Microscopic metavehicles powered by nothing but light
Thursday, 30 September 2021 12:36
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Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have succeeded in creating tiny vehicles powered by nothing but light. By layering an optical metasurface onto a microscopic particle, and then using a light source to control it, they succeeded in moving the tiny vehicles in a variety of complex and precise ways - and even using them to transport other objects.
Light has an inher Image: Cosmic kit
Thursday, 30 September 2021 12:32 Write a comment
ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer is suited, booted and ready for his Cosmic Kiss mission. As a member of US Commercial Crew-3 he will be launched to the International Space Station in a Crew Dragon spacecraft in around one month's time for his first six-month stay in orbit.
Matthias is pictured in the SpaceX spacesuit that he will wear alongside his crew mates, NASA astronauts Kayla Barron, Thomas Marshburn and Raja Chari, during their journey to and from space.
Each SpaceX spacesuit is tailor-made for its wearer. The helmet is 3D printed and its gloves are designed to work with the touchscreens on board. The suit's primary purpose is to protect astronauts from the unlikely event of depressurisation. However, it also helps regulate an astronaut's body temperature and provides hearing and fire protection.
When an astronaut enters the Dragon capsule, they plug the suit into their seat using an umbilical. This provides the electronics to power communications, air to cool the suit and gas to pressurize the garment when needed.
This suit is only worn in the Crew Dragon capsule, not during spacewalks. Matthias is trained and certified in both the US Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) and Russian Orlan spacesuits for any spacewalk he may perform in orbit.
ESA Open Day on our Web TV
Thursday, 30 September 2021 12:19 Write a comment
ESA Web TV is offering live coverage of events across ESA establishments during Sunday afternoon’s ESA Open Day.
Eutelsat rejects unsolicited takeover bid
Thursday, 30 September 2021 12:17 Write a comment
Satellite fleet operator Eutelsat has rejected an unsolicited $3.2 billion takeover offer from telecom magnate Patrick Drahi.
Lunar landers could spray instant landing pads as they arrive at the moon
Thursday, 30 September 2021 11:32 Write a comment
Space exploration requires all kinds of interesting solutions to complex problems. There is a branch of NASA designed to support the innovators trying to solve those problems—the Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC). They occasionally hand out grant funding to worthy projects trying to tackle some of these challenges. The results from one of those grants are now in, and they are intriguing. A team from Masten Space Systems, supported by Honeybee Robotics, Texas A&M, and the University of Central Florida, came up with a way a lunar lander could deposit its own landing pad on the way down.
Lunar dust poses a significant problem to any powered landers on the surface. The retrograde rockets needed to land on the moon's surface softly will also kick dust and rock up into the air, potentially damaging the lander itself or any surrounding human infrastructure.
Satellite servicing companies see different demand in LEO versus GEO
Thursday, 30 September 2021 08:57 Write a comment
Developers of satellite servicing technologies expect interest in refueling and life extension to come from customers in geostationary orbit and beyond, while low Earth orbit operators instead seek end-of-life disposal services.
China displays crewed moon landing mission elements
Thursday, 30 September 2021 08:52 Write a comment
China is showcasing a number of elements for future human lunar landing missions at a major airshow and stating that super heavy-lift rocket will be ready by 2028.
Lawmakers ask Air Force Secretary to ‘pause all actions’ on Space Command relocation
Thursday, 30 September 2021 08:00 Write a comment
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and other lawmakers are asking Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall to suspend all activities related to the relocation of U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama.
Pandemic causes delay and cost increase for NASA’s Roman Space Telescope
Thursday, 30 September 2021 07:57 Write a comment
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope has passed its critical design review, but the impact of the pandemic will delay its launch by several months and increase its cost.
Aerosols released from Australian bushfires triggers algal blooms
Thursday, 30 September 2021 07:05 Write a comment
Australia’s deadly bushfires in the 2019-2020 season generated 700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – triggering vast algal blooms in the Southern Ocean. Using satellite data, two new studies published in Nature prove how satellites can illuminate the complicated ways in which Earth is responding to climate change in an era of worsening wildfires.
The spectrum of gravitational waves
Thursday, 30 September 2021 07:00 Write a comment
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Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime produced by the acceleration of very massive objects, such as black holes coming together and merging. Different objects in space produce gravitational waves of different timescales, ranging from milliseconds to billions of years. Some of these waves can only be observed from space.
This is the goal of ESA’s future mission LISA, which will be the first space-based gravitational wave observatory.
LISA will study gravitational waves that are produced by merging stellar mass black holes, supermassive black holes and white dwarfs. It will also pick up the waves produced by compact objects, like neutron stars
Virgin Galactic says FAA has cleared it for further flights
Thursday, 30 September 2021 06:31 Write a comment
Cosmic kit
Thursday, 30 September 2021 06:00 Write a comment
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ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer wearing the SpaceX spacesuit FAA clears Virgin Galactic to resume SpaceShipTwo flights
Wednesday, 29 September 2021 22:47 Write a comment
The FAA said Sept. 29 that it completed its investigation into a problem on Virgin Galactic’s most recent SpaceShipTwo flight, allowing the company to resume flights of the suborbital spaceplane.
U.S. Space Command official calls for public-private effort to avert war in space
Wednesday, 29 September 2021 21:14 Write a comment
The U.S. needs better capabilities to monitor adversaries’ activities in space and has to quickly deploy satellite constellations that can survive in a conflict, said Maj. Gen. David Miller, of U.S.