched into space, but for the first car to leave the planet, you need to look back almost half a century.

The first and last time that a car ventured beyond Earth was aboard NASA’s three last Apollo missions to the moon. The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV, or lunar rover) helped expand the ground that the Apollo astronauts could cover while exploring the lunar surface.

Built by Boeing and General Motors, the latter providing the rover’s wheels, motor and suspension, the Apollo astronauts’ car drew its power from two silver-zinc potassium hydroxide non-rechargeable batteries and had a range of 57 miles (92 kilometers).

By comparison, the Tesla Roadster uses a lithium-ion power pack with a range of 244 miles (393 km). But the Roadster won’t be driving on its space voyage.

It will however, be sending back data, and with luck, imagery of its departure from Earth.

“There are three cameras on the Roadster. They really should provide some epic views, if they work and everything goes well,” said Musk.

Watch SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy animation set to David Bowie’s “Life on Mars” at collectSPACE.

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2018 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — When SpaceX launched its giant Falcon Heavy rocket Tuesday (Feb. 6), President Donald Trump was apparently watching.

In a congratulatory Twitter post, Trump hailed SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk for the successful Falcon Heavy test flight from here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) as a pinnacle of American progress. The rocket is the world’s most powerful booster, capable of lifting twice the payload of its nearest competitor, the Delta IV Heavy rocket built by the United Launch Alliance.

“Congratulations @ElonMusk and @SpaceX on the successful #FalconHeavy launch,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “This achievement, along with @NASA’s commercial and international partners, continues to show American ingenuity at its best!”  [In Photos: SpaceX’s 1st Falcon Heavy Rocket Test Launch Success!]

Congratulations @ElonMusk and @SpaceX on the successful #FalconHeavy launch. This achievement, along with @NASA’s commercial and international partners, continues to show American ingenuity at its best! pic.twitter.com/eZfLSpyJPK

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 7, 2018

The Falcon Heavy in flight on Feb. 6, 2018.

Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off from NASA’s historic Launch Pad 39A at KSC, sending Musk’s own Tesla Roadster into space with the mannequin “Starman” in the driver’s seat. Two of the rocket’s three first-stage boosters returned to Earth for a successful landing. The central core crashed into the Atlantic Ocean 100 meters away from its droneship landing pad when only one of three engines ignited in the final landing burn.

After the launch, Musk said the Falcon Heavy launch was a major success, despite the loss of the center core. SpaceX did not plan to reuse that booster, he added.

In December, the Trump administration directed NASA to return astronauts to the moon under the new Space Policy Directive 1. Commercial space companies and international partners will play a role in that effort, according to a memorandum released by the White Houce Dec. 11.

In 2017, Musk initially served on three White House advisory councils, but he quit last May after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord. Musk served on Trump’s manufacturing jobs council and infrastructure council, as well as the president’s strategic and policy forum.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket is set for its first test flight Feb. 6, 2017.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Elon Musk hopes the first test launch of his company’s Falcon Heavy megarocket will be a success — but the SpaceX CEO has provided a lot of details about how it could go wrong, from synchronized shaking to “cannonballing” ice to vaporizing oxygen.

The rocket is set to lift off during a launch window starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT) today (Feb. 6), which you can watch live online here on Space.com beginning at 1:10 p.m. EST (1810 GMT). Its first stage consists of three Falcon 9 first stages, which means all 27 Merlin engines — nine per stage — must work together to give the rocket its initial boost.

That’s the first thing that could go wrong. [In Photos: SpaceX’s 1st Falcon Heavy Rocket Test Launch]

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket is set for its first test flight Feb. 6, 2017.

Credit: SpaceX

Musk discussed the “major pucker factor” on this mission back in July, noting that all the engines have to light at the right time, as well as mentioning the intense stress the central “core” first stage will undergo. He revisited that concept again — plus the general issues inherent in three powerful, interacting cores — in a news teleconference yesterday (Feb. 5).

“The things I think about are the relative interaction of the three core boosters; do they have some sort of resonance that we weren’t anticipating? Do they shake together, potentially impacting one another, or going through the sound barrier do you get these supersonic shockwaves?” he said. Shockwaves could interact and amplify, he said, which could cause a structural failure as the rocket passes the speed of sound. There’s also a chance of failure at “Max Q,” which is the maximum air pressure the rocket experiences as it rises.

