A Year of Space Firsts
From robot landings on asteroids and exploring the furthest reaches of the solar system, to flying closer to the sun than ever before.
The Parker Solar Probe has flown nearer to the sun than any other mission. The probe is now sending back data on the behaviour of electromagnetic waves emitted from the coronal mass. Fluctuations in these waves can lead to solar flares ,which in turn can have a huge impact on earth, including the potential to knock out global communications.
The Japanese space agency’s Hayabusa mission successfully landed two robots on an asteroid 4 years away from earth. Next year the mission will return to mine rock samples from beneath the asteroids surface by shooting a ‘space cannon’ to blast samples from within the asteroid.
NASA has a similar mission planned again to collect rocks from an asteroid, their method is to use kind of ‘space hoover’ to suck up samples.
Picture: The surface of the sun, Credit: NASA
Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Julian Siddle
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- Thu 27 Dec 201820:32GMTBBC World Service Online, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview, News Internet & Europe and the Middle East only
- Thu 27 Dec 201821:32GMTBBC World Service Australasia & East Asia only
- Fri 28 Dec 201805:32GMTBBC World Service Online, News Internet, UK DAB/Freeview & Europe and the Middle East only
- Fri 28 Dec 201806:32GMTBBC World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean & South Asia only
- Fri 28 Dec 201807:32GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
- Fri 28 Dec 201811:32GMTBBC World Service West and Central Africa
- Fri 28 Dec 201814:32GMTBBC World Service Australasia
- Fri 28 Dec 201818:32GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa, South Asia & West and Central Africa only
- Mon 31 Dec 201801:32GMTBBC World Service
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Science In Action
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