Copernical Team
NASA's VIPER robotic moon rover team raises its mighty mast
NASA's VIPER—short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover—now stands taller and more capable than ever, thanks to its mast.
VIPER's mast, and the suite of instruments affixed to it, looks a lot like the rover's "neck" and "head." The mast instruments are designed to help the team of rover drivers and real-time scientists send commands and receive data while the rover navigates around hazardous crater slopes, boulders, and places that risk communications blackouts. The team will use these instruments, along with four science payloads, to scout the lunar South Pole.
Japan moon probe put to sleep again
Japan's valiant moon lander was put to sleep again after unexpectedly surviving its second ultra-chilly long lunar night, the space agency said Monday.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM)—dubbed the "Moon Sniper" for its landing precision—touched down in January, making Japan only the fifth nation to achieve a soft lunar landing.
But the unmanned lightweight spacecraft, carrying a mini-rover that moves like a turtle, landed at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way.
Defying pessimistic predictions, the probe was revived in late February once the lunar night—which lasts about 14 Earth days—ended.
Despite facing temperatures as low as -130 degrees Celsius (-200 degrees Fahrenheit), it repeated the feat last week and transmitted new images back to Earth.
On Monday, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced the probe has been put back to sleep again on Sunday.
"During this operation, we mainly checked the status of several devices by turning on switches and applying loads," JAXA said on social media platform X.
"Although there are some malfunctions in some functions of MBC, it still works, so we are carefully checking its status," it said, referring to the Multi-band Camera used to examine lunar rocks.
SpaceX sends Eutelsat telecom satellite into orbit
SpaceX on Saturday launched a Falcon9 rocket supporting the Eutelstat 36D mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The rocket took off at 5:52 p.m. EST, right at the open of a two-hour time window SpaceX had previously given for launch.
The payload is a Eutelsat 36D geostationary telecommunications satellite, which is designed to provide TV broadcasting and government se Lockheed Martin to develop advanced radar training system for USAF
In a significant advancement for military readiness, the U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $276 million contract for the creation of the Variable Aperture Digital Radar (VADR) system under the Advanced Range Threat System Variant 3 (ARTS-V3) program. This new system is designed to prepare aircrews for encounters with sophisticated adversarial threats, utilizing both X-band and C-band What do scientists hope to learn from total solar eclipse in US?
When a rare total solar eclipse sweeps across North America on April 8, scientists will be able to gather invaluable data on everything from the Sun's atmosphere to strange animal behaviors - and even possible effects on humans.
It comes with the Sun near the peak of its 11-year solar cycle, setting the stage for a breathtaking display: The corona will glow spectacularly from the Moon's sil Stardust analysis reveals secrets beyond Sol
A team led by Curtin University researchers has made a groundbreaking discovery, identifying a rare dust particle within an ancient meteorite that originates from a star beyond our Solar System. This significant finding was achieved under the guidance of lead researcher Dr. Nicole Nevill during her PhD tenure at Curtin, in collaboration with the Lunar and Planetary Science Institute and NASA's J Scientists propose a new way to search for dark matter
Ever since its discovery, dark matter has remained invisible to scientists, despite the launch of multiple ultra-sensitive particle detector experiments around the world over several decades.
Now, physicists at the Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are proposing a new way to look for dark matter using quantum devices, which might be naturally tuned to detec Long-Period Oscillations of Sun offer new insights
The mystery of the Sun's differential rotation, characterized by varying rotational speeds at different latitudes, has long been a subject of scientific curiosity. At the poles, a rotation cycle is completed in about 34 days, whereas at the equator, it takes approximately 24 days. Despite decades of observation and theoretical models suggesting a minor temperature variation between the solar pol Webb opens new chapter in search for forming planets
In a pioneering effort to uncover the mysteries of planet formation, astronomers have directed the James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) advanced capabilities toward protoplanetary disks, the birthplaces of planets. This initiative marks a significant milestone in the study of these nascent celestial bodies and their environments. Spearheaded by researchers from the University of Michigan, Univers New study reveals potential "ice bombs" among Kuiper Belt Objects
A groundbreaking study by Brown University and the SETI Institute has unveiled unexpected characteristics of distant solar system objects, specifically highlighting a phenomenon involving so-called "space snowmen," like Kuiper Belt Object 486958 Arrokoth. This research suggests that these objects may house ancient, volatile ices, challenging previous scientific assumptions about their thermal ev