Perseverance sees Mars in a new light
Sunday, 23 July 2023 05:11
Write a comment
In its first 400 days on Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover may have found a diverse collection of organics - carbon-based molecules considered the building blocks of life - thanks to SHERLOC, an innovative instrument on the rover's robotic arm. Scientists with the mission, which is searching for evidence that the planet supported microbial life billions of years ago, aren't sure whether biological Sleeping the Sol Away: Sol 3894
Sunday, 23 July 2023 05:11 Write a comment
Earth planning date: Wednesday, July 19, 2023. Curiosity is, first and foremost, a robotic geologist. As an atmospheric scientist who is a member of the environmental science team, this often means that I'm just along for the ride, guided by the needs of the geology team. Besides the fact that geology is our primary mission, observations requested by GEO are often more temporally-constrained tha SwRI-led team finds ancient, high-energy impacts could have fueled Venus volcanism
Sunday, 23 July 2023 05:11 Write a comment
A Southwest Research Institute-led team has modeled the early impact history of Venus to explain how Earth's sister planet has maintained a youthful surface despite lacking plate tectonics. The team compared the early collision histories of the two bodies and determined that Venus likely experienced higher-speed, higher-energy impacts creating a superheated core that promoted extended volcanism NASA funds 3 citizen science projects to study 2024 US solar eclipse
Sunday, 23 July 2023 05:11 Write a comment
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 21, 2023
NASA has awarded funding for three science teams to conduct citizen science investigations as a total solar eclipse sweeps across North America on April 8, 2024. In these experiments, volunteers will help study the Sun and its ethereal outer atmosphere, called the corona, which is revealed when the Moon completely covers the Sun's bright disk.
"During next ComPair gamma-ray hunting mission prepares for balloon flight
Sunday, 23 July 2023 05:11 Write a comment
Engineers and scientists have shipped NASA's ComPair instrument to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, ahead of its scheduled August flight early in NASA's 2023 fall balloon campaign.
ComPair's goal is to test new technologies for studying gamma rays, the highest-energy form of light. It was assembled and tested at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
"The gamma-ray energy Chemical cartography reveals the Milky Way's spiral arms
Sunday, 23 July 2023 05:11 Write a comment
Keith Hawkins, assistant professor of astronomy at The University of Texas at Austin, has used chemical cartography - also known as chemical mapping - to identify regions of the Milky Way's spiral arms that have previously gone undetected. His research, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, demonstrates the value of this pioneering technique in understanding the sha Detecting threats beyond the limits of human, sensor sight
Sunday, 23 July 2023 05:11 Write a comment
Remember what it's like to twirl a sparkler on a summer night? Hold it still and the fire crackles and sparks but twirl it around and the light blurs into a line tracing each whirl and jag you make.
A new patented software system developed at Sandia National Laboratories can find the curves of motion in streaming video and images from satellites, drones and far-range security cameras and t NASA offers details on commercial space capabilities agreements
Saturday, 22 July 2023 18:41 Write a comment
A NASA procurement document provides details about the plans of several companies that received unfunded Space Act Agreements for commercial space capabilities in June, as well as those who failed to make the cut.
Galactic Energy registers sixth consecutive successful launch
Saturday, 22 July 2023 09:24 Write a comment
Chinese startup Galactic Energy sent two satellites into orbit early Saturday with the company’s sixth consecutive successful launch.
Amazon picks Kennedy Space Center for Project Kuiper processing facility
Friday, 21 July 2023 19:46 Write a comment
Amazon announced plans July 21 to build a satellite processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, as it prepares to start launching 3,200 commercial Project Kuiper broadband satellites next year.
In new space race, scientists propose geoarchaeology can aid in preserving space heritage
Friday, 21 July 2023 15:58 Write a comment
As a new space race heats up, two researchers from the Kansas Geological Survey at the University of Kansas and their colleagues have proposed a new scientific subfield: planetary geoarchaeology, the study of how cultural and natural processes on Earth's moon, on Mars and across the solar system may be altering, preserving or destroying the material record of space exploration.
"Until recently, we might consider the material left behind during the space race of the mid-20th century as relatively safe," said Justin Holcomb, postdoctoral researcher at the Kansas Geological Survey, based at the University of Kansas, and lead author on a new paper introducing the concept of planetary geoarchaeology in the journal Geoarchaeology.
"However, the material record that currently exists on the moon is rapidly becoming at risk of being destroyed if proper attention isn't paid during the new space era."
Since the advent of space exploration, humans have launched more than 6,700 satellites and spacecraft from countries around the globe, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.
First Astranis satellite sidelined by post-deployment glitch
Friday, 21 July 2023 13:01 Write a comment
The first Astranis-built satellite won’t be able to provide commercial broadband over Alaska for local telco Pacific Dataport because it can’t keep solar arrays pointed at the sun, the Californian manufacturer’s CEO John Gedmark said July 20.
Week in images: 17-21 July 2023
Friday, 21 July 2023 12:05 Write a comment
Week in images: 17-21 July 2023
Discover our week through the lens
Journey back to Earth: Aeolus' historic reentry
Friday, 21 July 2023 12:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:05:00
ESA’s wind mission Aeolus is coming home. After five years of improving weather forecasts, the satellite will return in a first-of-its-kind assisted reentry. At ESA’s Space Operations Centre in Germany, mission control will use the satellite’s remaining fuel to steer Aeolus during its return to Earth.
Find out more about the mission, its successes and how Aeolus is paving the way for safe reentries.
Rescue drones tested within Italian volcanoes
Friday, 21 July 2023 11:28 Write a comment
Interconnected drones have been dispatched into volcanic territory to test their use for civil protection, to help guide responses to natural disasters using novel PNT technology. The project, named Pathfinder, is supported through ESA’s Navigation Innovation and Support Programme, NAVISP. Two test campaigns have been undertaken to date, around the active Stromboli Island volcano and within the Astroni Nature Reserve, in a volcanic crater near Naples.