Copernical Team
Watch: 14 hours of Enceladus geyser action
What a parting gift the Cassini mission gave us.
Below is a movie sequence of images, garnered from the final dedicated observation of the Enceladus' geysers by the imitable Cassini spacecraft.
Back in August of 2017, Cassini stared at Enceladus for 14 hours, looking at the moon's night side. The movie begins with a view of the part of the surface lit by reflected light from Saturn and transitions to completely unilluminated terrain. About halfway through the sequence, the exposure time of the images changes in order to make fainter features more visible as the light level drops.
"That's why stars appear towards the end—they're the small dots streaking by," said Paul Byrne, planetary scientist and associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis, who brought this animation to our attention on Twitter.
NASA's Psyche mission moves closer to launch
As part of NASA's Discovery Program, the mission to explore a metal-rich asteroid is well on its way to an August 2022 launch.
With NASA's Psyche mission now less than a year from launch, anticipation is building. By next spring, the fully assembled spacecraft will ship from the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a launch period that opens Aug. 1, 2022.
In early 2026, the Psyche spacecraft will arrive at its target, an asteroid of the same name in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Unveiling vehicles and technologies for future space transportation
ESA safeguards Europe’s guaranteed access to space through its Future Launchers Preparatory Programme, FLPP.
Film and cultures
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Samples of the Biofilms experiment are headed to the International Space Station on the SpaceX CR23 cargo resupply mission this weekend to help maintain astronaut and material safety in space.
A common piece of advice of the past 18 months has been to make sure you wash your hands thoroughly. This is because microorganisms are easily spread across common surfaces like door handles and light switches, and it is no less true in space. The Space Station is, after all, a lab as well as a home to astronauts. It is especially important to keep this environment safe for the
Crater landslide
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Crater landslide U.S. Army conducts live fire test of its first Iron Dome Defense System Battery
The U.S. Army has successfully executed live-fire test of its first Iron Dome Defense System (IDDS-A) Battery, the branch announced Monday.
The execution of the live-fire test of the first of two IDDS-A batteries, which the U.S. Army acquired from Israel, at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was "a critical step" forward, the U.S. Army said in a statement.
Soldiers from Pentagon preparing to unveil and demonstrate highly classified space weapon
A new arms race has boosted the dispute over space weapons, with talks periodically raised about a need to extend control over weapons in orbit. Despite numerous calls to demilitarize space, leading countries continue to accuse each other of developing potentially offensive technology.
The US department of Defense is, in the near future, expected to announce and demonstrate secret space we Indian space agency seeks proposal to utilise data from Chandrayaan-2 lunar orbiter
The researcher with the winning proposal will have three years to complete the project with financial support. The invitation, described as an 'Announcement of Opportunity', is open to all researchers from recognised academic institutions, universities, colleges, planetariums, and Indian government organisations.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has called on the nation's scie Intuitive Machines selects MDA lunar landing sensors to support moon mission
MDA Ltd has signed an agreement with Intuitive Machines, LLC to provide Lunar landing sensors to support its upcoming IM-1 and IM-2 missions. As a result, MDA landing sensors will support the first soft landing US mission to the Moon since 1972, scheduled for early 2022. MDA landing sensors will also support the first ever mining mission to the South pole of the Moon in late 2022.
Intuitiv NASA Mission to Asteroid Psyche one year out from launch
With NASA's Psyche mission now less than a year from launch, anticipation is building. By next spring, the fully assembled spacecraft will ship from the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a launch period that opens Aug. 1, 2022.
In early 2026, the Psyche spacecraft will arrive at its target, an asteroid of the same name i