Important Innovations

Asteroid 2020 HS7 Discovered Source:  NASA Tracking Mysterious Group of Asteroids UFO Sighting A relatively small asteroid, 13x26 feet flew close to the Earth and close to satellites.  The nearest satellite was just 750 miles away and the asteroid passed within 26,554 miles of Earth.  The discovery of Asteroid 2020 HS7 was just made by NASA's Pan-STARRS project.  This is one of the closest flybys by an asteroid ever recorded. The asteroid actually passed under the nearest satellite and came close to the geostationary orbit ring for satellites. Global Coordinated Tracking On April 26, 2020 NASA's Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii spotted what scientists thought was a UFO flying through space. They found it to be extremely close to the Earth with a 10% chance of colliding with the Earth.  Word went out to observatories around the world from China to Germany about the unidentified flying object.  Astronomers tracked the UFO's position, speed, motion and brightness.  Through thei

Mining the Skies Source:  Planetary Resources Targeting Asteroids It may sound like Star Trek but some US companies, innovators and dreamers are looking skyward to a future of mining highly valuable minerals in space, along with human colonization of space.  A favorite mining target is asteroids known to be rich in high value metals like platinum. Planetary Resources Planetary Resources, based in Redmond, Washington, is an American company that has been advised by Google's Larry Page and film director James Cameron.  It's deeply involved in the world's first commercial deep space exploration mission.  It's targeting asteroid mining because the company believes that is the key first step to establishing the groundwork for human colonization of space. Satellite Probes Underway The company has launched satellite probes and has selected the most promising asteroid targets for water resources that they intend to mine. They say the first need is to unlock wat

Japan Makes Space  Innovation History Rover Photo of the Asteroid.   Source: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Rovers Already Taking Photos Japan just made history.  It's landed 2 hopping rovers on the asteroid Ryugu.  The rovers are in good condition and have already started transmitting data and photos, as you can see in the above photo. Historic The rovers' mobility on the asteroid is historic.  NASA landed a spacecraft on an asteroid in 2001 but it was stationary.  The rovers are equipped with 7 cameras.  They hop around the asteroid which has a low gravity environment.  The rovers are the world's 1st, man-made objects to explore movement on the surface of an asteroid. Rich Resource Asteroids greatly interest scientists researching the history and origins of the universe.  Some experts believe they also have tremendous commercial potential for mining valuable metals like platinum.  The hopping rovers are part of Japan's MINERVA-ll1 program.  A la