Copernical Team
NASA, SpaceX launch climate science research and more to space station
Among the science experiments being delivered, the JPL-developed EMIT instrument will help scientists determine how airborne mineral dust affects our planet.
A SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft carrying more than 5,800 pounds of science experiments, crew supplies, and other cargo is on its way to the International Space Station after launching at 8:44 p.m. EDT (5:44 p.m. PDT) Thursday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The spacecraft launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy for the company's 25th commercial resupply services mission for NASA.
NASA releases Webb images of Jupiter
On the heels of Tuesday's release of the first images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, data from the telescope's commissioning period is now being released on the Space Telescope Science Institute's Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes. The data includes images of Jupiter and images and spectra of several asteroids, captured to test the telescope's instruments before science operations officially began July 12. The data demonstrates Webb's ability to track solar system targets and produce images and spectra with unprecedented detail.
Fans of Jupiter will recognize some familiar features of our solar system's enormous planet in these images seen through Webb's infrared gaze.
Wildfire near Salamanca: before-and-after
Image:
These Copernicus Sentinel-2 images, one year apart, show the area affected by wildfire around Las Batuecas - Sierra de Francia Nature Reserve near Salamanca in western Spain. Ariane 6 central core transferred to mobile gantry
The Ariane 6 launch pad at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana now hosts the first example of ESA's new heavy-lift rocket. This Ariane 6 combined tests model will be used to validate the entire launch system during its ground phase in readiness for the inaugural launch of Ariane 6.
The combined tests include filling tanks, and draining them in case of launch abort, count-down automated seq Planet signs contract to provide German Federal Agencies with daily satellite imagery
Planet Labs has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Planet Labs Germany GmbH, has signed a new contract with the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) to provide the agency with daily, high-resolution satellite data for crisis response, environmental and nature conservation, as well as forest and agricultural monitoring.
Access to Planet's satellite data will help Space rocket junk could have deadly consequences unless governments act
The re-entry of abandoned stages of rockets left in orbit from space launches have a six to 10 per cent chance of severely injuring or killing a human being in the next decade, according to a new UBC study.
Researchers say governments need to take collective action and mandate that rocket stages are guided safely back to Earth after their use, which could increase the cost of a launch, but Putin dismisses Russian space chief Rogozin: decree
Russian President Vladimir Putin has relieved the head of the country's space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, of his duties, according to a decree released by the Kremlin on Friday.
The decree ordered Rogozin's dismissal "from the post of general director of the Roscosmos state space corporation." He was replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov. Week in images: 11-15 July 2022
Week in images: 11-15 July 2022
Discover our week through the lens
BlackSky Wins $4.4 Million IARPA Contract to Provide Advanced Artificial Intelligence for Space-Based Dynamic Monitoring
"As part of our work, BlackSky created a high-performance MLOps (machine learning operations) framework that was ultimately selected to perform as the core infrastructure to the entire SMART program," said Patrick O'Neil, BlackSky chief innovation officer.
"The MLOps framework will extend BlackSky's Spectra AI tasking and analytics capabilities and accelerate the development of SMART tec
NASA's New Mineral Dust Detector Readies for Launch
Each year, strong winds carry more than a billion metric tons - or the weight of 10,000 aircraft carriers - of mineral dust from Earth's deserts and other dry regions through the atmosphere. While scientists know that the dust affects the environment and climate, they don't have enough data to determine, in detail, what those effects are or may be in the future - at least not yet.
Set to l