Copernical Team
ESA names first ‘astronaut’ to fly on the Artemis I lunar mission
The specially trained woolly astronaut, Shaun the Sheep, has been assigned a seat on the Artemis I mission to the Moon. Shaun’s assignment was announced by ESA’s Director for Human and Robotic Exploration Dr David Parker.
100% bio-sourced thermoset composites tested for space
Combining high strength with low weight, corrosion-resistant and shapeable into almost any form, composite materials are a key ingredient of modern life: employed everywhere from aviation to civil engineering, sports equipment to dentistry – and also a vital element of space missions. But they have some less desirable aspects: produced from petroleum products, they are non-renewable in nature and also non-recyclable. So ESA is working with Côte D’Azur University on a new breed of space-quality composites made from wholly sustainable sources.
Proposal by research team could revolutionize space medicine, improve astronaut health
Often when researching the molecular and biological changes that happen in space, models such as rodents, worms, and yeast are used to study the effects and consequences of long-duration space flight as a way to understand how microgravity impacts humans in space. However, OHIO's Nate Szewczyk, Ph.D., and several other researchers from around the world have published a paper that proposes a program for the European Space Agency that could potentially revolutionize space medicine by routinely collecting biological samples from astronauts for use with cutting-edge technologies to understand the effects on their genes, mRNA, proteins, and metabolites (commonly referred to as "omics" technologies).
The paper, titled "Routine omics collection is a golden opportunity for European human research in space and analog environments," published in the journal Patterns, details how omics profiling is primed to transform space medicine and improve occupational healthcare for astronauts. The paper's authors anticipate that omics profiling will improve astronauts' health and mitigate spaceflight risks, which could increase mission success on more ambitious endeavors such as voyages to Mars. The group of researchers go on to highlight in the paper the collaborative steps that should be taken to design a standardized data resource that can be used for years to come as data and science evolves.
China launches two more remote sensing satellites into orbit
China used a Long March 2D carrier rocket to launch several remote-sensing satellites on Friday night, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the country's leading space contractor.
The rocket blasted off at 9:28 pm at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province and soon placed the Yaogan 35-02 satellites, the third group of spacecrafts in the Yaogan 35 remot Balloon fleet senses earthquakes from the stratosphere
A new study in AGU's Geophysical Research Letters reports on the first detection of a large, distant earthquake in a network of balloon-bound pressure sensors in the stratosphere. The technique could one day be applied on Venus, whose hot, dense and corrosive atmosphere limits our ability to sense Venus-quakes from the planet's surface. The balloons could also be used on Earth in hard-to-reach p Space travel: Bone aging in fast forward
Long periods in space damage bone structure irreparably in some cases and can make parts of the human skeleton age prematurely by up to 10 years. This is what a sport scientist at University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) has now discovered in conjunction with other researchers from Germany, Canada and the USA.
Adapted training programs in conjunction with medication could provide better prot Rocket debris fall back to Earth
Debris of the recently launched Long March 5B carrier rocket of China fell back to the Earth and ended up in the Pacific Ocean early Sunday morning, with most of the remnants burnt up during the reentry process, the China Manned Space Agency said.
The debris' atmospheric reentry and crash took place around 12:55 am (Beijing time), the agency said in a brief statement, noting the touchdown MDA selects NC and Raytheon to further develop Glide Phase Interceptor prototype
The Department of Defense has awarded two firm fixed price Other Transaction (OT) Agreement modifications to exercise options; one to Northrop Grumman and one to Raytheon through the Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) authority under 10 U.S.C. 4022.
Each modification has an approximate value of $41.5M and an anticipated Period of Performance through February 2023. These modifications will allo Wallaroo selected by US Space Force to solve edge model deployment challenges in Space
oday Wallaroo Labs announced that they have been selected by SPACEWERX, the innovation arm of the US Space Force (USSF), to solve edge model deployment challenges specific to On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (OSAM) missions. This fully funded Phase 1 project in collaboration with Catalyst Campus (CCTI) will look at edge model deployment challenges for use cases like satellite life Staring at the Ground: Sols 3546-3547
Today's plan is chock full of goodies! We start out sol 3546 with a ChemCam observation of a sand ripple "Deposito" and an RMI observation of the Bolivar outcrop in the distance. Then we'll do some Mastcam observations of Deposito, "Lilas" which is one of our robotic arm targets later in the sol, Bolivar, and "Deepdale." Once all that wraps up, we'll get into our robotic arm activities for the s