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Madrid, Spain (SPX) Jan 12, 2022
Airbus Crisa, an affiliate company of Airbus, has signed a contract for the development of the Power Management and Distribution (PMAD) system for the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) with Northrop Grumman. Airbus Crisa is a Spanish company founded in 1985 to design and manufacture electronic equipment and software for space applications, and engineering projects for ground stations
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Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 12, 2022
NASA's InSight lander is stable and sending health data from Mars to Earth after going into safe mode Friday, Jan. 7, following a large, regional dust storm that reduced the sunlight reaching its solar panels. In safe mode, a spacecraft suspends all but its essential functions. The mission's team reestablished contact with InSight Jan. 10, finding that its power was holding steady and, whi

Sol 3350-3352: A Rock Under the Wheel

Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
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Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 12, 2022
We are back into our planning routine after the Christmas break. In fact, this was the third plan in the new year, and the third plan that Curiosity executes within the Roraima quadrant my colleague introduced a few days ago. While we are getting used to new sounds of our names, we are marvelling at the landscape in front of us, which is very diverse, both in the rover workspace and in the walls
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Washington DC (SPX) Jan 12, 2022
On December 6th 2021, scientists from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) released the largest-ever detailed census of stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, with the complete release of data from its Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE). "For the last decade we have been working to map the Milky Way, and measure extremely detailed properties of the stars within it,"
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Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jan 12, 2022
NASA's newest X-ray eyes are open and ready for discovery! Having spent just over a month in space, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is working and already zeroing in on some of the hottest, most energetic objects in the universe. A joint effort between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, IXPE is the first space observatory dedicated to studying the polarization of X-rays comin

Arqit to Lead UK-AU Space Bridge Project

Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
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London, UK (SPX) Jan 11, 2022
Arqit Quantum Inc. has contracted with Australia's SmartsatCRC under an agreement between the UK and Australian Governments to deliver the first phase of work to Australia relating to Arqit's Federated Quantum System Project ("FQS"). Arqit's FQS project for allied governments delivers strategic control to that government customer of a private instance of Arqit's end to end QuantumCloud tec
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Orlando FL (UPI) Jan 11, 2022
NASA swore in 10 new astronaut candidates Monday at Johnson Space Center in Houston - six men and four women - who someday may walk on the moon or Mars. The candidates were "sworn in this morning, kicking off their two-year training," NASA said on Twitter, noting it was the 23rd astronaut candidate class since 1959. The 10 candidates will now learn engineering systems of spacecraft such

Ocean Physics Explain Cyclones on Jupiter

Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
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San Diego CA (SPX) Jan 11, 2022
Hurtling around Jupiter and its 79 moons is the Juno spacecraft, a NASA-funded satellite that sends images from the largest planet in our solar system back to researchers on Earth. These photographs have given oceanographers the raw materials for a new study published in Nature Physics that describes the rich turbulence at Jupiter's poles and the physical forces that drive the large cyclones.
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Iowa City IA (SPX) Jan 11, 2022
About 400,000 years after the universe was created began a period called "The Epoch of Reionization." During this time, the once hotter universe began to cool and matter clumped together, forming the first stars and galaxies. As these stars and galaxies emerged, their energy heated the surrounding environment, reionizing some of the remaining hydrogen in the universe. The universe's reioni
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Huntsville AL (SPX) Jan 11, 2022
The discovery of a supermassive black hole in a relatively small galaxy could help astronomers unravel the mystery surrounding how the very biggest black holes grow. Researchers used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to identify a black hole containing about 200,000 times the mass of the Sun buried in gas and dust in the galaxy Mrk 462. Mrk 462 contains only several hundred million
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Calvin

NASA has hired a climate scientist as its new chief scientist, a move that reflects the greater emphasis the agency is placing on climate change studies.

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LauncherOne

Virgin Orbit is preparing to launch a set of smallsats as both a demonstration of the flexibility of its air-launch system and its ability to increase its cadence of launches.

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James Webb Space Telescope
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

More than two weeks after the James Webb Space Telescope's launch on Christmas Day, the telescope has traveled more than 700,000 miles from Earth. JWST has successfully deployed its secondary mirror, a key element of the telescope's optics. Next, JWST will unfold its primary mirror segments.

U-M astronomer Michael Meyer says that observing the telescope's transformation has been fascinating.

"In the last week, the team has learned a great deal about the spacecraft that they couldn't have uncovered during testing on the ground. As a result, the tensioning of the sunshield was delayed in order to examine the power subsystems and motors in more detail. Anticipating such occurrences, a flexible plan was developed in order to adapt as things proceed. And that strategy seems to be paying off.

"So far, the deployment of JWST has been a spectacular success. There have been a few nerve-wracking moments, but the daily reports have been welcome good news in these uncertain times. A dedicated team of engineers is going through the to-do list, item by item: There is still a ways to go, but so far, so great.

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Astroscale U.S., a provider of on-orbit services to extend the life of satellites, has signed an agreement to use Orbit Fab’s in-space fuel tankers.

SpaceNews

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How the Webb telescope could ultimately help protect Earth
UC Riverside astrophysicist Stephen Kane. Credit: Stan Lim/UCR

The James Webb Space Telescope, the most complex and expensive space laboratory ever created, is less than two weeks away from its ultimate destination a million miles from Earth. Once it arrives, it will send information about parts of space and time never seen before. It will also send previously unattainable information about parts of our own solar system.

UC Riverside astrophysicist Stephen Kane's group will be using the telescope to look for planets like Venus in other parts of the galaxy. In addition to work with the Webb mission, Kane is also joining NASA on missions to Venus expected to launch after 2028. Here, he breaks down some unique aspects of the Webb, explains how the separate Venus projects intersect, and how both might benefit Earth.

Q: The Webb telescope cost $10 billion. What contributed to the cost, and what makes it different from other telescopes?

A: Webb is often described as a successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, which is remarkably still going strong.

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