Copernical Team
'A new era': NASA strikes asteroid in key test of planetary defense
NASA's DART spaceship on Monday struck the asteroid Dimorphos in a historic test of humanity's ability to prevent a cosmic object from devastating life on Earth.
Impact occurred at 7:14 pm Eastern Time (2314 GMT), 10 months after the Double Asteroid Redirection Test probe blasted off from California to carry out its first-of-a-kind experiment.
"We're embarking on a new era, an era in whi Hera team congratulates NASA asteroid impactors
ESA’s Hera mission team congratulates their counterparts in NASA’s DART mission team for their historic impact with the Dimorphos asteroid. Moving at 6.1 km per second, the vending-machine-sized Double Asteroid Redirect Test spacecraft struck the 160-m diameter asteroid at 01:15 CEST (00:15 BST) in the early hours of Tuesday morning, in humankind’s first test of the ‘kinetic impactor’ method of planetary defence.
Direct impact or nuclear weapons? How to save Earth from an asteroid
NASA's DART mission to test deflecting an asteroid using "kinetic impact" with a spaceship is just one way to defend planet Earth from an approaching object - and for now, the only method possible with current technology.
The operation is like playing billiards in space, using Newton's laws of motion to guide us.
If an asteroid threat to Earth were real, a mission might need to be lau In new setback, hurricane forces Moon rocket into storage
NASA's Artemis 1 rocket - waiting to blast off on a delayed mission to the Moon - will be rolled back into its storage hangar Monday night, the space agency said, as Florida braces for Hurricane Ian.
The move, to protect the rocket from strong winds and heavy rain forecast for the Kennedy Space Center, will cause further setbacks for the uncrewed Moon mission, which was scheduled to launch Hurricane forces NASA moon rocket to shelter; launch on hold
Hurricane Ian is prompting NASA to move its moon rocket off the launch pad and into shelter, adding weeks of delay to the lunar-orbiting test flight.
NASA to deflect asteroid in key test of planetary defense
NASA will on Monday attempt a feat humanity has never before accomplished: deliberately smacking a spacecraft into an asteroid to slightly deflect its orbit, in a key test of our ability to stop cosmic objects from devastating life on Earth.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spaceship launched from California last November and is fast approaching its target, which it will strike at Plan to research solar power from space
The Sun never stops shining in space, and sunlight is much more intense there than on Earth's surface. So what if we could gather that energy up in space then beam it down to Earth?
Recent studies funded by the Preparation element of ESA’s Basic Activities programme, show the concept, called Space-Based Solar Power, is theoretically workable and could support the path to decarbonising the energy sector. However, significant uncertainties and technical challenges remain. In response ESA is proposing a R&D programme to mature the concept and its critical technologies – SOLARIS.
China's Mars rover expected to resume work in December
China's Mars rover Zhurong, currently in sleep mode, is expected to wake up automatically in December when its energy level hits over 140 watts and the temperature of components like the battery rise above minus 15 degrees Celsius, according to its research team.
Jia Yang, deputy chief designer of the Tianwen-1 Mars mission from the China Academy of Space Technology, said Zhurong will resu Regions keep dark skies alight with constellations
From the 'Saucepan' to the 'Southern Cross' star gazing is a popular pastime for many budding astronomers. But as Australia's cities continue to expand, finding a sky that's dark enough to see the stars is becoming more and more difficult, say UniSA astronomers.
In search of dark skies - skies unaffected by unnatural light - a team of astronomy students will travel to the southern edge of Spire Global awarded $10M NOAA contract to deliver satellite weather data
Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR), has been awarded as part of Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Delivery Order 5 of the contract issued by the National Oceanographic and Oceanic Administration (NOAA), for commercially available space-based radio occultation (RO).
The award, valued at $9.9 million, is the third multi-million dollar NOAA contract Spire has received in FY22.