“I would consider it a win if it just clears the pad and doesn’t blow the pad to smithereens,” he said. “If it clears the pad and hopefully makes it through transonic, and Max Q, I’d say those are big wins.”

See how SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket will work in this Space.com infographic.” data-options-closecontrol=”true” data-options-fullsize=”true”/>

Credit: By Karl Tate, Infographics Artist

And while the system that will let the side boosters separate and fall away from the spacecraft has been heavily tested, it’s never been used in flight.

Other concerns are a bit more surprising. “We’re a bit worried about ice potentially falling off of the upper stage onto the nose cones or side boosters; that would be kind of like a cannonball through the nose cone,” Musk said.

Because the Falcon Heavy’s components are modified Falcon 9 stages, Musk said that most of the unknowns come early in the flight.

“Once the second stage separates from the center booster, we are in much more known territory,” he said. “That’s another big win, and then we’re in a relatively normal regime because it becomes like a Falcon 9 at that point,” he added later.

“And then everything from then on is relatively known except for the very long-duration coast through a very high-radiation environment.”

On its path out into the solar system, Musk said, the spacecraft will have to spend 6 hours passing through the Van Allen belts, giant doughnut-shaped wings of radiation that surround Earth. Earth’s magnetic field sweeps up incoming charged particles and diverts them toward those regions — which is good for life on Earth, but dangerous for the Falcon Heavy.

“It’s going to get whacked pretty hard,” he said. “And also the fuel could freeze, and the oxygen could vaporize, all of which could inhibit the third burn, which is necessary for the trans-Mars injection.”

Musk has been lowering public expectations for this launch, frequently commenting on its riskiness and saying the company will be able to continue development in the event of failure. And the mission payload, a cherry-red Tesla Roadster, adds to the feel of whimsy. But the test flight’s success would be “a monumental milestone” for SpaceX, and Musk admits he’s cautiously optimistic.

“I’m sure we’ve done everything we could to maximize the chance of the success of this mission,” Musk said. “I think once you’ve done everything that you can think of, [if] it still goes wrong, well, there’s nothing you could have done. I feel at peace with that.”

And if the launch is successful, the reward is great: “If the test flight works, I think we’d be ready to put satellites on the next mission,” Musk said. “There’s so much that would be confirmed to work if this flight works … as soon as you have even one successful flight, you’ve eliminated the possibility of a design flaw.”

“Thereafter you have errors of consistency, which is did you make the rocket the same way, did you launch it the same way, and did you launch it under the same conditions,” he added. “But eliminating errors of design is massive, and even one flight will do that.”

One thing Musk’s not worried about? “I’m not worried about the car,” he said. “It’ll be fine — least of my concerns, I hope.”

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX’s giant new rocket, the Falcon Heavy, is set for its risky first test launch today (Feb. 6) from the historic Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The launch window stretches from 1:30 to 4 p.m. EDT (1830 to 2100 GMT). You can watch the launch live here on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, beginning at 1:10 p.m. EST (1810 GMT). Weather conditions are currently at 80 percent “go” for today, and 70 percent for a backup launch time tomorrow, according to the 45th Space Wing’s Weather Squadron, which monitors weather for air and space operations at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX’s current Falcon 9 rocket launches cargo to the International Space Station and lofts satellites into orbit. The rocket’s first stages often land to be reused in future launches. The Falcon Heavy is an extreme version of this setup, built to lift more and go further: What is essentially three Falcon 9 first stages boost the rocket into space, and SpaceX will attempt to land all three of them. Two will set down on land, while the center stage, which will travel further, will land on a floating barge.  [In Photos: SpaceX’s 1st Falcon Heavy Rocket Test Launch]

“What I find strange about this flight is that normally I feel super stressed out the day before; this time I don’t,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a news teleconference yesterday (Feb. 5). “That may be a bad sign. I’m not sure. I feel quite giddy and happy, actually — I’m really hopeful for this flight going as planned.”

SpaceX plans to launch its huge new Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time on Feb. 6, 2018, during a 3-hour window that opens up at 1:30 p.m. EST. It is the most powerful U.S. rocket since NASA’s Saturn V. The booster is essentially three Falcon 9 rockets in one, and liftoff will happen as 27 Merlin engines fire in unison.

