Category Archives: Space Exploration

Artists depiction of Solar Orbiter.Illustration: ESA/ATG medialab

Solar Orbiter has been traveling through space for more than two years, making several close flybys of Venus as it steadily inches closer to the Sun. On September 4, the small spacecraft was in the midst of its most recent gravitational assist when it felt the violent wrath of our host star.

The Sun fired off a gigantic coronal mass ejection on August 30, reaching the spacecraft just a few days later. Thankfully, Solar Orbiter is built to withstand these types of temperamental outbursts from the Sun, and it was even able to collect valuable data on solar storms.

A large coronal mass ejection (CME) was recorded by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) on August 30.Gif: ESA/NASA SOHO

Launched in February 2020, Solar Orbiter is a collaborative mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. Its designed to observe the Sun from up close and resolve some of the lingering mysteries about solar wind, the Suns magnetic field, and the rather unpredictable space weather. Throughout the course of its decade-long mission, the spacecraft will perform several flybys of Venus to adjust its orbit, bringing it closer to the Sun and out of the solar system plane such that it can peer down at the Sun from a unique vantage point. Solar Orbiter returns to Venus every few orbits around the Sun (one orbit takes around 168 days), but its latest rendezvous with the second planet was unusually eventful.

The Sun frequently produces coronal mass ejections (CMEs), or ejections of plasma that shoot out from the Sun and spread outward through the solar system. CMEs erode the Venusian atmosphere as the solar wave strips the planet of its gases, according to an ESA statement. On August 30, a massive CME shot out of the Sun and headed towards Venus. It reached the planet just as Solar Orbiter was about to make its third close flyby of Venus, with the spacecraft recording an increase in solar energetic particles.

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Some of the spacecrafts instruments had to be turned off during its flyby around Venus, but its scientific instruments were still running, allowing it to collect valuable data on the Suns latest outburst. Solar Orbiter is designed to withstand a distance of just 0.27 AU from the Suns surface (almost three-quarters of the total distance from Earth to the Sun), where temperatures reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (537 degrees Celsius). The spacecraft has a special black coating that protects it from the Suns scorching temperatures. Solar Orbiter will be capable of getting close enough to the Sun to observe its eruptions without being harmed.

Understanding solar flares is crucial for the future of space exploration as space weather can pose serious risks for spacecraft and astronauts venturing off to cosmic destinations.

Gathering data on events like this is crucial to understanding how they arise, improving our space weather models, forecasts and early-warning systems, Alexi Glover, ESA Space Weather Service Coordinator, said in the statement. Solar Orbiter is providing us with an excellent opportunity to compare our forecasts with real observations and test how well our models and tools perform for these regions.

More: Sun-Orbiting Spacecraft Takes Fascinating Images of a Coronal Mass Ejection

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The Solar Orbiter Spacecraft Just Got Hit by a Gigantic Outburst From the Sun - Gizmodo

BioWare / Official EA UK

The Best: Loyalty missions. Commander Shepard probably thought they had issues having to deal with the whole sci-fi resurrection, impending Reaper invasion, and prying questions about how they survived the onslaught on Akuze (Kill Bill sirens intensifies). But it turns out the N2rmandys rough-and-tumble assortment of crewmates is just as troublesomebut worth the effort of sorting out.

Mass Effect 2s loyalty missions are by far the highlight of the game. Whether youre helping your krogan son through puberty or engaging your sea-shell-loving Salarian in a rousing debate over the morality of the genophage, Mass Effect 2s crew-centric episodes are the bedrock of the game and contain the most creative missions and world-building of the series. And for romantic players, the culmination of a loyalty mission has the added bonus of eventually letting you suck face with your favorite aliens or (sigh) human crewmates. Id say the fraternizing aboard the Normandy warrants an emergency HR meeting, but its resident therapist is too busy either feeding Shepards fish or giving them a lap dance.

