Space Highlights - October 19, 2016

October 19, 2016

China has launched its 6th manned mission into space this week, aboard the Shenzhou 11 spacecraft.  The launch was followed by a successfully dock between the Shenzhou 11 and Tiangong 2 space lab, allowing its two astronauts to remain up to 30 days in orbit.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37670842

Orbital ATK successfully launched its improved Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia, on its way to delivering a cargo module to the International Space Station.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/10/antares-230-launch-oa-5-cygnus/

https://spaceflightnow.com/2016/10/18/antares-rocket-back-in-action-with-successful-launch-of-upgraded-booster/

Pakistan has announced plans to launch its first earth observation satellite in 2018.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/1201181/world-space-week-pakistan-launch-remote-sensing-satellite-2018/


Europe's ExoMars spacecraft made final preparations this week for its arrival at Mars, with the separation of the Schiaparelli lander from the Trace Gas Orbiter.  ExoMars is a collaborative project between the European Space Agency and the Russian Space Agency, which is also seen as a forerunner to landing a Mars rover in 2020.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/721177/exomars-2016-esa-mission-rover-when-will-land-mars-update-tracking-map-path-latest
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-blogs/astronomy-space-david-dickinson/schiaparelli-lander-mars/


NASA has delayed a planned engine burn for the Juno spacecraft, which was to have changed its orbital period from 53 days to 14 days, due to a technical glitch with the pressurized fuel tanks.  The planned burn is being delayed while engineers study the problem.
http://www.space.com/34412-juno-jupiter-spacecraft-delays-engine-burn.html


NASA's MAVEN orbiter has supplied the first ultraviolet images of Martian weather systems, providing fresh data mapping chemical reactions and wind patterns in the Martian atmosphere.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/mavens-mars-ultraviolet-1810201623/

Researchers combing through data from the Voyager 2 spacecraft believe they may have found evidence for two small, dark moons around the distant gas giant.  Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have made a flyby of Uranus, back in 1986.
http://www.sciencealert.com/we-might-have-just-discovered-2-new-dark-moons-hiding-near-uranus


New data continues to point to a large ring system around exoplanet J1407b, which was first identified in 2012.  The exoplanet is now believed to have a system of rings some 100 times larger than that which surrounds Saturn.
http://www.universetoday.com/131403/exoplanet-huge-rings-intrigues/