Posts Tagged: atmosphere

This is what it looks like to reenter Earth’s atmosphere from a space capsule’s POV

Incredible footage released by Varda Space Industries gives us a first-person view of a space capsule’s return trip to Earth, from the moment it separates from its carrier satellite in orbit all the way through its fiery reentry and bumpy arrival at the surface. Varda’s W-1 capsule landed at the Utah Test and Training Range, a military site, on February 21 in a first for a commercial company. It spent roughly eight months leading up to that in low Earth orbit, stuck in regulatory limbo while the company waited for the government approvals it needed to land on US soil, according to Ars Technica.

“Here’s a video of our capsule ripping through the atmosphere at mach 25, no renders, raw footage,” the company posted on X alongside clips from reentry. Varda also shared a 28-minute video of W-1’s full journey home from LEO on YouTube.

Varda, which worked with Rocket Lab for the mission, is trying to develop mini-labs that can produce pharmaceuticals in orbit — in this case, the HIV drug ritonavir. Its W-1 capsule was attached to Rocket Lab’s Photon satellite “bus,” which the company said ahead of launch would provide power, communications and altitude control for the capsule. Photon successfully brought the capsule to where it needed to be for last week’s reentry, then itself burned up in Earth’s atmosphere, SpaceNews reported. Now that the capsule has returned, Ars Technica reports that the ritonavir crystals grown in orbit will be analyzed by the Indiana-based pharmaceutical company, Improved Pharma.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/this-is-what-it-looks-like-to-reenter-earths-atmosphere-from-a-space-capsules-pov-211120769.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

Astronomers detect atmosphere of a distant, diamond-like super-Earth for first time

For the first time, a team of astronomers have successfully detected the atmosphere of a super-Earth located roughly 40 light years away from Earth. The planet, known as 55 Cancri e, is thought to be diamond-like and is uninhabitable.

The post Astronomers detect atmosphere of a distant, diamond-like super-Earth for first time appeared first on Digital Trends.

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This heat-proof umbrella will keep ships from burning up in the Martian atmosphere

Engineers at NASA just successfully ran tests on a new heat shield that possesses the capability to endure extreme heat when entering a planet’s atmosphere. The agency developed the new tech for possible missions to Mars.

The post This heat-proof umbrella will keep ships from burning up in the Martian atmosphere appeared first on Digital Trends.

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