Full disclosure: This is a more cheeky article and something that is more lighthearted, considering all the news surrounding COVID-19 might not be the most positive. This is more a fun, lighthearted article for fun,…
As has been seen recently, with the recently reviewed data of Voyager 2, it was recently discovered that Uranus is actually losing its atmosphere! The full article can be found on the Phys.org website, but…
Today, we will be talking about the different satellite orbits that are commonly used. These are the most often used, but not a full list of all the possible orbits. Geostationary transfer orbit This is…
Leap years are a calendar year that contains an additional day added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year or seasonal year. As a result of the Earth’s revolution around the Sun taking approximately 365.242189 days, there needs…
2020 marks the 60th anniversary of the first weather satellite, Tiros 1 by NASA. Launched on April 1, 1960 at 11:40:09 UTC, Tiros-1 was the first successful low-Earth orbital weather satellite. It was a major test for…
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a physical sciences laboratory and a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission is to promote innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST’s activities are organized into…
A specific miniaturized type of atomic clock, the Deep Space Atomic Clock is a ultra-precise mercury-ion atomic clock that would be utilized for precise radio navigation in deep space. Managed by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and activated in…
2020 is a big year for asteroid sample missions as there are 2 missions objectives that are on this year. The NASA mission OSIRIS-REx beings sampling manuevers from 101955 Bennu in July. The JAXA Hayabusa2…
Atomic clocks are clock devices that utilize a hyperfine transition frequency that is based upon certain frequencies of atoms as a timekeeping element. Atomic clocks are the most accurate time and frequency standards known, and are used as primary standards for international time distribution services. Utilizing atomic…
Unlike leap years, which require adding an extra day to the calendar every few years to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year or seasonal year, leap seconds are not utilized on a…