Credit: SpaceX

The rocket stands 230 feet (70 meters) tall and will be the world’s most powerful operational rocket, able to lift payloads of up to 19,000 lbs. (57 metric tons) into orbit. For this launch, though, the Falcon Heavy will have a smaller, stranger payload: Musk’s car, a red Tesla Roadster. (Musk is also CEO of the electric car company Tesla.) The car is set to end up in an orbit around the sun that’s far enough out to reach Mars, had the mission launched at the right time, and Musk said it will carry cameras that should provide “some epic views,” if all goes well. [How SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Rocket Works (Infographic)]

Musk has emphasized that this is a high-risk launch, setting expectations low for a successful maiden flight. The vehicle’s 27 first-stage engines will all need to light at the right time, for instance, and the central first-stage will undergo a lot of stress during the launch. After Musk made that comment, the Falcon Heavy underwent a successful engine test-fire, in which all the first-stage engines ignited for about 10 seconds on the launch pad.

“It’d be a real huge downer if it blows up,” Musk said during the teleconference. “If something goes wrong, hopefully it goes wrong far into the mission, so we at least learn as much as possible along the way … I would consider it a win if it just clears the pad and doesn’t blow the pad to smithereens.” Musk said that rebuilding the pad could take 8 to 12 months, which would be the limiting factor for when they could try another launch if this one went poorly; SpaceX can build another Falcon Heavy to test in 3 or 4 months.

The Falcon Heavy will lift off from the same launch pad used by most of the Apollo moon missions, and it will have the most lift capacity of any U.S. spacecraft since Apollo’s Saturn V. If successful, the Falcon Heavy will pave the way for SpaceX transport beyond a close Earth orbit — to the moon and onward to Mars.

“We will have a good time no matter what happens,” Musk said. “It should be exciting, one way or another — it’s either going to be an exciting success or an exciting failure.”

Either way, he added, “It’s going to be one big boom.”

Visit Space.com for complete coverage of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy today. 

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

For most of the world, no full moon will occur in February, because January got two. But this month, you may be able to witness a partial solar eclipse — that is, if you can make it to southern South America or Antarctica. 

For skywatchers in many parts of the world, January featured a full moon on Jan. 1 and Jan. 31. There were some exceptions, though. For example, in Sydney, the moon reached its peak fullness on the morning of Feb. 1 local time, rather than on Jan. 31. In North America, the next full moon will take place on March 1. 

Because full moons fall just outside the beginning and end of February, the new moon occurs toward the middle of the month. During this lunar phase, the moon’s surface is completely in shadow, rendering it more or less invisible in the night sky. The moon reaches peak newness in New York at 4:05 p.m. EST on Feb. 15, which is when the partial solar eclipse happens. (See below for more details.) Nebulous sky objects such as the Orion Nebula and the Milky Way will be easier to see with no moonlight to overwhelm them. The following times are for New York City, according to timeanddate.com. [Full Moon Names 2018: From Wolf Moons to Cold Moons]

In February, winter constellations will still be high and easily visible in mid-northern latitudes. For example, at about 6 p.m. on Feb. 1 for people in the Eastern Time Zone, the constellation Orion, the hunter, is well up in the eastern sky. Canis Major, the Big Dog, is close by, almost entirely risen, and from a dark-sky site, observers can trace the constellation Eridanus, the river, from Orion’s feet. From the middle star of Orion’s Belt, called Alnilam (Epsilon Orionis), you can trace the “sword” of Orion, a line of fainter stars that clusters around the Orion Nebula. Above Orion (in the northern latitudes; Southern Hemisphere observers will see Orion upside down), Taurus is visible, and west of the bull is Gemini. By about 10 p.m., the constellation Leo will be high enough to be recognized, and Virgo will emerge completely above the horizon about an hour after that. 

Night owls can see the first summer stars appear, as Vega and Deneb — two corners of the Summer Triangle — appear at about 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 1, and by the end of the month, they will be rising closer to midnight. 

On Feb. 1, Venus will be visible as an evening “star,” though it will be less than 5 degrees above the horizon at sunset (which happens at 5:13 p.m. for viewers in New York City), and the planet itself will set at 5:33 p.m. As the month progresses, the planet will spend a bit more time in the sky and will be easier to see after sunset. By Feb. 15, it will set at 6:08 p.m., while sunset occurs at 5:30 p.m. By month’s end, Venus will set at 6:40 p.m., nearly an hour after the sun sets, at 5:46 p.m.

