Greenbelt MD (SPX) Apr 14, 2021
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will provide an unprecedented window into the infrared universe when it launches in the mid-2020s. One of the mission's planned surveys will use a quirk of gravity to reveal thousands of new planets beyond our solar system. The same survey will also provide the best opportunity yet to definitively detect solitary small black holes for the first time

Jerusalem, Israel (SPX) Apr 14, 2021
The "three-body problem," the term coined for predicting the motion of three gravitating bodies in space, is essential for understanding a variety of astrophysical processes as well as a large class of mechanical problems, and has occupied some of the world's best physicists, astronomers and mathematicians for over three centuries. Their attempts have led to the discovery of several important fi

Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 14, 2021
The Ingenuity team has identified a software solution for the command sequence issue identified on Sol 49 (April 9) during a planned high-speed spin-up test of the helicopter's rotors. Over the weekend, the team considered and tested multiple potential solutions to this issue, concluding that minor modification and reinstallation of Ingenuity's flight control software is the most robust path for

Orlando FL (UPI) Apr 14, 2021
Jeff Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, plans to launch Wednesday morning from Texas what may be the last test flight for its New Shepard rocket before it carries people later this year. But people will be getting into and out of the capsule atop the 60-foot-high rocket as part of the test. Liftoff is planned for 11:15 a.m. EDT from the company's spaceport near Van Horn, about 120 miles so

Moscow (AFP) April 13, 2021
The head of Russia's space agency used strong language to criticise US State Department members for failing to mention Yuri Gagarin in a post marking 60 years since his historic spaceflight. On Monday, Russia led by President Vladimir Putin marked the 60th anniversary of the legendary flight that made Gagarin the first human in orbit. The US State Department issued a Facebook post commem

Beijing (XNA) Apr 14, 2021
China will continue to exert great efforts to boost aerospace as a strategic emerging industry in the next five years, a senior aerospace official said. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) is drawing up a plan for the country's space development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), said Zhang Kejian, head of the CNSA. During this period, China will promote pr

Moscow (Sputnik) Apr 13, 2021
Russia has called for talks to create a legally binding international instrument that would ban the deployment of any type of weapons in space, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's historic space flight. The anniversary of the first Soviet cosmonaut's flight, marking the beginning of humanity's space era, is celebrated every year in Russia a

Beijing (XNA) Apr 14, 2021
China has set up an expert committee for lunar samples, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said Tuesday. According to the regulations on lunar sample management, the CNSA established the committee as an expert advisory institution for the management of lunar samples. The committee aims to give full play to the scientific value of lunar samples and standardize their manage

Washington DC (UPI) Apr 13, 2021
Russia and NASA will continue to cooperate in space in the near future, even as Russia moves to work with China on lunar exploration, experts said. Russia and China announced March 9 they will cooperate on China's planned International Scientific Lunar Station, while the United States will have no involvement in the Chinese space program under a law passed in 2011. But ultimately

Washington DC (UPI) Apr 13, 2021
NASA has postponed the flight of the Mars helicopter Ingenuity, the first controlled flight on another planet, to work through a software problem. The flight had been planned for Thursday and then delayed to Sunday. NASA didn't immediately set a new target date for the flight. "Our best estimate of a targeted flight date is fluid right now, but we are working toward achieving the