The solar wind, explained
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 14:42
The solar wind is a flow of particles that comes off the sun at about one million miles per hour and travels throughout the entire solar system. First proposed in the 1950s by University of Chicago physicist Eugene Parker, the solar wind is visible in the halo around the sun during an eclipse and sometimes when the particles hit the Earth's atmosphere—as the aurora borealis, or northern lights.
While the solar wind protects Earth from other harmful particles coming from space, storms can also threaten our satellite and communications networks.
What is the solar wind?
The surface of the sun is blisteringly hot at 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit—but its atmosphere, called the corona, is more than a thousand times hotter. It is also incredibly active; those flares and loops are the halo you see around the sun when there's an eclipse.
The corona is so hot that the sun's gravity can't hold it, so particles are flung off into space and travel throughout the solar system in every direction. As the sun spins, burns and burps, it creates complex swirls and eddies of particles. These particles, mostly protons and electrons, are traveling about a million miles per hour as they pass Earth.
Gravity mission still unearthing hidden secrets
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 13:40
Despite ESA’s GOCE mission ending over seven years ago, scientists continue to use this remarkable satellite’s gravity data to delve deep and unearth secrets about our planet. Recent research shows how scientists have combined GOCE data with measurements taken at the surface to generate a new model of Earth’s crust and upper mantle. This is the first time such a model has been created this way – and it is shedding new light on processes of plate tectonics, which, in turn, are related to phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
New Vacuum Solar Telescope reveals acceleration of magnetic reconnection
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 13:29
Magnetic reconnection shows the reconfiguration of magnetic field geometry. It plays an elemental role in the rapid release of magnetic energy and its conversion to other forms of energy in magnetized plasma systems throughout the universe.
Researchers led by Dr. Li Leping from National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) analyzed the evolution of magnetic reconnection and its nearby filament.
Perseverance rover's SuperCam science instrument delivers first results
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 13:29
The first readings from the SuperCam instrument aboard NASA's Perseverance rover have arrived on Earth. SuperCam was developed jointly by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico and a consortium of French research laboratories under the auspices of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). The instrument delivered data to the French Space Agency's operations center in Toulouse that includes the first audio of laser zaps on another planet.
"It is amazing to see SuperCam working so well on Mars," said Roger Wiens, the principal investigator for Perseverance's SuperCam instrument from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. "When we first dreamed up this instrument eight years ago, we worried that we were being way too ambitious.
Op-ed | Artemis will accelerate the commercial space sector
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 13:22
As the first flight of Artemis moves ever closer from Kennedy Space Center, critics continue to raise questions around the cost of the U.S. return to the moon by pointing to private sector alternatives as more expeditious and less resource intensive.
Industry groups advocate for Office of Space Commerce
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 12:04
WASHINGTON — Three space industry groups are asking the Commerce Department to commit to continued support and funding for the Office of Space Commerce.
In a March 9 letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the Aerospace Industries Association, Commercial Spaceflight Federation and Satellite Industry Association called for the department to fund the small office at a level “reflective of its critical role” supporting the space industry.
SpaceX launches Starlink satellites and expands international service
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 10:01
WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched another set of 60 Starlink satellites March 11 as the company expanded international service in several countries.
The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 3:13 a.m.
ESA defines elements of future European space transportation solutions
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 08:00
NASA Targets March 18 for SLS Hot Fire Test
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 06:47
NASA is targeting Thursday, March 18 for the second hot fire of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket's core stage at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
After performing tests to demonstrate that a recently repaired liquid oxygen pre-valve was working, the team has continued to prepare the core stage, its four RS-25 engines, and the B-2 test stand for the second ho Hope Probe captures new images of Mars with the Emirates Ultraviolet Spectrometer
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 06:47
The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM), the first interplanetary exploration undertaken by an Arab nation, achieved another major milestone on February 20th, 2021 with the return of the first science images from the Emirates Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS), one of three science instruments on board the Hope probe. The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) released these images to mark one month sinc Perseverance 'SuperCam' begins hunt for past life on Mars
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 06:47
The bundle of instruments known as SuperCam on board the Perseverance Mars rover has collected its first samples in the hunt for past life on the Red Planet, mission scientists said Wednesday.
The return to Earth years from now of the rocks and soil it retrieves "will give scientists the Holy Grail of planetary exploration," Jean-Yves le Gall, president of France's National Centre for Space China, Russia to jointly build lunar post
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 06:47
China and Russia have agreed to join hands in building and running a robotic scientific outpost on the moon or in lunar orbit, according to the China National Space Administration.
The administration said in a statement on Tuesday evening that its head, Zhang Kejian, and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Rogozin, director-general of State Space Corporation Roscosmos, signed a memorandum of u Ball Aerospace completes CDR for Roman Space Telescope instrument
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 06:47
Ball Aerospace, partnered with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, successfully completed the critical design review of the Wide Field Instrument (WFI), which will be the primary science instrument on NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, formerly known as the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).
"Now that we have passed this critical milestone, we will continue to work hand-in Explaining Parker Solar Probe's magnetic puzzle
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 06:47
When NASA's Parker Solar Probe sent back the first observations from its voyage to the Sun, scientists found signs of a wild ocean of currents and waves quite unlike the near-Earth space much closer to our planet. This ocean was spiked with what became known as switchbacks: rapid flips in the Sun's magnetic field that reversed direction like a zig-zagging mountain road.
Scientists think pi A better way to measure acceleration
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 06:47
You're going at the speed limit down a two-lane road when a car barrels out of a driveway on your right. You slam on the brakes, and within a fraction of a second of the impact an airbag inflates, saving you from serious injury or even death.
The airbag deploys thanks to an accelerometer - a sensor that detects sudden changes in velocity. Accelerometers keep rockets and airplanes on the