Martian Ice Caps Reveal Insights into Ancient Climate Shifts
Friday, 30 August 2024 16:42
Katherine Lutz, a PhD student at the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies and National Science Foundation Fellow, began her journey in planetary science by examining satellite images of Mars' polar ice caps. These images revealed spiraling patterns across the ice caps, which are composed of alternating layers of ice and dusty deposits and range between 400 to 1,000 meters deep. These NASA Advances Work on NEO Surveyor Asteroid-Hunting Spacecraft
Friday, 30 August 2024 16:42
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is making significant progress on the NEO Surveyor, a next-generation infrared space telescope designed to detect asteroids and comets that could potentially threaten Earth. This mission marks the agency's first space telescope dedicated to planetary defense.
Scheduled for launch in late 2027, NEO Surveyor will be stationed a million miles away at the NASA Contracts Intuitive Machines for 2027 Lunar South Pole Research Mission
Friday, 30 August 2024 16:42
NASA has awarded a $116.9 million contract to Intuitive Machines of Houston to deliver a new set of science experiments and technology demonstrations to the lunar South Pole in 2027 as part of the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The mission will involve transporting six NASA payloads to a region of the Moon characterized by extremely cold nighttime temperatures, rug Perseverance Kicks off the Crater Rim Campaign
Friday, 30 August 2024 16:42
Perseverance is officially headed into a new phase of scientific investigation on the Jezero Crater rim!
For the last 2 months, the Perseverance rover has been exploring the Neretva Vallis region of Jezero Crater, where rocks with interesting popcorn-like textures and "leopard spot" patterns have fascinated us all. Now, the rover has begun its long ascent up the crater rim, and is official AI advances solutions to complex quantum chemistry challenges
Friday, 30 August 2024 16:42
Researchers at Imperial College London and Google DeepMind have harnessed neural networks, a form of AI modeled after the human brain, to address one of quantum chemistry's most challenging problems: modeling the states of molecules. Their findings could pave the way for new approaches to designing materials and chemical processes via computer simulations, potentially streamlining experimental e New Horizons Offers Precise Measurements of Cosmic Light in the Universe
Friday, 30 August 2024 16:42
Astronomers have achieved a significant milestone in understanding the darkness of deep space, thanks to NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. This mission has enabled the most accurate and direct measurements to date of the total amount of light generated by the universe.
After more than 18 years in space and nine years following its historic encounter with Pluto, New Horizons is now over 5.4 b LZ experiment sets new record in search for dark matter
Friday, 30 August 2024 16:42
Figuring out the nature of dark matter, the invisible substance that makes up most of the mass in our universe, is one of the greatest puzzles in physics. New results from the world's most sensitive dark matter detector, LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), have narrowed down possibilities for one of the leading dark matter candidates: weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs.
LZ, led by the Department Solar Orbiter Identifies Magnetic Mechanism Behind Solar Wind Acceleration
Friday, 30 August 2024 16:42
ESA's Solar Orbiter spacecraft has delivered vital data that sheds light on the longstanding mystery of the energy source responsible for heating and accelerating the solar wind. In collaboration with NASA's Parker Solar Probe, the Solar Orbiter has unveiled that significant fluctuations in the Sun's magnetic field are the driving force behind this process.
The solar wind, a continuous flo Astrobotic Concludes Peregrine Mission One, Publishes Post-Mission Findings
Friday, 30 August 2024 16:42
Astrobotic's Peregrine Mission One (PM1), launched on January 8, 2024, aboard United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket, aimed to make history by landing on the Moon. However, a significant anomaly during the mission's early stages prevented the lander from achieving its primary objective. Despite this setback, the mission provided valuable insights and data that will inform future lunar endeavors. NASA cuts 2 from next SpaceX flight to make room for astronauts stuck at space station
Friday, 30 August 2024 16:31
NASA on Friday cut two astronauts from the next crew to make room on the return trip for the two stuck at the International Space Station.
NASA's Nick Hague and Russian Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch in September aboard a SpaceX rocket for the orbiting laboratory. The duo will return with Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore in February. NASA decided it's too risky for Williams and Wilmore to fly home in their Boeing Starliner capsule, marred by thruster troubles and helium leaks.
NASA's new solar sail extends its booms and sets sail
Friday, 30 August 2024 15:18
Solar sails are an exciting way to travel through the solar system because they get their propulsion from the sun. NASA has developed several solar sails, and their newest, the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (or ACS3), launched a few months ago into low Earth orbit.
Naval Research Laboratory's LARADO instrument to detect lethal orbital debris, integrated on STP satellite
Friday, 30 August 2024 15:11
NASA G-IV plane will carry next-generation science instrument
Friday, 30 August 2024 13:55
NZ's Space Agency is both regulator and developer of the aerospace industry—that's a point of tension, say researchers
Friday, 30 August 2024 13:50
Like the global space industry, which aims to reach a value of US$1.8 trillion by 2035, New Zealand's aerospace sector is growing rapidly.
But as our latest research shows, it is falling short on addressing urgent sustainability issues because of a perception this would incur short-term costs and slow growth.
Many countries are prioritizing the development of national space strategies. Usually, these include plans to increase access to venture capital, grow a specialist workforce and develop flexible regulations and sovereign defense capabilities.
But sustainability leadership in space is crucial, given rising concerns over space debris, and emerging issues such as ozone depletion from rocket launches and the accumulation of alumina and soot particles in Earth's atmosphere as re-entering objects burn up.
The politics of growth
New Zealand's aerospace regulatory system was catalyzed by Rocket Lab U.S.'s commercial decision to launch rockets from a spaceport on the Māhia peninsula.
This was followed by the establishment of New Zealand's Space Agency. This small unit of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) regulates launch payloads and fosters business development by facilitating access to funding for commercial ventures and scientific research.
Blue Origin completes latest space tourism flight
Friday, 30 August 2024 13:41
Blue Origin flew its latest group of six thrill-seekers to the edge of space and back again Thursday, including the youngest-ever woman to complete the feat.
Mission NS-26 marked the eighth human spaceflight for the company, founded by Jeff Bezos, as it presses ahead in the emerging suborbital tourism market.
Karsen Kitchen, a 21-year-old senior at the University of North Carolina at Cha