Read More: Fuck, Marry, Kill: Mass Effect Party Member Edition

The Worst: No Mako. Boo, tomato tomato. As if to over-correct gripes about Mass Effects repetitive and uninspired space exploration, Mass Effect 2 removed it entirely. Sadly, this decision not only eliminates the explorative feel in favor of more linear gameplay, it also excludes any and all drivin around in the Mako. Instead of clunkily scaling the side of impossibly vertical mountainsides or flinging yourself into an unsuspecting Geth Colossus from the safety of the Normandys Nokia phone-esque all-terrain vehicle, you just watch repetitive cutscenes of the crew in their mini spacecraft shuttling themselves hither and thither across the galaxy. I love you Mako-sama, you big hoss, you.

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The Best And Worst Parts Of Every Mass Effect Game - Kotaku

Qatar University (QU) launched on Monday, the Global Sustainability Space Challeng Competition, the first-of-its-kind at the global level, in co-operation with international partners and with the support of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, to synchronise with the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, QNA reported. The competition comes within the framework of the vision of College of Business and Economics at QU and its intention to adopt a broad range of initiatives and steps that promote the sustainability culture locally and globally.

The competition offers the opportunity for the participation of a bunch of teams of youth who are associated with schools and universities worldwide in the 16-26-year-old age-group. It enables them to team up from several countries and various disciplines and backgrounds to further explore innovative solutions that essentially remedy one of the exigent challenges that pose a threat to planet Earth, and seeks to achieve an array of UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030, through adaptation of groundbreaking technologies and space exploration as a momentum in the global dedicated efforts to overcome challenges facing life sustainability on earth.

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Qatar University launches first-of-its-kind Global Sustainability Space Competition - Gulf Times

Can China and the U.S. collaborate in space exploration? SupChina Skip to the content

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Can China and the U.S. collaborate in space exploration? - SupChina

From landing a rover on the Moon to sending an Emirati astronaut for a six-month trip to the space station, 2023 is set to be the UAEs busiest year for space exploration.

The Emirates will etch its name in history books many times next year if its space missions go as planned.

Astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi will take on the Arab worlds first long-duration mission, while the Rashid rover could become the first Arab spacecraft to reach the Moon.

The impending missions follow a string of achievements by the UAE, including reaching Mars with its Hope probe in 2021 and launching Hazza Al Mansouri, the first Emirati astronaut, into space in 2019.

But a number of advanced missions are lined up to take place in the same year for the first time, all being carried out by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).

The National looks at the UAE space missions planned for 2023.

The 10-kilogram rover is scheduled for launch in November from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

It will sit inside a Japanese lunar lander, called Hakuto-R Mission 1, and together the spacecraft will blast off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Once in space, the journey to the Moon will take approximately three months.

In early 2023, Hakuto-R Mission 1 will attempt to land on the Moon.

If successful, the rover will then descend on to the lunar surface, climbing down a ramp built on to the lander using its four wheels.

If things go as planned, the UAE would become the first Arab country to reach the Moon.

Dr Al Neyadi, 41, will become the first Arab astronaut to fly in a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. He will ride the Crew Dragon Capsule to the International Space Station next spring for a six-month stay.

The former IT professional and his SpaceX Crew-6 colleagues have been busy training in Houston, Florida and California.

They are learning how to operate the capsule, so they can safely fly to the orbiting science laboratory.

Dr Al Neyadi served as a backup astronaut for the UAEs first space mission when Maj Al Mansouri blasted off on Russian Soyuz rocket for an eight-day trip to the ISS.

This latest mission is the first long-duration space mission by an Arab country and could feature the first spacewalk by an Arab astronaut.

A model of the MBZ-Sat, the second satellite to be designed and built entirely by Emirati engineers. Photo: MBRSC

Late next year, the UAE hopes to launch MBZ-Sat, the regions most powerful advanced-imaging satellite.

The 800-kilogram satellite will be carried into orbit on a SpaceX ride-sharing mission on board a Falcon 9 rocket in 2023. It has been named after President Sheikh Mohamed.

MBRSC is working with five private companies in the UAE to manufacture the satellite, including aerospace company Strata, engineering solutions company EPI, management consultancy Rockford Xellerix, Halcon, a company that makes precision-guided systems and Falcon Group, an inventory management company.

The UAE hopes to support the local space industry through this mission, with 90 per cent of the mechanical and 50 per cent of the electronic modules for MBZ-Sat built in the Emirates.

