NASA's Roman mission gears up for a torrent of future data
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 19:53
ESA’s Euclid space telescope obtaining “magnificent” test images despite a few finetuning hiccups
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 19:43
DoD-funded space project advances non-GPS navigation
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 18:09
'Ring of fire' solar eclipse will slice across Americas on Saturday with millions along path
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 16:48
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Want to explore Neptune? Use Triton's atmosphere to put on the brakes
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 16:16 Write a comment
Aerobraking is commonly used to slow down spacecraft when they arrive at various planetary systems. It requires a spacecraft to dip into the atmosphere of a celestial body in the planetary system, such as a moon or the planet itself, and use the resistance from that atmosphere to shed some of its velocity. That slow-down would then allow it to enter an orbit in the planetary system without carrying the extra fuel required to do the maneuvers through powered flight, thereby saving weight on the mission and reducing its cost.
Unfortunately, saying the orbital dynamics of such a maneuver are complicated is an understatement. But ultimately, for any aerobraking to be viable, someone has to do the math. And that's just what Jakob Brisby and Jame Lyne, a graduate student and professor at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, did for some of the least visited planetary systems in the solar system—Neptune.
More eyes in the sky: NRO building new satellites to deliver ‘10 times more signals and images’
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 15:30
Fly across Mars’s ‘labyrinth of night’ with Mars Express
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 15:11 Write a comment
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Nestled between the colossal martian ‘Grand Canyon’ (Valles Marineris) and the tallest volcanoes in the Solar System (the Tharsis region) lies Noctis Labyrinthus – a vast system of deep and steep valleys that stretches out for around 1190 km (roughly the length of Italy here on Earth).
This video visualises a flight over the eastern part of Noctis Labyrinthus as seen by Mars Express’s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). It presents a perspective view down and across this fascinating landscape, showing distinctive ‘graben’ – parts of the crust that have subsided in relation to their surroundings. The intense
Vega VV23 liftoff
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 14:01 Write a comment
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On 8 October at 22:36 local time (9 October at 02:36 BST, 03:36 CEST) the 23rd Vega flight saw 12 satellites launched into Earth orbit. The rocket’s main passengers were the Earth observing THEOS-2 satellite and the meteorological satellite Triton.
THEOS-2 (THailand Earth Observation System-2) is an observation satellite manufactured by Airbus in for the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency of Thailand. THEOS-2 is the largest of the two satellites in the series and will provide the Ministry of Agriculture of Thailand with information on water resources, weather and land use for planning and management.
Triton (formerly known
Evolution Space to develop solid rocket motors at NASA Stennis
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 13:59
Webb captures an ethereal view of NGC 346
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 13:00 Write a comment
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NGC 346 (MIRI image) Measuring nutrition in crops from space
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 10:59 Write a comment
With many people around the world suffering from various forms of malnutrition it’s important that the absolute basics such as rice, soya and wheat are as nourishing as possible. ESA-funded research shows that the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission and the Italian Prisma mission could be used to monitor the nutritional content of staple crops. This could, for example, help farmers take appropriate steps to boost the quality of their crops as they grow.
Surrey Satellite joins forces with the Air and Space Institute
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 09:37 Write a comment
Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) is delighted to announce a partnership with centre of excellence and training provider, The Air and Space Institute. SSTL's Head of Customer Training Stu Jones is pictured (right) with ASI's Assistant Principle Ross Tarnowski (left), visiting ASI's soon to be completed dedicated Aerospace building in Newark, Notts.
By joining forces with ASI, SSTL Boom, crackle, pop: Sounds of Earth's crust
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 09:37 Write a comment
If you could sink through the Earth's crust, you might hear, with a carefully tuned ear, a cacophany of booms and crackles along the way. The fissures, pores, and defects running through rocks are like strings that resonate when pressed and stressed. And as a team of MIT geologists has found, the rhythm and pace of these sounds can tell you something about the depth and strength of the rocks aro Bumping to a Better Position: Sols 3973-3974
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 09:37 Write a comment
Earth planning date: Monday, October 9, 2023: After the drive this weekend, Curiosity has arrived at another light-toned band that we hope to evaluate for drilling before solar conjunction begins next month. We have some light-toned, slightly nodular rocks in our workspace serving as potential drill target candidates.
The goal today at the start of planning was to do contact science with A Plot thickens in hunt for ninth planet
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 09:37 Write a comment
A pair of theoretical physicists are reporting that the same observations inspiring the hunt for a ninth planet might instead be evidence within the solar system of a modified law of gravity originally developed to understand the rotation of galaxies.
Researchers Harsh Mathur, a professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University, and Katherine Brown, an associate professor of physics