Space News for May 7, 1999

Children Will Pilot Rover on Mars

Mars Surveyor 2001 will contain a rover piloted by a group of children on Earth. Over 100 children will be selected for this project, some of whom will be able to pilot the rover, and others who’ll design micro-experiments attached to the outside of the rover.

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Pink Black Holes Discovered

Australian astronomers have discovered a strange category of black holes which appear pink in telescopes. What’s causing this pink glow is unknown, but the astronomers suspect it has something to do with the violent effect black holes have on nearby stars as they suck streams of gas away.

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Controllers Attempting to Recover Orion 3

Stuck in the wrong orbit, Orion 3 is next to useless, and may re-enter the atmosphere and burn up. Ground controllers are attempting to raise the satellite, and put it into a stable (although still useless) orbit. Investigations also continue to determine why the launch failed.

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Russian Service Module Gets a New Name

The Russian Service Module for the International Space Station was recently renamed to Zvezda, which is Russian for “star”. This follows the tradition of colorful names for all the ISS modules, and so Zvezda joins renamed Unity, Zarya, and Kibo.

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