Earth’s orbit is clogged with more dangerous junk than ever, and more countries than ever are launching satellites into it. The U.S. Air Force working to navigate the resulting traffic jam by investing in more of its own smaller satellites, and by working with more private businesses to send them into orbit and keep them there. We spoke recently with Lt. Gen. John W. Raymond, the Air Force’s current Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and the former commander of the 14th Air Force, Space Command, as well as the Joint Functional Command for Space about some of the service’s latest space initiatives.
The supermassive black hole is 40 million times as massive as the sun and powers a quasar that existed 700 million years after the Big Bang.
The asteroid zoomed by Earth at a perfectly safe distance of around 1.8 million miles (2.9 kilometers).
Images show surprise changes to the spacecraft as it interacted with the atmosphere.