Sols 3396-3397: Sediment Before the Pediment
Friday, 25 February 2022 05:59
If all goes according to plan, the rover's drive on sol 3397 will position us at the edge of the rocks that cap Greenheugh Pediment. This drive was pushed back from sol 3395 in order to collect even more data on the sedimentary rocks in our current workspace before we leave this rock formation and enter into a new one. This transition is documented in the Mastcam drive direction image above, in Ch'al-Type Rocks at Santa Cruz
Friday, 25 February 2022 05:59
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover snapped this view of a hill in Mars' Jezero Crater called "Santa Cruz" on April 29, 2021, the 68th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. About 20 inches (50 centimeters) across on average, the boulders in the foreground are among the type of rocks the rover team has named "Ch'al" (the Navajo term for "frog" and pronounced "chesh"). Perseverance will return to the ar Roman Space Telescope could snap first image of a Jupiter-like world
Friday, 25 February 2022 05:59
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, now under construction, will test new technologies for space-based planet hunting. The mission aims to photograph worlds and dusty disks around nearby stars with detail up to a thousand times better than possible with other observatories.
Roman will use its Coronagraph Instrument - a system of masks, prisms, detectors, and even self-flexing mirrors Astronomers map mysterious element in space
Friday, 25 February 2022 05:59
A research team led by Lund University in Sweden has provided an important clue to the origin of the element Ytterbium in the Milky Way, by showing that the element largely originates from supernova explosions. The groundbreaking research also provides new opportunities for studying the evolution of our galaxy. The study is published in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Ytterbium is one of four Successful first year for UK-Australia Space Bridge
Friday, 25 February 2022 05:59
This week marks the first anniversary of the Space Bridge between UK and Australia - a partnership focused on facilitating collaboration between the two countries' space sectors. A world first, the Space Bridge has unlocked improved access to trade, investment and academic research opportunities, better advice to businesses and innovative bilateral collaborations.
The arrangement enhances Orbital Sidekick notes growing demand for hyperspectral data
Friday, 25 February 2022 00:46
Capacity is the biggest constraint for Orbital Sidekick, the hyperspectral imaging startup that is acquiring data from Aurora, its first sensor launched in June.
The post Orbital Sidekick notes growing demand for hyperspectral data appeared first on SpaceNews.
SpaceLink adds smaller satellites to data-relay constellation
Thursday, 24 February 2022 22:57
SpaceLink announced plans Feb. 24 to establish an initial constellation of smaller satellites than previously planned, a move designed to slash the cost and speed up the rollout of initial data-relay services.
The post SpaceLink adds smaller satellites to data-relay constellation appeared first on SpaceNews.
U.S. Space Command needs help identifying hostile intent in space
Thursday, 24 February 2022 22:39
If Russia or any other actor were to intentionally interfere with U.S. satellites, it would be difficult to identify the aggressor, said the top commander of U.S. military space operations.
The post U.S.
AE Industrial Partners to acquire stake in Firefly from Noosphere
Thursday, 24 February 2022 20:53
AE Industrial Partners is buying the part of Firefly Aerospace currently owned by Noosphere Venture Partners, which previously announced it was being forced by the federal government to sell its stake in the launch vehicle developer.
Biden: Sanctions will “degrade” Russian space program
Thursday, 24 February 2022 18:48
Russia’s space program won’t be shielded from sanctions the United States is imposing in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday afternoon.
The post Biden: Sanctions will “degrade” Russian space program appeared first on SpaceNews.
Globalstar selects MDA and Rocket Lab for new satellites
Thursday, 24 February 2022 15:17
Globalstar has selected MDA Ltd. and Rocket Lab to supply a set of satellites to replenish its constellation, funded by a mystery customer.
The post Globalstar selects MDA and Rocket Lab for new satellites appeared first on SpaceNews.
The rise and fall of the riskiest asteroid in a decade
Thursday, 24 February 2022 14:00
Is Marscrete the answer to building on Mars?
Thursday, 24 February 2022 11:35
How can we build on Mars? A casual chat with a geologist led a University of Canterbury (UC) engineering academic and his team to spend years researching how to build on Mars. It all started with Associate Professor Allan Scott and Geology Professor Chris Oze (Occidental College) pondering what materials were available on Mars to make concrete or "Marscrete."
Earthly concrete is made with Portland cement, which is produced by heating limestone to drive off the CO2. Cement, the main binder, is mixed with sand, stone, and water to create concrete.
But the pressing question is: What is available on Mars to bind the materials of Marscrete together?
"Unfortunately, on Mars there is not a lot of limestone so we are looking at alternative ways to find some sort of binder system," says Associate Professor Allan Scott.
Dog kennel hit by meteorite sells at auction
Thursday, 24 February 2022 09:14
A Christie's auction of rare meteorites Wednesday sold a rock from space that narrowly missed a German Shepherd when it smashed into his kennel in Costa Rica.
But the offer of the third-largest piece of Mars on Earth failed to make an impact at the auction house's annual sale of unusual meteorites.
The buyer paid $21,420 for the three-by-1.5 inch (eight-by-four centimeter) carbonaceous chondrite stone that landed in the garden of dog Roky's owner's home in Aguas Zarcas in April 2019.
The wood and tin doghouse itself, complete with a seven-inch hole marking where the meteorite punctured the roof, sold separately for $44,100, Christie's said.
That was much less than the pre-sale estimate of between $200,000 and $300,000.
A bidder paid $189,000 for a chunk of lunar rock that was discovered in Morocco in 2007, below pre-sale estimates of up to $300,000.
Another slice of the Moon—found in the Sahara desert in Mauritania—fetched $69,300 during the two-week online sale that ended Wednesday.