This is the second Earth-observation satellite to be built entirely by Emirati engineers. The first was KhalifaSat, which has been in operation since 2018.

The PHI-Demo satellite. Photo: MBRSC

A small demo satellite with unique payloads is also scheduled for launch next year.

It is being developed under the Payload Hosting Initiative, a platform by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs that offers start-ups and developing space nations opportunities in space.

Engineers at the MBRSC have constructed the PHI-Demo satellite and two private companies have added their payloads.

One of the payloads on the 20-kilogram demo satellite is a propulsion subsystem that uses water to fuel the spacecraft.

Built by UK-based company SteamJet Space Systems, the technology offers a greener and more sustainable use of space.

OQ Technology, a company in the US that hopes to build a global satellite constellation dedicated to 5G, has built the other payload.

It includes an Internet of Things communication system that stores and forwards collected data from IoT devices in remote areas, industries and autonomous vehicles using 5G technology.

A second satellite, PHI-1, will be built in partnership with the UNs space office.

Updated: August 23, 2022, 5:06 AM

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UAEs space exploration to reach new heights in 2023 - The National

Space exploration is becoming a more feasible reality, prompting a need for international cooperation. We already have international space laws that protect valuable satellites and more. Image via NASA/ Unsplash/ The Conversation.

By Kuan-Wei Chen, McGill University; Bayar Goswami, McGill University; Ram S. Jakhu, McGill University, and Steven Freeland, Western Sydney University

Many believe the Artemis 1 moon launch will mark the dawn of a new era in human space exploration. As humanity reaches outward to explore the moon and perhaps Mars, will our adventures in outer space be peaceful and orderly or will outer space become a new Wild West? In this article, Kuan-Wei Chen Executive Director of the Center for Research in Air and Space Law at McGill University and colleagues, argue that international space laws will protect the valuable assets of many countries. They point to The McGill Manual, drafted by institutions around the world, which outlines 52 rules that clarify space laws.

The release of the first images taken by NASAs James Webb Space Telescope will inspire generations with the infinite possibilities that outer space holds. Clearly, we have a responsibility to ensure that only peaceful, safe, sustainable, lawful and legitimate uses of space are undertaken for the benefit of humanity and future generations.

In pursuit of this, over the past six years McGill University and a host of collaborating institutions around the world have been involved in the drafting of the McGill Manual on International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space.

In August, the collaboration published the first volume of the McGill Manual. It contains the 52 Rules, adopted by consensus by the group of experts. The rules clarify the international law applicable to all space activities conducted during peacetime and in times of tension that pose challenges to peace.

Since the beginning of the Space Age 65 years ago, we have witnessed tremendous strides in space exploration that have benefited life on Earth. Research into space technologies inform many of our modern conveniences. We bring back and study mineral samples from asteroids.

For decades, we have used satellite technologies for positioning, navigation and timing. The United States global positioning system of which there are Chinese, European, Russian, Japanese and Indian variants is the backbone for essential applications. These include emergency search and rescue, precision farming for food production, air traffic navigation, the security of the financial and banking system, and the synchronization of time across cyber networks.

Our increasing reliance on space infrastructure makes modern economies increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of accidents. Were also vulnerable to unlawful and irresponsible acts affecting the exploration and use of space.

In 2009, there was a communications blackout over North America after an accidental collision between a defunct Soviet satellite and Iridium communications satellite. This was a stark reminder of how vulnerable Earth operations are to events in space.

Driven by geopolitical tensions, several governments have tested anti-satellite weapons. These weapons leave behind a trail of space debris that will remain in orbit for decades, or even centuries.

Space debris poses a grave danger to other functioning space objects, not to mention to people and property on the ground should pieces fall to Earth. This month, China launched several ballistic missiles that reached 124 miles (200 kilometers) above sea level. These potentially threaten satellites that operate in low-Earth orbit (LEO). LEO is prime space real estate used for crucial communications and remote sensing worldwide.

Space systems are not just vulnerable to missiles. They may be interfered with or destroyed through other means such as lasers, spoofing, jamming and cyberattacks. The human costs and consequences of a conflict in space could be devastating beyond contemplation.

