Sentences with phrase «large robotic spacecraft»

Not exact matches

A third, larger spacecraft in 2020 is to gather samples and then bring them back to Earth, the first haul of moon rocks since a Soviet robotic probe's return in 1976.

Sunlight could also drive much larger robotic or crewed spacecraft indirectly via solar electric propulsion, Sheehy says.

NASA is currently developing concepts for the redirect mission that will employ a robotic spacecraft, driven by an advanced solar electric propulsion system, to capture a small near - Earth asteroid or remove a boulder from the surface of a larger asteroid.

Down the road, the technology could allow large spacecraft, robotic and manned, to pierce through the Martian atmosphere and land on the Red Planet.

NASA has selected two missions to further explore past targets — Saturn's largest moon, Titan, and the comet 67P / Churyumov - Gerasimenko — as the final candidates for its next billion - dollar robotic spacecraft, the agency announced today.

Ground - based radars using large antennas including the GBT could be used as a collisional hazard assessment tool and as a safety mechanism for spacecraft that encounter navigation or communication issues, in future robotic and human missions to the moon.