Copernical Team
SpaceX scrubs launch of Italian satellite from Florida, will try again Friday
SpaceX on Thursday scrubbed its planned launch of an Italian Earth-observation satellite, the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation 2 and said it plans to try again Friday.
"Due to unfavorable weather, now targeting Friday, January 28 at 6:11 p.m. EST for launch of COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2," the company tweeted.
SpaceX plans to launch the satellite aboard the Falcon 9 rocket from Caltech names Laurie Leshin Director of JPL
Laurie Leshin, president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), has been appointed director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and vice president of Caltech. Leshin will formally assume her position on May 16, 2022, succeeding Michael Watkins, who retired in August 2021, and Lt. Gen. Larry D. James USAF (Ret.), who currently serves as JPL interim director.
She joins JPL from WPI, on US issues visa to Russian ISS cosmonaut
The United States has issued a visa to Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Chub to undergo training in Texas before his flight to the International Space Station (ISS) after refusing him one last week, the Russian state space agency, Roscosmos, said on Wednesday.
"The United States has issued an entry visa to Roscosmos cosmonaut Nikolai Chub. The cosmonaut is headed to the United States for training Out of Pebble Purgatory
The final two pebbles hitching a ride aboard our rover's bit carousel are gone but not forgotten. I'll give you the latest on why they are gone and then tell you why we are not forgetting them - or the two other pebbles that made our first month of 2022 a busy one.
We had more than a suspicion the rocks had departed the Perseverance rover on Sunday when imagery of the bit carousel came dow He won a trip to space. Then he gave it away to a friend
![Meet the man who won a trip to space and gave it to a friend](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2022/meet-the-man-who-won-a.jpg "This photo provided by Kyle Hippchen shows him, right, with Chris Sembroski near launch complex 39A in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 21, 2021. Hippchen says Sembroski is the one person "who lives and breathes" space stuff like he does. Credit: Courtesy Kyle Hippchen via AP")
He told his family and a few friends. He dropped hints to a couple of colleagues. So hardly anyone knew that the airline pilot could have—should have—been on board when SpaceX launched its first tourists into orbit last year.
Meet Kyle Hippchen, the real winner of a first-of-its-kind sweepstakes, who gave his seat to his college roommate.
Join Webb Quest: Mind-blowing mission to the early Universe
Permafrost thaw: it’s complicated
One of the many serious consequences of the climate crisis is that precious permafrost is thawing, and this is unleashing even more carbon to the atmosphere and further exacerbating climate change. However, it’s complicated. For example, sometimes permafrost can thaw rapidly and scientists are unsure why and what these abrupt thaws mean in terms of feedback loops. This makes it difficult to predict the future impact on the climate. Thanks to an ESA–NASA initiative, new research digs deep into understanding the complexities of permafrost thaw and how carbon is released over time.
Meet the man who won a trip to space and gave it to a friend
He told his family and a few friends. He dropped hints to a couple of colleagues. So hardly anyone knew that the airline pilot could have—should have—been on board when SpaceX launched its first tourists into orbit last year.
Meet Kyle Hippchen, the real winner of a first-of-its-kind sweepstakes, who gave his seat to his college roommate.
Image: Orbital resupply vehicle departs ISS
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station farewelled over 2000 kg of scientific experiments and hardware on Sunday 23 January as a cargo Dragon spacecraft began its return to Earth.
ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer captured the resupply vehicle in all its glory as it departed the orbital outpost at 15:40 GMT/16:40 CET. It splashed down approximately 29 hours later off the coast of Florida, U.S..
The SpaceX spacecraft arrived at the Space Station just before Christmas, bringing new experiments alongside Christmas treats. It returned with a bellyful of science, including several European experiments that were quickly transported to NASA's Space Station Processing Facility at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, and other items that flew with ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet during his Alpha mission.
Among the experiments were an investigation into the effect of microgravity on resting muscle tone known as Myotones, cell cultures for the Cytoskeleton experiment that looks at how human cells behave in weightlessness, and a new device called Thermo-Mini for continually monitoring core body temperature that you might have seen Matthias sporting on Station.