As countries and commercial space operators study how to explore and use the moon and other celestial bodies for valuable resources, we need to understand that outer space is not a lawless Wild West. In fact, there is a clear body of fundamental legal principles that have applied to all space activities for many decades.

Since the 1957 launch of the first artificial satellite into Earth orbit (Sputnik I), there has been clear consensus that outer space, planets and asteroids must be explored and used in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Charter.

These foundational principles are elaborated in a series of United Nations treaties on space law subscribed to by virtually all space-faring countries. With the increased number of commercial and private space operators, countries are adopting national space laws to regulate and oversee how all national space activities are conducted in accordance with international law.

The U.S. government and others have affirmed that:

conflict or confrontation in space is not inevitable.

In the current geopolitical environment, it is necessary to affirm and clarify the laws. These will prevent miscalculations and misunderstandings, and in turn foster transparency, confidence-building and some cooperation in space.

A significant body of international rules and legal principles applies to all space activities, including military space activities. These are, however, sometimes subject to differing interpretations that create confusion, ambiguity and uncertainty.

The McGill Manual is an independent and impartial effort. It clarifies and reaffirms that existing laws are relevant and applicable to accommodate new activities and applications. These laws impose constraints on irresponsible and dangerous actions and meet new challenges in outer space.

The manuals development involved over 80 legal and technical experts. They confirmed, for instance, that there is an absolute prohibition on the testing and use of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in space. It also said that harmful interference with the space assets of other states is illegal. The experts highlighted that the right of self-defense related to military space activities must take into consideration the unique legal and physical aspects of outer space.

Indigenous peoples in Canada and Australia, as with many cultures and civilizations across the globe, have long looked to the stars for guidance and inspiration.

Governments and commercial operators in space must understand that space is a shared global commons. The activities of one country or company will have implications for everyone else. The publication of the McGill Manual marks a major milestone in supporting ongoing international efforts.

These internationally agreed laws must inform peaceful exploration and cooperation in space. The fate of future generations depends on this.

Kuan-Wei Chen, Executive Director, Centre for Research in Air and Space Law, McGill University; Bayar Goswami, Arsenault Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University; Ram S. Jakhu, Full Professor, Former Director, Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University, and Steven Freeland, Emeritus Professor of International Law, Western Sydney University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Bottom line: International space laws are in place to ensure cooperation and protect the valuable assets of many countries, including satellites used in farming, search and rescue, finance systems and more.

Read more: Who owns all the satellites?

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International space laws, and why its not the Wild West - EarthSky

Marcin Jeziorny of TVP Nauka, the Polish public broadcasters website dedicated to science, and a space enthusiast, was invited to shed some light on the Artemis programme and the possibility of establishing human colonies on the Moon and Mars.

As Mr. Jeziorny explained, the main purpose of the launch which is scheduled to take place on Monday is to test the SLS (Space Launch System), which is a successor to Apollo-era rockets. The purpose is to open deep-space exploration and eventually bring humans back to the Moon and eventually take them to Mars.

Other matters discussed with Mr Jeziorny were: why is investing in space exploration important even though there are things happening on our planet that also could use the money; the role of the Moon in future space exploration; what makes the Moon and Mars uninhabitable and what measures will need to be taken to colonise them; what will life in space colonies look like; and what will the upcoming years do to space tourism?

source:TVP World

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'Universe is our goal': expert on Artemis I space programme - TVP World

The James Webb Space Telescope has recorded the first clear evidence of carbon dioxide on a planet outside of our own solar system. This ground-breaking discovery of a key component of life on earth not only provides new insight into far-away planets, but may also pave the way for further uses of this technology.

Carbon dioxide was identified on WASP-39b, a remote gas giant with a diameter roughly 130% of that of Jupiter. Its high temperature (about 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit or 900 degrees Celsius) is responsible for its bloated shape.

Telescopes like NASAs Hubble and Spitzer have previously captured proof of water vapour, sodium and potassium in the atmosphere of WASP-39b and the James Webbs discovery offers further insight into conditions on the distant exoplanet.