On Feb. 1, the moon will rise at 6:47 p.m. in New York and will be just past full, a waning gibbous. Naked-eye planets other than Venus won’t be up until much later; Jupiterdoesn’t get above the horizon until about 1:30 a.m., while Mars follows about an hour later. Saturn doesn’t rise until 4:50 a.m. on Feb. 2. Seeing the naked-eye outer planets will be easier as the month progresses; by Feb. 15, Jupiter rises at 12:38 a.m., while Mars rises at 2:17 a.m.; Saturn will follow at 4:04 a.m. By month’s end, Jupiter will rise before midnight in the constellation Libra, Mars will rise at 2:03 a.m. in Ophiuchus and Saturn is up by 12:30 a.m. in Sagittarius. 

Meanwhile, Mercury will be a morning “star,” rising at 6:45 a.m., with the sun following only 15 minutes later. This makes Mercury tough to spot because by the time the planet rises, the sky will already be getting a bit light. Mercury will get only 2.6 degrees above the horizon at sunrise on Feb. 1, so seeing it will require an absolutely flat horizon and a lot of luck. By Feb. 15, it will be too close to the sun to see. Mercury will emerge as an evening “star” a few days later, and by Feb. 28, it will be a full 5 degrees above the horizon at about 6 p.m.; the sun sets about 15 minutes before that. 

Speaking of summer “stars,” Mars will start the month in Scorpius, a constellation that, in northern latitudes, tends to reach its highest points in the sky during the warmer months. According to Greek legend (per Hesiod), this was the scorpion that killed Orion. Orion, a great hunter, had threatened to kill every beast on Earth; the goddess of the hunt, Artemis, and the goddess of the Earth, Gaea, were so upset that Gaea sent the scorpion to kill Orion. Zeus, the king of the gods, felt Orion should be honored as a hunter, though, so he placed both Orion and Scorpio in the sky — but on opposite sides, so one sets just as the other rises. 

A partial solar eclipse

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between Earth and the sun, briefly blocking out the star’s disk. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon completely covers the solar disk; a partial eclipse (which is far more common) occurs when only part of the solar disk is blocked. NEVER look directly at the sun or the partially eclipsed sun without eye protection. You can also observe the eclipse using a pinhole projector.

The partial solar eclipse of February 2018 will be magnitude 0.599, meaning that the moon’s face will reach across that fraction of the sun’s diameter. (Note this is not the same as the percentage of the sun that will be covered.) Unfortunately for most people, the point of greatest eclipse — where the largest percentage of the sun’s face will appear to be covered — will be on the coast of Antarctica, east of the Antarctic Peninsula. The central path of the eclipse will run from a point a few miles east of Asunción, Paraguay, southeast through Argentina and Uruguay and out into the South Atlantic before hitting the Antarctic coast and passing through the frozen continent until it reaches the Indian Ocean south of Tasmania, where it ends. 

Viewers in the southern part of South America will see a partial eclipse — one that covers less of the sun than at the point of greatest eclipse in Antarctica. Viewers in Montevideo, Uruguay, for example, will see an eclipse of magnitude 0.181, for a maximum of 8.8 percent of the sun’s face covered, and in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it will be magnitude 0.165, or about 7.7 percent coverage. The inhabited area with the best view of the eclipse will be Stanley, Falkland Islands, where a magnitude-0.398 eclipse will occur, meaning 28 percent of the sun will be obscured by the moon. 

In Montevideo, the eclipse will start at 6:34 p.m. local time, and maximum eclipse for that location will happen at 7:11 p.m.; the eclipse will end at 7:35 p.m. As the eclipse ends, the sun will be setting; sunset in Montevideo on Feb. 15 will be at 7:38 p.m. local time. Times in Buenos Aires will be similar. The moon’s shadow will touch the sun at 6:36 p.m., and maximum eclipse will be at 7:12 p.m.; the eclipse will end at 7:44 p.m., and sunset will happen only 2 minutes later. 

For the Falkland Islands location, the eclipse will start at 4:46 p.m. and will reach maximum at 5:42 p.m. It ends at 6:34 p.m. (Sunset isn’t until 8:16 p.m. local time.) All eclipse times are compiled by eclipsewise.com, where you can see other cities in South America as well. 

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On Tuesday, the world may witness a rocket launch more powerful than any that’s been seen in nearly half a century.

