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Hera is complete. ESA’s asteroid mission for planetary defence was built and prepared in two halves, but now, through a painstaking operation, they have been mated together to make a single spacecraft, ready for full-scale testing of its readiness for space.

The mating took place at OHB Bremen in Germany, with Hera’s Core Module raised more than 3 m above its Propulsion Module then gradually and carefully slotted into place, over a three-hour period. The modules had been placed in cages to ensure their correct alignment relative to each other down to a few tenths of a millimetre.

Washington DC (SPX) Aug 24, 2023
NASA has selected the geology team that will develop the surface science plan for the first crewed lunar landing mission in more than 50 years. NASA's Artemis III mission will land astronauts, including the first woman to land on the Moon, near the lunar South Pole to advance scientific discovery and pave the way for long-term lunar exploration. "Science is one of the pillars of Artemis,"

Washington DC (UPI) Aug 24, 2023
Joining the likes of NASA, weather intelligence company Tomorrow.io said Thursday its radar satellites have the unique ability to monitor precipitation intensity from space. "This achievement places Tomorrow.io alongside NASA and JAXA (The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) as the only entities to have ever taken such measurements from orbit," the company announced. Tomorrow.io

Tokyo (AFP) Aug 25, 2023
Hot on the heels of India's historic lunar landing, Japan's space programme is hoping to rebound from a string of setbacks next week with the launch of its own mission: "Moon Sniper". The rocket will carry a lander expected to reach the Moon's surface in four to six months as well as an x-ray imaging satellite designed to investigate the evolution of the universe. The launch is scheduled

Washington DC (UPI) Aug 24, 2023
India took another step in solidifying its historic status on the moon's south pole, sharing the Chandrayaan-3 mission's first photos of the surface. The 57-pound Pragyaan rover slid down a ramp deployed by the Vikram lander Wednesday and will now start its scientific work of roaming around rocks and material and analyzing them for researchers back on Earth. Researchers believe water tr

Manchester UK (SPX) Aug 25, 2023
New research by The University of Manchester will enhance the power of bioprinting technology, opening doors to transform advances in medicine and addressing critical health challenges faced by astronauts during space missions. Bioprinting involves using specialised 3D printers to print living cells creating new skin, bone, tissue or organs for transplantation. The technique has the

Solna, Sweden (SPX) Aug 25, 2023
A new study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has examined how T cells of the immune system are affected by weightlessness. The results, which are published in the journal Science Advances, could explain why astronauts' T cells become less active and less effective at fighting infection. The next steps in the exploration of space are human missions to the moon and to Ma

Beijing, China (SPX) Aug 25, 2023
China's recently-launched L-SAR4 01 satellite, the world's first geosynchronous (high Earth orbit) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite stepping into the project implementation stage, has entered its working orbit with its SAR antenna successfully deployed, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The L-SAR4 01 satellite, sent into space on Aug. 13, has entered its

Munich, Germany (SPX) Aug 25, 2023
Using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have observed a large dark spot in Neptune's atmosphere, with an unexpected smaller bright spot adjacent to it. This is the first time a dark spot on the planet has ever been observed with a telescope on Earth. These occasional features in the blue background of Neptune's atmosphere are a mystery to astronomers, and the new results provide furt

Moffet Field CA (SPX) Aug 25, 2023
NASA is working with its international partners to study the ancient Earth as it relates to Mars. In June 2023, NASA's Mars Exploration Program leaders joined their counterparts from the Australian Space Agency, ESA (European Space Agency), and the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) on a field expedition to visit some of the oldest convincing ev