#Orbit

Content tagged "Orbit".

2 items (2 articles, 0 stories)

Articles

How We Know an Interstellar Comet Is a True Outsider: The Shape of Its Orbit

September 19, 2026

In July 2025, a telescope in Chile caught 3I/ATLAS tracing an open path around the Sun, one it will never repeat. Planets and ordinary comets always loop back, but this comet's open trajectory, not its appearance, is the hard evidence that it came from beyond our solar system.

Our Solar System Family #comets#solar system#interstellar object#Orbit

NASA's Falling Space Telescope Is Getting a Robotic Tow Truck

July 20, 2026

Launched in 2004 at 600 km, NASA's Swift Observatory has sunk to about 400 km as atmospheric drag drags it down. Left alone, it would burn up on reentry by late 2026. Instead, a robotic servicer called LINK is being sent to grab it and push it back up — an unprecedented rescue. SORABUMI explains.

Stories of Space Exploration #Satellites#Swift Observatory#Orbit#NASA#Space Development