Tracing the origin and energization of plasma in the heliosphere
Wednesday, 11 October 2023 05:42
Write a comment
Imagine that you have a secret decoder ring that you can use to decipher a secret message with important clues about things around you: where they came from, why they are there, and what will become of them in the future. Now imagine that the secret decoder ring is actually a sensor that can be flown in space to unravel secrets about the matter in the solar system. Where did this matter originat Finding explanation for Milky Way's warp
Wednesday, 11 October 2023 05:42 Write a comment
The Milky Way is often depicted as a flat, spinning disk of dust, gas, and stars. But if you could zoom out and take an edge-on photo, it actually has a distinctive warp - as if you tried to twist and bend a vinyl LP.
Though scientists have long known through observational data that the Milky Way is warped and its edges are flared like a skirt, no one could explain why.
Now, Harvard Momentus customer satellites integrated and shipped to SpaceX launch site
Wednesday, 11 October 2023 05:42 Write a comment
Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS) has integrated its customers launching on the SpaceX Transporter-9 mission and shipped the payloads to Vandenberg Space Force Base for integration with Falcon 9 ahead of launch, which is targeted for no earlier than November 2023.
Momentus will use a deployer to place five satellites into Low-Earth Orbit for four different customers:
The b>AMAN-1 /b> Ear Planet's Pelican tech demonstration satellite ready for launch
Wednesday, 11 October 2023 05:42 Write a comment
Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL) reports that its Pelican tech demonstration satellite, Pelican-1, along with 36 SuperDoves, have arrived at Vandenberg Space Force Base in preparation for launch next month. Pelican-1, designed and manufactured by Planet, is the first tech demonstration of Planet's next-generation, high-resolution fleet, which is expected to replenish and improve upon Planet's existing Astrobotic resumes flights of Xodiac suborbital vehicle
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 22:51
5 things to know about NASA's deep space optical communications
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 20:05 Write a comment
Slated to launch on Oct. 12 with the Psyche mission, DSOC will demonstrate technologies enabling the agency to transmit higher data rates from deep space.
NASA's pioneering Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment will be the first demonstration of laser, or optical, communications from as far away as Mars.
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 Write a comment
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
Video:
00:00:00
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
Video:
00:04:00
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
