Cosmic Chicago
Chicago's Independent Space News Outlet
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OSIRIS-REx Explained: NASA’s Asteroid Sample Return Mission
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GOES-T Launches to Orbit for NOAA and NASA
An Atlas V rocket launched the GOES-T weather satellite to space from Cape Canaveral at 3:38 pm CST today March 1st, 2022. The satellite is currently traveling through space on its way to orbit, which is about a three and a half hour mission after launch. Following the successful launch by ULA and NASA’s Launch…
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NOAA’s Next Weather Satellite is Ready for Liftoff: How to Watch the GOES-T Launch
NOAA is ready to launch the next weather satellite in its Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites- R Series, called GOES-T to orbit. The GOES-T satellite is launching on a ULA Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on March 1st, 2022 at 3:38 p.m. CST. NASA will provide live launch coverage beginning…
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The Problem with GOES West
The GOES-West weather satellite has had problems ever since it reached orbit and went into operation in 2018. Meant to capture images and data that is critical to meteorologists and researchers, the malfunctions and flawed data have been of huge concern to the engineers and operators responsible for the satellite. Fortunately, the problem was identified,…
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Northrop Grumman Successfully Sends Cygnus Spacecraft to the International Space Station
On Saturday, Northrop Grumman launched the Cygnus Spacecraft SS Piers Sellers to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA. The resupply mission sent over eight thousand pounds of science investigations, food and supplies, and other cargo to astronauts living and working on Station. The cargo spacecraft launched atop an Antares rocket from the Wallops Flight…
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Latest Chicago Snowfall Seen from GOES East Satellite
Clear skies allowed the latest Chicago snowfall to be seen from the GOES East satellite as a result of Thursday’s snowstorm. The snowfall can be seen in images as an elongated area stretching from northern Oklahoma into Illinois. The Chicago National Weather Service (NWS) office reports that Thursday’s storm officially dumped 2.9 inches of snow…
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Tonga Volcano Eruption Seen From Space, NASA Scientists Weigh in on the Power of the Volcanic Blast
By now, you have seen the images and video of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano explosion in the Pacific Ocean. Geostationary weather satellites in space captured some of the first images of the eruption. The Himawari-8 satellite operated by the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) captured this view directly overhead of the eruption. Satellite based data showed the…
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GOES Satellite Shows New Year's Day Snow From Space
The New Year’s Day 2022 snowfall was the first widespread snowfall event for the area this winter season. Snow totals topped out at just over 6 inches in some areas. But snow in January is nothing new to the area. What is interesting about this event, and others over the years is that the snow…
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NASA and SpaceX are Ready for Lift Off: How to Watch the Launch of Crew-3
After several delays the launch of Crew-3 is scheduled for liftoff tonight, November 10th, 2021. NASA and SpaceX are preparing for a launch no earlier than 8:03 pm CST from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, and Tom Marshburn will be joined by ESA astronaut Matthias Marshburn on their…
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NASA Ready to Explore the Trojan Asteroids: How to Watch the NASA Lucy Mission
NASA is ready to launch a 12 year mission to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids in order to learn more about the formation of our Solar System. The Lucy spacecraft is set to launch on a ULA Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on October 16th, 2021 at 4:34 a.m. CDT.…
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Chicago's Nearby Palos Preserves Named World's Largest Urban Night Sky Place
There is a new urban dark sky place, one of only three total, and it’s the largest in the world. Palos Preserves is just outside the city limits of Chicago, but still Cook County, and officially earned the designation in late August from the International Dark Sky Association (IDA). The IDA recognizes dark sky places…
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