CELESTIAL BODIES
This “Pale Blue Dot” is the only known object that supports life in our solar system.
What is the Earth?
This planned space station, which will orbit the Moon, will serve as a staging point for lunar surface missions and potentially deep space exploration.
What is the Lunar Gateway?
This rover mission is the first to utilize the sky crane maneuver to land on the Martian surface.
What is Curiosity?
Independently derived by four people, this equation relates the change in velocity with the fuel mass.
What is the rocket equation?
This attitude control scheme is the most common in modern spacecrafts, including New Horizons.
What is 3-axis stabilized?
Named after the Roman goddess of love, this planet is the hottest planet in the solar system due to its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere.
What is Venus?
Originally designated AS-204, the mission was retroactively renamed as this after the three crew members tragically passed away during a rehearsal.
What is Apollo 1?
As part of the Mars 2020 mission, this rotorcraft became the first to achieve flight in an extraterrestrial atmosphere.
What is ingenuity?
This highly hazardous liquid is the most commonly used propellant for monopropellant thrusters.
What is hydrazine?
Due to its enormous size, the International Space Station uses this actuator to control its attitude.
What is Control Moment Gyro?
Active volcanism is only observed on the Earth and this two-letter-named Galilean Moon.
What is Io?
In 2022, this demonstration mission tested the Orion capsule that would be used for future crewed lunar missions for the United States.
What is Artemis I?
These two Martian moons are aptly named after the Greek god of fear and panic.
What are Phobos and Deimos?
This engine, producing nearly 7 million newtons of thrust, was used for the first stage of the Saturn V rocket.
What is the Rocketdyne F-1?
Earth sensors measure this layer in the infrared spectrum of the Earth’s upper atmosphere to determine the attitude.
What is the CO2 layer?
Discovered in 1801, this dwarf planet is the largest known object in the asteroid belt.
What is Ceres?
After Gene Cernan stepped into the Lunar Module in 1972, he became the last human on the lunar surface for now during this ultimate Apollo mission.
What is Apollo 17?
This dormant volcano on Mars is the tallest mountain in the solar system.
What is Olympus Mons?
Electrostatic thrusters use this force to generate thrust.
What is the Lorentz force?
After two of the four reaction wheels failed, this space-based telescope stabilized itself using its unique geometry and solar pressure.
What is the Kepler Telescope (or K2)?
This moon around Neptune is the largest, and the only one in retrograde orbit.
What is Triton?
With 25 seconds of fuel left onboard, the Eagle lander of Apollo 11 landed in this area on the lunar surface.
What is Tranquility Base?
This orbiter mission was the first ever to use aerobraking to enter an orbit around Mars.
What is Mars Global Surveyor?
The Falcon 9 First Stage uses this inert gas as the propellant of the attitude control thrusters during recovery.
What is nitrogen?
The Ring-Laser and Fiber-Optic Gyros operate based on this effect.
What is the Sagnac Effect?