Copernical Team
Prototype spacesuit for future NASA mission to Moon unveiled
NASA and the private aerospace company Axiom Space unveiled a prototype on Wednesday of the next-generation spacesuit that astronauts will wear on the next walk on the Moon. The suit revealed at an event at the Johnson Space Center in Houston features greater flexibility and thermal protection than those worn by the Apollo astronauts who first stepped foot on the lunar surface more than 50 y
Study finds ocean currents may affect rotation of Europa's icy crust
NASA scientists have strong evidence that Jupiter's moon Europa has an internal ocean under its icy outer shell - an enormous body of salty water swirling around the moon's rocky interior. New computer modeling suggests the water may actually be pushing the ice shell along, possibly speeding up and slowing down the rotation of the moon's icy shell over time. Scientists have known that Euro
New Horizons team discusses discoveries from the Kuiper Belt
More than 5 billion miles from Earth and 17 years into a mission that included the first close-up exploration of Pluto and the first encounter with a planetary building block in the Kuiper Belt, NASA's New Horizons continues to shed light on the mysterious planets and smaller bodies of the outer solar system. Launched in January 2006, the New Horizons spacecraft zoomed past Pluto and its m
Building on Luna and Mars with StarCrete the double stength concrete
Building infrastructure in space is currently prohibitively expensive and difficult to achieve. Future space construction will need to rely on simple materials that are easily available to astronauts, StarCrete offers one possible solution. The scientists behind the invention used simulated Martian soil mixed with potato starch and a pinch of salt to create the material that is twice as strong a
Student-built satellite uses 'beach ball' for an antenna
Scientists and engineers at the University of Arizona have built instruments for three NASA telescopes, led two deep space missions and made it possible to see farther back in space and time than ever before. Adding to this list of space exploration accomplishments is a different type of project - one led entirely by students. Near the university's main campus, students gather inside a cle
Future NASA moonwalkers to sport sleeker spacesuits
Moonwalking astronauts will have sleeker, more flexible spacesuits that come in different sizes when they step onto the lunar surface later this decade.
Exactly what that looks like remained under wraps. The company designing the next-generation spacesuits, Axiom Space, said Wednesday that it plans to have new versions for training purposes for NASA later this summer.
Engineers keep an eye on fuel supply of NASA's oldest Mars orbiter
Measuring the fuel supply on Odyssey, a decades-old spacecraft without a fuel gauge, is no easy task.
Since NASA launched the 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter to the Red Planet almost 22 years ago, the spacecraft has looped around Mars more than 94,000 times. That's about the equivalent of 1.37 billion miles (2.21 billion kilometers), a distance that has required extremely careful management of the spacecraft's fuel supply.
Recovering forests regain a quarter of carbon lost from deforestation
Deep drilling for Mars
Momentus' Vigoride-6 spacecraft arrives at SpaceX launch site
Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS) reports that its Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle (OSV) arrived at Vandenberg Space Force Base for its third demonstration mission targeted to launch on the SpaceX Transporter-7 mission next month. The Momentus team completed final flight preparations, and the Vigoride-6 OSV is integrated with the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The priorities of this mission include