The Mission to Asteroid Apophis is timed to coincide with the asteroid's close Earth flyby to demonstrate advanced autonomous guidance, navigation, and control and to expand commercial participation in planetary exploration.
Trial runs at the new test island are expected to begin around February 5 ahead of a planned first maritime launch and recovery attempt of a commercial liquid‑fueled rocket timed near the Chinese New Year holiday.
Rocket Lab’s hiring surge is timed to support final integration and testing of the first Neutron vehicle.
Chinese Academy of Sciences researchers kept DRO-A and DRO-B attached after the anomalous deployment and alternately used each craft’s engines to perform precisely timed orbital maneuvers to conserve and balance fuel.
A potential collision between TIMED and Cosmos 2221 could have generated between 2,500 and 7,500 fragments.
NASA gave the all-clear in the morning after the close approach, confirming TIMED did not collide with Cosmos 2221.
NASA’s Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics Mission (TIMED) spacecraft passed close to the defunct Russian satellite, Cosmos 2221, on February 28.
NASA warned that a collision between TIMED and Cosmos 2221 could result in significant debris generation.
LeoLabs estimated that TIMED and Cosmos 2221 passed within 20 meters of each other, with a collision probability as high as 8%.
NASA's TIMED spacecraft narrowly avoided a collision with the defunct Russian satellite Cosmos 2221 on February 28, passing less than 10 meters apart.
Chang’e-4 tested communications and refined its orbit while in lunar orbit prior to a landing timed to follow sunrise over the target site to allow the mainly solar-powered craft to begin operations immediately.