Europe's Vega rocket blasts off with Airbus observation satellite
Tuesday, 17 August 2021 07:16
A European Vega rocket lifted off Monday night from French Guiana carrying an Earth observation satellite and four miniature "cubesats".
It was the second launch this year of the Vega, a crucial component of European ambitions to compete with rivals such as Elon Musk's SpaceX in the booming commercial aerospace market.
The rocket blasted off from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou at 10:47 pm (0147 GMT), successfully delivering the satellites in just under two hours.
Its main cargo was a high-resolution satellite, the second of four for a new Earth observation constellation operated by Airbus. The first was put in orbit in April by a Vega rocket.
The Pleiades Neo constellation will offer high-resolution imaging of Earth for military or civilian uses such as disaster response, according to Airbus.
Vega's operator Arianespace is a subsidiary of the ArianeGroup, of which Airbus owns half.
Musk says next Moon landing will probably be sooner than in 2024
Tuesday, 17 August 2021 03:06
NASA reportedly paid $300 million to SpaceX on 30 July to turn Starship into a crewed Moon lander for its Human Landing System (HLS) programme. In total, the project may require up to $3 billion in funding.
Once again, Elon Musk has shared his optimistic views on space exploration, saying that Moon travel may be closer than it seems. Replying to the Twitter account "Everything Artemis", wh Trio of orbiters shows small dust storms help dry out Mars
Tuesday, 17 August 2021 03:06
By combining observations from three international spacecraft at Mars, scientists were able to show that regional dust storms play a huge role in drying out the Red Planet. Dust storms heat up higher altitudes of the cold Martian atmosphere, preventing water vapor from freezing as usual and allowing it to reach farther up.
In the higher reaches of Mars, where the atmosphere is sparse, wate Jeff Bezos' rocket company sues, creates additional delay for moon landing
Tuesday, 17 August 2021 03:06
Jeff Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin, has sued the U.S. government in federal court to overturn NASA's decision awarding SpaceX a contract for a lunar lander - an action likely to further delay a U.S. return to the moon.
Bezos' company asked permission to file the suit under seal Friday, and U.S. Federal Claims Court Judge Richard Hertling approved that motion Monday morning. Fizzing sodium could explain Asteroid Phaethon's comet-like activity
Tuesday, 17 August 2021 03:06
As a comet zooms through the inner solar system, the Sun heats it, causing ices below the surface to vaporize into space. The venting vapor dislodges dust and rock, and the gas creates a bright tail that can extend millions of miles from the nucleus like an ethereal veil.
Whereas comets contain lots of different ices, asteroids are mainly rock and not known for producing such majestic disp Nearby star-forming region yields clues to the formation of our solar system
Tuesday, 17 August 2021 03:06
A region of active star formation in the constellation Ophiuchus is giving astronomers new insights into the conditions in which our own solar system was born. In particular, a new study of the Ophiuchus star-forming complex shows how our solar system may have become enriched with short-lived radioactive elements.
Evidence of this enrichment process has been around since the 1970s, when sc Chinese rocket for Tianzhou-3 mission arrives at launch site
Tuesday, 17 August 2021 03:06
China's Long March-7 Y4 rocket, which will launch the new cargo craft of China's space station, on Monday arrived at its launch site in southern China's Hainan Province.
The rocket, alongside the Tianzhou-3 cargo craft that has already been transported to the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, will be assembled and tested at the launch site, the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) Microsoft unveils Australian Space Startup launchpad
Tuesday, 17 August 2021 03:06
Microsoft is delighted to announce the launch of Microsoft for Space Startups Australia designed to support emerging enterprises focussed on cloud-powered innovation on and off the planet. Through this initiative, Microsoft will support and enable cutting-edge Australian space innovation to help solve tough problems, such as bush fire detection, climate change and sustainable practices on Earth Vega launches Pléiades Neo and CubeSats
Tuesday, 17 August 2021 02:40
Europe’s Vega has delivered Pléiades Neo-4 and four auxiliary payloads, SunStorm, RadCube and LEDSAT developed through ESA, and BRO-4, to their planned orbits.
Vega launches second Pléiades Neo imaging satellite
Tuesday, 17 August 2021 02:05
Arianespace launched a second satellite for the Pléiades Neo imaging constellation Aug. 16 on a Vega rocket.
Blue Origin sues NASA over Human Landing System contract
Monday, 16 August 2021 16:57
Blue Origin has filed suit against NASA in federal court, arguing that the agency failed to properly evaluate its proposal for the agency’s Human Landing System program, a procurement won by SpaceX.
Amyloid fibrils experiment operating aboard International Space Station
Monday, 16 August 2021 14:00
A novel experiment aimed at studying the mechanics of amyloid fibrils—a type of protein aggregation associated with diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's—started today aboard the International Space Station (ISS), led by a team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
The project was designed by Amir Hirsa, a professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at Rensselaer and member of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS). He was looking for a way to study fluid dynamics without interference from the solid walls of a container, which would typically be necessary to hold a fluid being studied on Earth.
The concept, which Hirsa calls a ring-sheared drop, requires a microgravity environment, like the one found in orbit, where surface tension alone can hold a drop of liquid together. This will allow researchers to observe the effects of stress on protein—in this case: insulin.
"We're trying to understand this particular form of protein aggregation," Hirsa said. "And we're trying to remove the complication of wall nucleation."
The ring-sheared drop hardware—built by NASA and its contractors, and inspired by Hirsa's concept—includes a syringe that dispenses a large drop of liquid made up of water and dissolved insulin.
The search for life on Mars expands to studying its moons
Monday, 16 August 2021 14:00
A pair of researchers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has published a perspective piece in the journal Science outlining the efforts being conducted this decade to find out if Mars once hosted life. In their article, Ryuki Hyodo and Tomohiro Usui outline the three main efforts that are involved in looking for evidence of life on Mars over the next ten years, and explain why they and others at JAXA believe the best chance of finding evidence of life on Mars lies on one or both of its moons.
As Hyodo and Usui note, NASA is currently conducting a study of the Jezero Crater on the surface of Mars with its Perseverance rover.
GAO report details rejection of HLS protests
Monday, 16 August 2021 10:11
he Government Accountability Office offered more details about its decision to reject protests filed by two companies of NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) award to SpaceX.
Watch Vega launch live
Monday, 16 August 2021 08:15
Tune in to ESA Web TV from 02:37 BST / 03:37 CEST on 17 August to watch the Vega launch live.