Copernical Team
NASA developing AI to steer using landmarks on the Moon
Much like how familiar landmarks can give travelers a sense of direction when their smart phones lose their lock on GPS signals, a NASA engineer is teaching a machine to use features on the Moon's horizon to navigate across the lunar surface.
"For safety and science geotagging, it's important for explorers to know exactly where they are as they explore the lunar landscape," said Alvin Yew, Seismic waves revealed possible past meteoroid impact
The largest earthquake ever detected on Mars has revealed layers in its crust that could indicate past collision with a massive object, such as a meteoroid. Previous data has suggested the past occurrence of a large impact, and the findings offer evidence that might support this hypothesis.
The research, led by UCLA planetary scientists and published in two papers in Geophysical Research L AstroAccess successfully completes first weightless research flight with international disabled crew
AstroAccess, a project dedicated to promoting disability inclusion in space, announced the successful completion of its first formal research flight 'AA2' onboard Zero-G Corporation's aircraft. The flight included 14 disabled crew members from five different countries: Australia, Brazil, Germany, Spain, and the US.
The Zero-G aircraft ascended to an altitude of 25,000 feet, at which point NASA conducts first test of redesigned Lunar rocket engine at Stennis
NASA conducted the first test of the newly redesigned RS-25 engine for future flights of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket Dec. 14, completing 209.5 seconds of a scheduled 500 second hot fire at the agency's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
The hot fire test was shut down early by a non-flight system used to monitor the engine. NASA and Space Launch System lead engi GKN Aerospace and ArianeGroup extend partnership on Ariane 6 rocket engine subsystems
GKN Aerospace has signed a contract with ArianeGroup to supply the next phase of Ariane 6 turbines and Vulcain nozzles. The contract includes the manufacturing and supply of units for the next 14 Ariane 6 launchers, to be produced from now until 2025.
GKN Aerospace, at its Trollhattan site in Sweden, is currently focused on industrializing and integrating novel, innovative technology into China launches one more space experiment satellite
China launched a Long March 11 carrier rocket early on Friday afternoon to transport an experimental satellite into space, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the country's leading space contractor.
The rocket blasted off at 2:17 pm at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China's Sichuan province and soon placed the Shiyan 21 satellite into its preset o SpaceX launches two broadband satellites for Luxembourg firm
Elon Musk's SpaceX launched two high-power broadband satellites for a Luxembourg firm's new communications system toward orbit Friday evening from Florida.
The Falcon 9 rocket's second stage was to place the first two O3b mPOWER satellites into orbit to join Luxembourg-based SES's 20 first-generation O3b Internet satellites.
SES is a satellite telecommunications network with 67 c Christmas comes early for Aeolus with improved laser performance
ESA's wind mission continues to shine as engineers have worked their Christmas magic. With a switch back to its original laser, Aeolus is now shining more than twice as brightly with its best ever performance—just in time for the holidays.
It's another remarkable success for ESA's fifth Earth Explorer. Launched in 2018 after many technical challenges, Aeolus pioneered what none had pioneered before—directly measuring global wind profiles from space using a laser.
Scientists testing future technology to extend solar energy measurements
Since July 2022, a miniature satellite about the size of a shoebox has been orbiting Earth and monitoring how much solar energy reaches the atmosphere. Now, scientists are finalizing their analysis of the first five months of measurements it gathered while in orbit.
The sun is by far the largest source of energy to Earth, dwarfing the energy generated by Earth's core, and it plays a major role in global climate. Precise and accurate measurement of how much solar energy is absorbed by Earth—Total Solar Irradiance (TSI)—is crucial to our understanding of Earth's climate system.
The CubeSat, called the Compact Total Irradiance Monitor-Flight Demonstration, or CTIM-FD, is on a one-year mission to develop and test new technologies for measuring TSI.
CTIM-FD was designed and built by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
A key part of this mission is to directly compare the measurements of CTIM against its larger counterparts to demonstrate that it can perform measurements just as precisely and accurately.
Rubble pile asteroids might be the best places to build space habitats
The stars call to us, as Carl Sagan once said. Given the human drive to explore our world and expand our reach, it is likely only a matter of time before we begin to build our homes in the solar system. The moon and Mars could be acceptable destinations, but nearby asteroids could also become homes, as a recent study shows.
The cold, weightless, radiation-filled dark of space poses a number of challenges to human habitation. We must be shielded from cosmic radiation and solar wind, and microgravity poses significant health hazards to the human body. This will force us to live under a layer of regolith or soil on the moon and Mars. Given the low gravity of these worlds, we might be better off living deep within small asteroids that we can spin up to create a healthy artificial weight.