NASA satellites help quantify forests' impacts on global carbon budget
Saturday, 06 February 2021 12:59Using ground, airborne, and satellite data, a diverse team of international researchers - including NASA scientists - has created a new method to assess how the changes in forests over the past two decades have impacted carbon concentrations in the atmosphere. In addition to better understanding the overall role of forests in the global carbon cycle, the scientists were also able to distin
Student Launch Teams Will Launch from Home Fields, Receive Awards Virtually
Saturday, 06 February 2021 12:59Student Launch, one of NASA's Artemis Student Challenges, is an annual competition that typically culminates each April with a gathering of teams for a weekend of rocket launches and celebration. This year, in an effort to comply with federal guidance and help restrict the spread of COVID-19, these events will be modified to take place locally to each team or virtually. A virtual awards ce
Calnetix Technologies Supplies Key Components for NASA's Next-Generation CO2 Removal System
Saturday, 06 February 2021 12:59Calnetix Technologies reports it has successfully designed and developed a high-speed in-line blower and a dual controller for NASA's next-generation CO2 removal system. The design and development of the Four Bed Carbon Dioxide Scrubber (4BCO2) is being led by NASA and is planned for installation on the International Space Station (ISS) after rigorous ground testing at its facilities.
Armstrong Assists with Orion for First Astronaut Mission
Saturday, 06 February 2021 12:59As NASA's human spaceflight centers are busy preparing the Orion spacecraft and its components for the early Artemis missions around the Moon, a NASA aeronautics-focused center is lending a hand. NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, is providing system engineering and integration expertise to assist with an Orion heat shield spectrometer system (OHSS). The system
NASA-DLR cooperation - from Cologne to the stars
Saturday, 06 February 2021 12:59On 4 February 2021 at 15:40 CET, the airborne observatory of the German Space Agency at DLR and the US space agency, NASA, is due to land at Cologne Bonn Airport. From there, it will explore the night sky over Europe until 16 March. "The SOFIA infrared observatory is one of the largest German-American projects for space exploration and underlines how important the cooperation with NASA is
NANOGrav finds possible 'first hints' of low-frequency gravitational wave background
Saturday, 06 February 2021 12:59In data gathered and analyzed over 13 years, the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) Physics Frontiers Center (PFC) has found an intriguing low-frequency signal that may be attributable to gravitational waves. NANOGrav researchers - including a number from West Virginia University's (WVU's) Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Center for Gravitati
Tianwen 1 makes orbital correction as Mars arrival draws near
Saturday, 06 February 2021 01:02China's Tianwen 1 Mars probe conducted its fourth orbital correction on Friday evening, as the spacecraft makes ready for its arrival in orbit around Feb 10, according to the China National Space Administration. The robotic vehicle ignited one of its engines at 8 pm to make an orbital correction and ensure it would be flying in the right direction toward the Martian gravitational field, th
Best way to get around the Solar System
Saturday, 06 February 2021 01:02There is currently a great interest in going someplace in the Solar System. NASA wants to go to the Moon. Elon Musk wants to go to Mars. Still others just want to go to an asteroid. These destinations require extremely complex systems and mission scenarios. In order to get to any of these places, the easiest way is to first get into Earth orbit. This first step requires leaving the terrest
Private Chinese company launches smart suborbital rocket
Saturday, 06 February 2021 01:02A new smart suborbital rocket developed by a private Chinese company was successfully launched from a site in northwest China on Friday, according to the company. The "Chongqing Liangjiang Star" OS-X6B, with a length of 9.4 meters, was launched at 5:05 p.m. It completed a flight time of about 580 seconds, reaching a maximum altitude of about 300 km, said OneSpace Technology Group Co.
SpaceX Crew Dragon team to break US record for on Sunday
Saturday, 06 February 2021 01:02On Sunday, US astronauts living aboard the ISS orbital outpost will break the record for most days in space by a crew launched aboard an American spacecraft, NASA said. "They will surpass the record of 84 days set by the Skylab 4 crew on Feb. 8, 1974", NASA said. The Skylab 4 crew, with NASA astronauts Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson, and William Pogue, docked their Apollo spacecraft to t
A warp in the Milky Way linked to galactic collision
Saturday, 06 February 2021 01:02When most of us picture the shape of the Milky Way, the galaxy that contains our own sun and hundreds of billions of other stars, we think of a central mass surrounded by a flat disc of stars that spiral around it. However, astronomers know that rather than being symmetrical, the disc structure is warped, more like the brim of a fedora, and that the warped edges are constantly moving around the
Student astronomer finds galactic missing matter
Saturday, 06 February 2021 01:02Astronomers have for the first time used distant galaxies as 'scintillating pins' to locate and identify a piece of the Milky Way's missing matter. For decades, scientists have been puzzled as to why they couldn't account for all the matter in the universe as predicted by theory. While most of the universe's mass is thought to be mysterious dark matter and dark energy, 5 percent is 'normal
An asteroid "double disaster" struck Germany in the Miocene
Saturday, 06 February 2021 01:02By analyzing sediments jostled by ground shaking, researchers have shown that two impact craters near Stuttgart were created by independent asteroid impacts rather than a binary asteroid strike. A Gothic church rises high above the medieval town of Nordlingen, Germany. But unlike most churches, St. George's is composed of a very special type of rock: suevite, a coarse-grained breccia that'
NASA and international partners to study Mars Ice Mapper mission
Friday, 05 February 2021 23:31WASHINGTON — NASA and three international partners have signed an agreement to cooperate on a proposed mission to search for ice deposits under the surface of Mars, a precursor for human missions there.
In a Feb.
China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars
Friday, 05 February 2021 18:20China's Tianwen-1 probe has sent back its first image of Mars, the national space agency said, as the mission prepares to touch down on the Red Planet later this year.
The spacecraft, launched in July around the same time as a rival US mission, is expected to enter Mars orbit around February 10.
The black-and-white photo released late Friday by the China National Space Administration showed geological features including the Schiaparelli crater and the Valles Marineris, a vast stretch of canyons on the Martian surface.
The photo was taken about 2.2 million kilometres (1.4 million miles) from Mars, according to CNSA, which said the spacecraft was now 1.1 million kilometres from the planet.