Studying rainforests from the skies - radar technology measures biomass
Friday, 18 August 2023 13:14
Write a comment
At present, there are only estimates of how much forest biomass exists worldwide. However, its extent is crucial in order to accurately assess global warming. This information could be used to predict the consequences of climate change and to take appropriate countermeasures. Researchers at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) are working on technologies t BAE agrees to buy Ball Aerospace for $5.55 billion
Friday, 18 August 2023 13:14 Write a comment
British military equipment maker BAE Systems announced on Thursday that it had agreed to buy US company Ball Aerospace from the Ball Corporation for about $5.55 billion.
BAE said it hoped to complete the acquisition of the aerospace firm in the first half of 2024, with an anticipated tax credit taking the "underlying economic consideration for the business" to $4.8 billion.
The proposed Global collaboration leads to new discoveries in lightning research
Friday, 18 August 2023 13:14 Write a comment
With operations based out of Tampa, Florida, the ALOFT field campaign logged approximately 60 hours of flight time across Central America and the Caribbean. The team used NASA Armstrong's ER-2 aircraft to fly near thunderclouds as tall as 18 kilometers (10 miles) in altitude in order to measure gamma-ray glows and flashes produced by the electric fields of thunderclouds.
ALOFT is short for NASA Software Catalog Offers Free Programs for Earth Science, More
Friday, 18 August 2023 13:14 Write a comment
Each year, NASA scientists, engineers, and developers create software packages to manage space missions, test spacecraft, and analyze the petabytes of data produced by agency research satellites. As the agency innovates for the benefit of humanity, many of these programs are now downloadable and free of charge through NASA's Software Catalog.
The 2023-2024 Software Catalog contains more th U.S. government warns of foreign intelligence threats to the space industry
Friday, 18 August 2023 12:12
Week in images: 14-18 August 2023
Friday, 18 August 2023 12:05 Write a comment
Week in images: 14-18 August 2023
Discover our week through the lens
Poland signs agreement to fly astronaut on Axiom Space ISS mission
Friday, 18 August 2023 10:29
Japanese SAR company iQPS to launch with Rocket Lab after Virgin Orbit bankruptcy
Thursday, 17 August 2023 21:16
True Anomaly opens spacecraft manufacturing facility in Colorado
Thursday, 17 August 2023 20:26
NASA's tale of two towers: Both Artemis mobile launchers see action
Thursday, 17 August 2023 19:56 Write a comment
NASA's Artemis program has one tower standing and one just getting started.
Mobile launcher 1 (ML-1), which endured some significant damage after its use on the Artemis I mission last November, has been undergoing repairs and enhancements in preparation for its reuse on next year's planned Artemis II flight, the first with humans on board.
NASA stuck the 380-foot-tall structure atop its slow-moving crawler-transporter 2 on Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center to begin its two-day return to Launch Pad 39-B.
ML-1 is the ground structure that holds NASA's powerful Space Launch System rocket, and for Artemis II, NASA has been working to add essential features for the four humans that will be riding in the Orion capsule atop the rocket. It will make its way into the Vehicle Assembly Building for eventual stacking of all the rocket parts early next year.
For now, though, it has work planned at the launch site where NASA's Exploration Ground Systems team will perform tests and work on upgrades for both the launcher and the launch pad. That includes a launch day demonstration for the Artemis II crew of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen as well as NASA's closeout crew and the rescue team.
Scientists propose adapting a Mars ISRU system to the changing Mars environment
Thursday, 17 August 2023 19:36 Write a comment
Human missions to Mars will require a substantial launch vehicle to ascend from Mars to rendezvous with a waiting Earth return vehicle in Mars orbit. For an ascending crew of 6, the current best estimate of oxygen propellants required for ascent is about 30 metric tons. Producing oxygen for ascent propellants and possibly life support from the indigenous CO2 on Mars, rather than bringing oxygen to Mars from Earth, is of significant benefit.
The oxygen production is accomplished through a process known generically as in situ resource utilization (ISRU). Since the Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE) Project demonstrated operation of a prototype electrolysis system for converting Martian CO2 to O2 on Mars with great success, it is now appropriate to investigate scaling up this prototype to a full-scale system.
In a research paper recently published in Space: Science & Technology, Donald Rapp and Eric Hinterman modeled the performance of a full-scale Mars in situ resource utilization (ISRU) system to produce 30 metric tons of liquid O2, operated for 14 months as the Mars environment changes diurnally and seasonally.
Space Development Agency to consider commercial LEO options to augment DoD network
Thursday, 17 August 2023 17:37
New Horizons is so far away, it can measure the true darkness of the universe
Thursday, 17 August 2023 17:32 Write a comment
Just how dark is the night sky?
If you step outside during a moonless night and look up, it probably doesn't look that dark at all. Streetlights or nearby porch lights fill the air with a background glow, particularly if they happen to be bluish-white LEDs. Light pollution in your neighborhood is likely so bad that you can only see a few bright stars. Even in somewhat rural areas, our skies are so bright that the Milky Way isn't really visible. In North America and Europe, only about a quarter of children have seen the Milky Way.
To get away from all the light pollution you need to travel to a pretty remote corner of the world. One of the most remote is the Andean desert in Chile.