Copernical Team
Thursday, 23 March 2023 10:05
Waves and a Rock: Sols 3778-3779
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 21, 2023
Monday's planned drive positioned Curiosity with a new workspace to investigate. We have left the Marker Band, with Natalie's blog nicely summarizing our campaign there. As a physicist and spectroscopist by training, I find myself looking more at the analytical data, in particular X-ray fluorescence data, acquired on rocks, than the rocks themselves. But there was something about the primary roc
Monday's planned drive positioned Curiosity with a new workspace to investigate. We have left the Marker Band, with Natalie's blog nicely summarizing our campaign there. As a physicist and spectroscopist by training, I find myself looking more at the analytical data, in particular X-ray fluorescence data, acquired on rocks, than the rocks themselves. But there was something about the primary roc
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Thursday, 23 March 2023 10:05
NASA seeks student solutions for managing Moon landing dust cloud
Human Lander Challenge
Huntsville AL (SPX) Mar 23, 2023
As NASA and industry partners develop new human landing systems to transport astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon's surface and back as part of Artemis, the agency is asking university students to investigate solutions to one particularly dusty aspect of landing spacecraft on the lunar surface.
NASA's new Human Lander Challenge invites college students
Huntsville AL (SPX) Mar 23, 2023
As NASA and industry partners develop new human landing systems to transport astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon's surface and back as part of Artemis, the agency is asking university students to investigate solutions to one particularly dusty aspect of landing spacecraft on the lunar surface.
NASA's new Human Lander Challenge invites college students
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Thursday, 23 March 2023 10:05
NRO awards contracts to BlackSky and Planet Labs for hyperspectral capabilities
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 23, 2023
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has awarded contracts to BlackSky Technology and Planet Labs Federal for the exploration of commercial hyperspectral image capabilities under the Strategic Commercial Enhancements (SCE) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) program.
BlackSky Technology, a geospatial intelligence solutions provider, has been selected for a multi-stage SCE BAA framework stu
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has awarded contracts to BlackSky Technology and Planet Labs Federal for the exploration of commercial hyperspectral image capabilities under the Strategic Commercial Enhancements (SCE) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) program.
BlackSky Technology, a geospatial intelligence solutions provider, has been selected for a multi-stage SCE BAA framework stu
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Thursday, 23 March 2023 10:05
Surprisingly simple explanation for the alien comet 'Oumuamua's weird orbit
Berkeley CA (SPX) Mar 23, 2023
In 2017, a mysterious comet dubbed 'Oumuamua fired the imaginations of scientists and the public alike. It was the first known visitor from outside our solar system, it had no bright coma or dust tail, like most comets, and a peculiar shape - something between a cigar and a pancake - and its small size more befitted an asteroid than a comet.
But the fact that it was accelerating away from
In 2017, a mysterious comet dubbed 'Oumuamua fired the imaginations of scientists and the public alike. It was the first known visitor from outside our solar system, it had no bright coma or dust tail, like most comets, and a peculiar shape - something between a cigar and a pancake - and its small size more befitted an asteroid than a comet.
But the fact that it was accelerating away from
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Thursday, 23 March 2023 10:05
First results from ESO telescopes on the aftermath of DART's asteroid impact
Munich, Germany (SPX) Mar 23, 2023
Using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), two teams of astronomers have observed the aftermath of the collision between NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft and the asteroid Dimorphos. The controlled impact was a test of planetary defence, but also gave astronomers a unique opportunity to learn more about the asteroid's composition from the expelled material.
On 26 Septe
Using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), two teams of astronomers have observed the aftermath of the collision between NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft and the asteroid Dimorphos. The controlled impact was a test of planetary defence, but also gave astronomers a unique opportunity to learn more about the asteroid's composition from the expelled material.
On 26 Septe
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Thursday, 23 March 2023 10:05
First 3D-printed rocket lifts off but fails to reach orbit
Washington (AFP) March 23, 2023
The world's first 3D-printed rocket launched successfully on Wednesday, marking a step forward for the California company behind the innovative spacecraft, though it failed to reach orbit.
Billed as less costly to produce and fly, the unmanned Terran 1 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 11:25 pm (0325 GMT Thursday) but suffered an "anomaly" during second-stage separation as it
The world's first 3D-printed rocket launched successfully on Wednesday, marking a step forward for the California company behind the innovative spacecraft, though it failed to reach orbit.
Billed as less costly to produce and fly, the unmanned Terran 1 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 11:25 pm (0325 GMT Thursday) but suffered an "anomaly" during second-stage separation as it
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Thursday, 23 March 2023 03:43
Virgin Orbit to bring small staff back to work on Thursday
Washington DC (UPI) Mar 22, 2021
Virgin Orbit, Richard Branson's satellite launcher service, is expected to return a small staff work on Thursday after suspending operations last week and putting its employees on unpaid furlough.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Virgin Orbit Holdings said it would begin an "incremental resumption of its operations" that would include working on its ne
Virgin Orbit, Richard Branson's satellite launcher service, is expected to return a small staff work on Thursday after suspending operations last week and putting its employees on unpaid furlough.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Virgin Orbit Holdings said it would begin an "incremental resumption of its operations" that would include working on its ne
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Thursday, 23 March 2023 03:43
Webb Telescope spots swirling, gritty clouds on remote planet in spectrum data
Baltimore MD (SPX) Mar 23, 2023
Researchers observing with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have pinpointed silicate cloud features in a distant planet's atmosphere. The atmosphere is constantly rising, mixing, and moving during its 22-hour day, bringing hotter material up and pushing colder material down. The resulting brightness changes are so dramatic that it is the most variable planetary-mass object known to date. The te
Researchers observing with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have pinpointed silicate cloud features in a distant planet's atmosphere. The atmosphere is constantly rising, mixing, and moving during its 22-hour day, bringing hotter material up and pushing colder material down. The resulting brightness changes are so dramatic that it is the most variable planetary-mass object known to date. The te
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Thursday, 23 March 2023 03:43
Relativity Space's 3D-printed rocket fails to reach orbit
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 23, 2023
Relativity Space's 3D-printed rocket, Terran 1, failed to reach orbit after an anomaly occurred during its second-stage separation. The rocket had been launched successfully on its third attempt and was designed to carry over 1000 kg of cargo into low Earth orbit. It was intended to gather data and demonstrate that 3D-printed rockets can withstand the rigors of liftoff and spaceflight.
The
Relativity Space's 3D-printed rocket, Terran 1, failed to reach orbit after an anomaly occurred during its second-stage separation. The rocket had been launched successfully on its third attempt and was designed to carry over 1000 kg of cargo into low Earth orbit. It was intended to gather data and demonstrate that 3D-printed rockets can withstand the rigors of liftoff and spaceflight.
The
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Wednesday, 22 March 2023 17:20
A new mission will search for habitable planets at Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is our closest stellar neighbor, a binary star system located just 4.376 light-years away. Despite its proximity, repeated astronomical surveys have failed to find hard evidence of extrasolar planets in this system. Part of the problem is that the system consists of two stars orbiting each other, which makes detecting exoplanets through the two most popular methods very challenging. In 2019, Breakthrough Initiatives announced they were backing a new project to find exoplanets next door—the Telescope for Orbit Locus Interferometric Monitoring of our Astronomical Neighborhood (TOLIMAN, after the star's ancient name in Arabic).
This low-cost mission concept was designed by a team from the University of Sydney, Australia, and aims to look for potentially-habitable exoplanets in the Alpha Centauri system using the Astrometry Method.
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