Registration for this year's ESA Open Day is now open. This tenth annual ESA Open Day will combine an in-person visit of ESA's ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands by people with disabilities (and their carers as needed) on Saturday 2 October and a virtual event for everyone, taking place on the following day, on Sunday 3 October.

Changchun, China (SPX) Sep 09, 2021
Laser fabrication of nanoparticles offers a powerful and flexible alternative to the purely chemical approaches. In recent years, laser synthesized precious metal nanoparticles are becoming increasingly important in catalysis due to their unique surface features. In order to minimize the consumption of expensive precious metal-based materials and maximize the utilization of active species in var

Vandenberg AFB CA (SPX) Sep 14, 2021
Northrop Grumman in conjunction with Boeing has completed a critical non-intercept flight test (BTV-03) of the Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The flight test successfully demonstrated company-developed software that enables upgraded booster capability and enhances America's homeland defense. "This flight test demonstrated a Northrop Grumman-design

Moscow (Sputnik) Sep 14, 2021
Russia calls on the international community to start negotiation on the development of a global mechanism banning the deployment of arms in space, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Monday. "The most important task on a global scale is to prevent an arms race in outer space. We call for the launch of negotiations on the development of an international, legally binding i

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Sep 15, 2021
Finding the biggest collisions in the universe takes time, patience, and super steady lasers. In May, NASA specialists working with industry partners delivered the first prototype laser for the European Space Agency-led Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, or LISA, mission. This unique laser instrument is designed to detect the telltale ripples in gravitational fields caused by the mergers

New Delhi (IANS) Sep 15, 2021
India will soon come out with a new foreign direct investment (FDI) policy for the space sector, Indian Space research Organisation Chairman K. Sivan said on Monday. In his address at the International Space Conference and Exhibition, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), on the theme 'Building NewSpace in India', Sivan, who is also Secretary of the Department of Space, said

Washington DC (UPI) Sep 14, 2021
For the majority of species living during the Cretaceous period, the asteroid responsible for Mexico's Chicxulub crater spelled doom. But for those that survived, the catastrophe offered opportunity. According to a new study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs triggered a period of accelerated diversification among snakes. /

Houston TX (SPX) Sep 15, 2021
Two International Space Station crew members have had their stay onboard the orbiting lab extended to nearly a year. Meanwhile, space biology and life support maintenance kept the Expedition 65 crew busy on Tuesday. With the plans for Russian spaceflight participants to visit the space station as part of the Soyuz MS-19 crew in October 2021, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Roscosmos cosm

Washington DC (SPX) Sep 15, 2021
NASA has selected five U.S. companies to help the agency enable a steady pace of crewed trips to the lunar surface under the agency's Artemis program. These companies will make advancements toward sustainable human landing system concepts, conduct risk-reduction activities, and provide feedback on NASA's requirements to cultivate industry capabilities for crewed lunar landing missions. The

Perth, Australia (SPX) Sep 15, 2021
New Curtin research has found the Moon may have been subjected to much greater impacts from asteroids and other bodies than previously thought, building on our understanding of the Moon's earliest geologic evolution. Published in Nature Communications, the research provides a greater insight of how the oldest impact events on the Moon may have left near-invisible cratering imprints, offeri