Space Exploration Technologies, a private spaceflight company better known as SpaceX, is sending its new Falcon Heavy rocket on its first test launch. The enormous vessel will ignite its formidable Merlin engines on Tuesday (Feb. 6) at 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. You can watch the launch live here on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, beginning at 1:10 p.m. EST (1810 GMT). The launch window stretches from 1:30 to 4 p.m. EDT (1830 to 2100 GMT). 

Falcon Heavy’s first test flight will include a payload — an electric car that SpaceX will attempt to launch past Mars’ orbit. The Falcon Heavy, with its Tesla Roadster on board, will begin this maiden voyage at Launch Pad 39A, the historic site where NASA’s Apollo moon missions and space shuttles lifted off. [In Photos: SpaceX’s 1st Falcon Heavy Rocket Readies for Launch]

SpaceX plans to launch its huge new Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time on Feb. 6, 2018, during a 3-hour window that opens up at 1:30 p.m. EST. It is the most powerful U.S. rocket since NASA’s Saturn V. The booster is essentially three Falcon 9 rockets in one, and liftoff will happen as 27 Merlin engines fire in unison.

Credit: SpaceX

If SpaceX completes this feat, the company would be taking a major step toward its ambitious goal of bringing a human colony to the surface of Mars, and Tuesday’s flight will carry a reminder. To not be “boring,” Musk said he will launch a bright-red Tesla Roadster aboard the Falcon Heavy as the rocket’s test payload. The electric car was manufactured by Musk’s other company, Tesla, and is painted in a color that intentionally alludes to the Red Planet. The Falcon Heavy will send the vehicle around the sun in an elliptical orbit that will extend farther than Mars’ orbit. 

Perhaps an even more ambitious feat will be SpaceX’s attempt to safely land the Falcon Heavy’s boosters. SpaceX has repeatedly landed its Falcon 9 rockets — Falcon Heavy’s predecessor — and reflown them to carry cargo to the International Space Station and to launch satellites into orbit.  

See how SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket will work in this Space.com infographic.” data-options-closecontrol=”true” data-options-fullsize=”true”/>

Credit: By Karl Tate, Infographics Artist

To gain a fuller understanding of Falcon Heavy’s ambitious launch and to grasp the caliber of this megarocket, it is worthwhile to look at the numbers:

5 million: The lbs. of thrust that Falcon Heavy will generate at liftoff. If it succeeds, Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful rocket to launch since NASA’s Saturn V — the iconic vessel that, with 7.5 million lbs. of thrust, accomplished the definitive Apollo-era feat of putting astronauts on the moon. According to Musk, Falcon Heavy is “twice as powerful as any other booster operating today,” a comment that alludes to the modern-day space race between SpaceX and American flight company Boeing to win the opportunity of flying astronauts to the International Space Station.

230: The height, in feet, of the Falcon Heavy rocket. This translates to about 70 meters tall.

140,700 – The payload size capability of the Falcon Heavy rocket in lbs. (equivalent to 63,800 kilograms). This is more than twice what its competitor, United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy Booster, can transport. 

3: The number of Falcon 9 rockets effectively being merged to become Falcon Heavy. SpaceX’s new megarocket comprises two Falcon 9 first-stage boosters attached to a core booster, which itself is an altered version of a standard Falcon 9. 

27: The number of Merlin first-stage engines that, firing in unison, will produce Falcon Heavy’s powerful thrust. They are divided evenly among the three main boosters, with nine engines on each booster.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said there’s a good chance the Falcon Heavy rocket won’t survive its upcoming liftoff, and that includes its cargo. “I hope it makes it far enough away from the pad that it does not cause pad damage,” he said at a conference in July 2017.

Credit: SpaceX

3: How many booster-landing attempts will take place following the first-stage separation during Falcon Heavy’s maiden flight. SpaceX representatives confirmed that once the three boosters separate, the two side cores will attempt to land at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station while the core booster will attempt to land on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The boosters are equipped with fins and landing legs to control re-entry through the atmosphere.

21: The number of times that SpaceX Falcon 9 boosters have landed back on Earth, either at a designated landing zone or on robotic drone ships at sea. Six of those rockets have been reused on subsequent SpaceX launches. 

6: The total of counties in central Florida that might hear a sonic boom as the two Cape Canaveral-bound boosters, from each side of Falcon Heavy, attempt controlled landings as they re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. SpaceX representatives stated there’s a possibility that “residents of Brevard, Indian River, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Volusia counties may hear one or more sonic booms during the landing attempts.” 

