Washington DC (SPX) Jun 15, 2023
Astronomers using the Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory operated by NSF's NOIRLab, have detected multiple rock-forming elements in the atmosphere of a Jupiter-sized exoplanet, WASP-76b. The planet is so perilously close to its host star that rock-forming elements - such as magnesium, calcium, and nickel - become vaporized and dispersed throughout its scorch

Dallas TX (SPX) Jun 15, 2023
Dr. Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki, a theoretical astrophysicist at The University of Texas at Dallas, has spent his career seeking answers to some of the universe's greatest mysteries, including why the expansion of the universe seems to be accelerating and whether gravity behaves differently beyond our closest cosmic neighbors. To study these and other questions, a large collaboration of scient

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 14, 2023
It appears that Curiosity's recent traverse has turned a new leaf as this is the second successful drive after lots of slipping and sliding. The new workspace is full of goodies for us to target and fill our 2-sol plan with, in addition to new perspectives of features off in the distance. The rover passed the "Slip Risk Assessment Process" (SRAP) which means we can unstow the arm and use its ins

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 15, 2023
Each winter, the Geminid meteors light up the sky as they race past Earth, producing one of the most intense meteor showers in the night sky. Now, NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission is providing new evidence that a violent, catastrophic event created the Geminids. Most meteor showers come from comets, which are made of ice and dust. When a comet travels close to the Sun, the ice evaporates

Washington DC (SPX) Jun 15, 2023
There is a huge difference between looking at a photo of the Grand Canyon and seeing it in person. If you want to look at another planet's landscape, seeing it in person is not an option. That's why a team at the U.S. Geological Survey used supercomputers and cloud computing to process and release a treasure trove of ready-to-use Mars data: more than 4,800 digital terrain models, known as DTMs,

Toronto, Canada (SPX) Jun 15, 2023
In a study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, researchers at the University of Toronto reveal a theoretical breakthrough that may explain both the nature of invisible dark matter and the large-scale structure of the universe known as the cosmic web. The result establishes a new link between these two longstanding problems in astronomy, opening new possibilities for

Los Gatos CA (SPX) Jun 15, 2023
Comtech (NASDAQ: CMTL) and E-Space, the company bridging Earth and space to enable hyper-scaled deployments of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions and services, has announced a teaming agreement to collaborate, develop and deploy innovative space-based communications solutions and IoT services to support predominantly government and targeted commercial customers. The collaboration will leve

Helsinki, Finland (SPX) Jun 14, 2023
ICEYE, the global leader in persistent monitoring with radar imaging satellites and an expert in natural catastrophe solutions, has successfully expanded its constellation with four new synthetic aperture radar ("SAR") satellites on June 12. The launch on SpaceX's Transporter-8 smallsat rideshare mission via Exolaunch was conducted from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA. Each spacec

Mountain View CA (SPX) Jun 15, 2023
Muon Space, a climate satellite company revolutionizing the way Earth is monitored from space, is pleased to announce the successful deployment of the company's first satellite, MuSat-1. The ESPA-class spacecraft, which launched on SpaceX's Transporter-8 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Calif. on Monday, June 12, is Muon Space's first satellite on orbit and an important step towards i

San Antonio, TX (SPX) Jun 15, 2023
The search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system just got more exciting. A team of scientists including Southwest Research Institute's Dr. Christopher Glein has discovered new evidence that the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus contains a key building block for life. The team directly detected phosphorus in the form of phosphates originating from the moon's ice-covered global o