The new discovery was published in academic journal Nature, providing evidence that the James Webb telescope may be able to detect and measure the amount of carbon dioxide in the thinner atmosphere of distant rocky planets.

From the first glance at the data it was already clear that we were dealing with a spectacular discovery, says Dominique Petit de la Roche, co-author of the Nature study and researcher at the University of Geneva. For the first time, carbon dioxide has been clearly detected on a planet outside the solar system.

Aside from given additional insight into the planet WASP-39b, the new discovery gives a tantalising taste of what can be achieved with the technology involved in the James Webb telescope. The identification of CO2 was made possible by cutting-edge technology that allows the telescope to spot molecules in distant exoplanets.

Being able to identify the molecules lets scientists study the composition, formation and evolution of planets across the galaxy. This can help better understand how our universe came into being and may also offer clues about the history of our own planet.

Natalie Batalha, researcher at the University of California at Santa Cruz, is the leader of the team that carried out the observations and is thrilled about the potential that this new technology offers going forward.

Detecting such a clear signal of carbon dioxide on WASP-39b bodes well for the detection of atmospheres on smaller, terrestrial-sized planets as well as for measuring abundances of other gases like water and methane, she said.

The latest discovery from the James Webb telescope is part of a larger project, called the Early Release Science program. NASA is attempting to provide the raw data produced by its incredible technology to exoplanet researchers around the world.

Vivien Parmentier, a co-investigator from Oxford University, is enthused about the prospects for collaborative research that the new program brings about.

The goal is to analyze the Early Release Science observations quickly and develop open-source tools for the science community to use, he explained. This enables contributions from all over the world and ensures that the best possible science will come out of the coming decades of observations.

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James Webb telescope discovers carbon dioxide on an exoplanet, what does this mean for the space exploration? - AS USA

NASA aims to use Boeing Co.s Starliner space vehicle for a crewed mission to the International Space Station as soon as February, the agency said.

NASA aims to use Boeing Co.'s Starliner space vehicle for a crewed mission to the International Space Station as soon as February, the agency said. The flight will mark a major milestone in Starliner's development, which has suffered from delays and testing setbacks.

The planned eight-day mission would be Starliner's first with astronauts aboard. While the exact launch date hasn't been set, February is likely the best window, Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, said Thursday in a press conference. The agency had previously said it hoped to launch by the end of this year.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration selected Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. in 2014 to build and operate vehicles that will ferry crews to the space station. In June, NASA announced it had selected two astronauts to fly on Starliner's first crewed flight.

The plans come on the heels of a successful uncrewed test flight in May that was a welcome development after years of setbacks. Boeing has accrued $595 million in charges to cover Starliner delays, including $185 million last October.

Despite recent stock performance gains, Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun has remained under fire from customers and investors as the company has grappled with problems in its commercial aircraft operations.

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NASA, Boeing Target 2023 for Crewed Starliner Mission to the International Space Station - HT Tech

The huge, bowl-shaped Meteor Crater in Arizona that was formed some 50,000 years ago continues to yield new information, and surprisingly so.

In addition, it is a go-to spot for preparing Artemis crews how to explore the moon as that place once did to train Apollo astronauts for lunar duties in the 1960s.

Research payoffs from the out-of-this-world Meteor Crater are ongoing, said David Kring, principal scientist at the Universities Space Research Association's Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas. He has carried out field training and research at the Winslow, Arizona site for a decade.

Related: This long-lost asteroid impact was so big its debris left more than 30 craters

"We usually have two to three projects going on at the crater each year," Kring told Space.com, be they studies focused on the deformation of the crater wall or appraising the apron of tossed out debris that surrounds the impact crater. "Every year that we go back, we're mapping some new feature at the crater and filling in some of the details that just simply do not exist anywhere else on Earth," he said.

"The ejecta blanket is nearly 10 times larger in area than the crater," Kring said. The asteroid that formed the feature was an iron meteorite, Type IAB, he added, believed to be a fragment of an impact crater on an asteroid that then came to Earth and fashioned another impact crater.