1: One mannequin will be sitting in the driver’s seat of the Tesla Roadster that Falcon Heavy aims to launch into heliocentric orbit. Musk introduced an image of the dummy, called “Starman,” via Instagram on Feb. 2. SpaceX will additionally pay homage to the late musician David Bowie by playing his song “Space Oddity” in the car as it travels through space. 

Visit Space.com for complete coverage of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy today. 

Follow Doris Elin Salazar on Twitter @salazar_elin. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

Two space rocks will make close flybys past Earth this week, but they pose no threat to our planet’s safety.

The two asteroids are called 2018 CB and 2018 CC, and they were both discovered Sunday (Feb. 4) through an automated telescope search called the Catalina Sky Survey, according to NASA’s Minor Planet Center. The Catalina telescopes belong to just one of many observatories worldwide that regularly scan the sky to track and search for space rocks, also known as asteroids.

While the majority of asteroids in Earth’s solar system orbit in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, asteroid flybys of Earth happen several times a year. The last known close asteroid flyby was on Sunday (Feb. 4). The flybys are useful to astronomers because the researchers can examine the asteroids relatively close-up, gaining more information about the space rocks’ size, shape and composition.

You can watch livestreams of this week’s flybys courtesy of the Virtual Telescope Project, which uses remote-controlled telescopes to track near-Earth objects. (More details on the broadcast times are below.)

Both 2018 CB and 2018 CC are roughly the same size as a 17-meter (56-foot) space rock that exploded over Cheylabinsk, Russia, in 2013, causing property damage and thousands of injuries. 2018 CB is about 12 to 38 meters in diameter (39 to 124 feet), while 2018 CC’s diameter is estimated to be 9 to 28 meters (30 to 91 feet), according to the Minor Planet Center.

Unlike Chelyabinsk, however, both asteroids will fly past Earth instead of hitting it.

2018 CC will fly by today (Feb. 6), at 12:58 p.m. EST (1958 GMT), with a closest approach of about half the distance between Earth and the moon. The Virtual Telescope Project will start livestreaming views from a telescope in Arizona at 5 a.m. EST (1000 GMT), and from a telescope in Italy at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT).

2018 CB will zoom past Earth on Feb. 10 (Saturday) at 5:06 a.m. EST (1006 GMT), at 20 percent of the distance from the Earth to the moon. The Virtual Telescope Project will livestream this event from Italy only, starting Feb. 9 (Friday) at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT).

NASA and its Planetary Defense Coordination Office are among several agencies that regularly examine the sky to look for near-Earth objects such as 2018 CB and 2018 CC. Telescopes around the world and in orbit provide information about asteroids to NASA; details about those small bodies are typically uploaded to the agency’s Small-Body Database Browserwebsite that is available worldwide for scientists and the public to see.

There are currently no known asteroids that pose an imminent threat to life on Earth, but NASA and its partners are figuring out strategies to divert or destroy a potentially threatening object. Future mission concepts include ideas such as nets, lasers, gravitational diversion — or simply blowing up the asteroid.

NASA has a dedicated near-Earth object hunter in orbit called NEOWISE, which is expected to end its mission this year when the spacecraft’s orbit brings the machine into an area with too much sunlight to look for asteroids. A newer proposal by the same team, called NEOCam, failed to make the cut for NASA’s Discovery program in January.NEOCam did, however, receive more funding for another year.

Several asteroid missions are also in progress for the coming years. Japan’s Hayabusa2and NASA’s OSIRIS-RExare both in-flight to their target asteroids, where they will each collect samples to return to Earth. This year, NASA selected two new Discovery-class missions called Lucy and Psyche; between them, they will fly past eight asteroids in the 2020s and 2030s.

In 2005, Congress tasked NASA with identifying at least 90 percent of “potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids” or those that are at least 140 meters (460 feet) wide and will come to within about 4.65 million miles (7.48 million kilometers) of Earth, or about 20 times the distance from Earth to the moon, according to the agency. NASA was given a deadline of 2020, but just four years later, a National Academy of Sciences reportsaid NASA likely wouldn’t meet the goal unless more funding arrived, and multiple reports since have stated that the agency is behind in meeting the goal. In 2010, the agency met another goal previously set by Congress of finding 90 percent of NEOs 1 km (0.6 mile) wide in 2010, according to NASA.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.