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Planet Nine is a hypothetical ninth planet in the outer region of the Solar System. [4] [2] Its gravitational effects could explain the peculiar clustering of orbits for a group of extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs), bodies beyond Neptune that orbit the Sun at distances averaging more than 250 times that of the Earth i.e. over 250 astronomical units (AU).
The hypothetical Planet Nine would modify the orbits of extreme trans-Neptunian objects via a combination of effects. On very long timescales exchanges of angular momentum with Planet Nine cause the perihelia of anti-aligned objects to rise until their precession reverses direction, maintaining their anti-alignment, and later fall, returning them to their original orbits.
On 6 January 2020, NASA reported the discovery of TOI-700 d, the first Earth-sized exoplanet in the habitable zone discovered by the TESS. The exoplanet orbits the star TOI-700 100 light-years away in the Dorado constellation. [80] The TOI-700 system contains two other planets: TOI-700 b, another Earth-sized planet, and TOI-700 c, a super-Earth.
SPICE (Spacecraft Planet Instrument C-matrix Events) is a NASA ancillary information system used to compute geometric information used in planning and analyzing science observations obtained from robotic spacecraft. It is also used in planning missions and conducting numerous engineering functions needed to carry out those missions.
Sketch of a circumlunar free return trajectory (not to scale), plotted on the rotating reference frame rotating with the moon. (Moon's motion only shown for clarity) In orbital mechanics, a free-return trajectory is a trajectory of a spacecraft traveling away from a primary body (for example, the Earth) where gravity due to a secondary body (for example, the Moon) causes the spacecraft to ...
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was a NASA space mission aimed at testing a method of planetary defense against near-Earth objects (NEOs). [4] [5] It was designed to assess how much a spacecraft impact deflects an asteroid through its transfer of momentum when hitting the asteroid head-on. [6]
FreeFlyer has been used to support many spacecraft missions, for mission planning analysis, operational analysis, or both. Specific mission examples include the International Space Station (ISS), [7] the JSpOC Mission System, [8] the Earth Observing System, [9] [10] Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), [11] and Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS).
The patch point between the hyperbolic trajectory relative to the departure planet and the heliocentric transfer orbit occurs at the planet's sphere of influence radius relative to the Sun, as defined above in Orbital flight. Given the Sun's mass ratio of 333,432 times that of Earth and distance of 149,500,000 kilometers (80,700,000 nautical ...