What's the true age of the crater itself? "Actually, the uncertainty is growing," Kring said. Earlier, three independent methods produced the same number, pegging it at 50,000 years old.

"But in recent years we have realized that the calibration on two of those methods had more uncertainty attached to them than was appreciated," Kring said. "There's a possibility that the crater may be a few thousand years older than we often times stated. It's still during the last glacial epic. It is when mammoths and mastodons were grazing in that area."

Kring and colleagues have recovered pollen from the lake sediments that filled Meteor Crater and have been able to reconstruct what the vegetation was like at the time of impact.

Similarly, the bearing of the impactor is still unclear. "I can make the case for nearly any direction, although I think most of the evidence is pointing north to south. The angle is probably on the order of 45 degrees, plus or minus a little bit, to produce a nearly circular or symmetrically-shaped crater. And that's what we have," Kring said.

Over the years, Kring has trained active and candidate astronauts at Meteor Crater. Doing so continues a teaching and learning legacy that had the late astrogeologist Eugene "Gene" Shoemaker of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and other geologists educating Apollo-era astronauts how to "read" the lunar landscape. "We do their basic training at the crater. I've proposed that we need to have more advanced training at Meteor Crater and other impact sites if we're going to conduct Artemis expeditions successfully," he said.

The first reason for training at impact sites like Meteor Crater is to expose astronauts to the type of terrain that they are going to operate within, and operate there safely, Kring said.

"I'd stipulate that the single best tool that we can deploy on the lunar surface is a well-trained astronaut," Kring advised. "We would like them to be as productive as possible in addressing the science and exploration objectives. Understanding impact cratering, the processes that go into producing them, the way they redistribute material across the lunar surface ... training is essential. I've also pointed out that the world's best spectrometers are the eyes of well-trained astronauts."

Kring said that as stunning as Meteor Crater is in the first place, he advises future moonwalkers to stand on its rim and gape, but then tells everybody to turn around and imagine another crater just to the left, and a third crater just to the right.

"That is the type of terrain that we are asking them to explore and understand how to be productive on the lunar surface," Kring concluded.

"There's still a lot of research to be done out there," says Meteor Crater detective, Dan Durda, a senior research scientist at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

"Meteor Crater is an excellent analog for our moon exploration," Durda said. "It is still the freshest, best persevered crater on the planet." He harkens back to Gene Shoemaker's work at Meteor Crater to appreciate the process of impact cratering, excavation and ejecta deposits.

"Those markers are so evidently available and readily visible. It's the perfect training ground to show those processes to the field astronauts, so they understand what it is that they are doing on the moon" said Durda.

But there is another key message blasting out of Meteor Crater. "It's bringing the whole near-Earth impact hazard to the fore," Durda said. "We had to get over the giggle factor years ago. Meteor Crater has helped illustrate what kind of devastation can be wrought from even a very moderate-sized impactor."

Durda has been to Meteor Crater too many times to count. But his maiden trek to the site was in 1991, then a graduate student in Florida and on his first trip out west.

"My first experience of the crater," Durda said, "was first looking at it on television as a youngster. In watching shows like those made by National Geographic, I was fascinated by this 'geologist guy' who kept talking about this crater. He had a rifle and showing how you shoot a bullet into sand and that's how the crater was formed. That person was Gene Shoemaker. Gene was the manand my first experience being at the crater was with Gene!"

With Shoemaker at his side, Durda said that you could not possibly be around him and not come away enthused about geology. "He had an absolutely infectious enthusiasm for what he was doing."

To Durda's eye and mind on that first visit: "Holy cow. This is a deep, massive hole in the ground. It's amazing." Shoemaker and Durda walked down together on the "Astronaut Trail," making field stops along the way to chat about aspects of the impact stratigraphy and then down to the bottom of the crater.

"The real view, the real impression, the real awe and majesty is up on the rim, looking out and across and down," added Durda.

Once again, Meteor Crater offers yet another bonus from outer space. Durda is an active member of the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA). "Meteor Crater is not just a science analog. It's not just an exploration analog. It's a visual analog for telling the story of other places in the solar system that artists use," he said.

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Original post:

Meteor crater: The hole from space that keeps on giving - Space.com