Can we arrange them to all launch at the same time? From the same launch site? That would be awesome!
FOUR, count 'em, FOUR big rockets launching in next seven days
Spaceports are increasingly common these days but, if the coming week is anything to go by, then some sort of rocketry air traffic control could be something the boffins need to sort out. In all, four launches are planned for the coming week, from four different countries. This rate of activity is a reflection of quite how …
COMMENTS
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Tuesday 2nd December 2014 10:05 GMT Kristaps
Hayabusa bombing the asteroid
Pardon my ignorance here, but would that not be quite dangerous to the probe? How big a crater will it make? I can see how the probe can be behind the asteroid to avoid getting hit by debris right after the explosion, but surely there will be lots of stuff floating about once it returns to the crater. Or am I being overly dramatic and the explosion will be a tiny pop?
That icon was closest to how I imagine the "mining" will look from distance. Maybe I should stop reading sci-fi.
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Tuesday 2nd December 2014 10:32 GMT I ain't Spartacus
Re: Hayabusa bombing the asteroid
Don't worry, El Reg got the details wrong. The probe won't be landing, but staying at a safe distance. It will launch its
nukesmall charge - then drop mobile infantry, who'll go down tokill all the bugstake samples, then(any survivors)return to the craft, and come back to earth. There's absolutely nothing to worry about. -
Tuesday 2nd December 2014 23:26 GMT Annihilator
Re: Hayabusa bombing the asteroid
It's going to be there for about a year - it'll be in orbit around the asteroid, not hovering behind it.
It won't be an explosion though - it's a collision from its first probe, so will be pretty small. Besides, all the crap will still land on the asteroid, it'll just take a few hours to do so in the low gravity (see Philae's 7 hour bounce)
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Tuesday 2nd December 2014 20:17 GMT Fatman
Chinese sat launch
The launch crew will be crossing fingers and toes that this launch goes to plan. Its predecessor, CBERS 3, failed to reach its assigned altitude and crashed back to Earth just over a year ago and a second failure will see Chinese rocketry experts
lose some serious facelined up against the wall.FTFY!!!
(Because failure is not an option this time!)