Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 28, 2021
NASA launches satellites, rovers, and orbiters to investigate humanity's place in the Milky Way. When these missions reach their destinations, their science instruments capture images, videos, and valuable insights about the cosmos. Communications infrastructure in space and on the ground enables the data collected by these missions to reach Earth. Without ground stations to receive it, the extr

Pasadena CA (SPX) Oct 28, 2021
A new study shows how the chemicals in an exoplanet's atmosphere can, in some cases, reveal whether or not the temperature on its surface is too hot for liquid water. In our solar system, planets are either small and rocky (like Earth) or large and gaseous (like Neptune). But around other stars, astronomers have found planets that fall in between - worlds slightly larger than Earth but sma

By Jim Shelton for Yale News
New Haven CT (SPX) Oct 28, 2021 Astronomers searching for Earth-like planets in other solar systems have made a breakthrough by taking a closer look at the surface of stars. A new technique developed by an international team of researchers - led by Yale astronomers Rachael Roettenbacher, Sam Cabot, and Debra Fischer - uses a combination of data from ground-based and orbiting telescopes to

Washington DC (SPX) Oct 28, 2021
How do we understand the significance of new scientific results related to the search for life? When would we be able to say, "yes, extraterrestrial life has been found?" NASA scientists are encouraging the scientific community to establish a new framework that provides context for findings related to the search for life. Writing in the journal Nature, they propose creating a scale for ev

Boulder CO (SPX) Oct 28, 2021
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made history by returning the first close-up images of Pluto and its moons. Now, through a series of clever methods, researchers led by Tod Lauer of the National Science Foundation's National Optical Infrared Astronomy Research Lab in Tucson, Arizona, on the New Horizons team have expanded that photo album to include the portion of Pluto's landscape that wasn't dir

New Delhi (Sputnik) Oct 28, 2021
Although the international community has accelerated its space ambitions, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has significantly decreased its launches. In 2021, ISRO carried out only two launches in comparison with China's 39. Amid a rising competition between China and the US in terms of space programmes, experts have put their weight behind Russia's Zeus Transportation and Ener

Geneva, Switzerland (SPX) Oct 28, 2021
When planets form, they usually continue their orbital evolution in the equatorial plane of their star. However, an international team, led by astronomers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, has discovered that the exoplanets of a star in the constellation Pisces orbit in planes perpendicular to each other, with the innermost planet the only one still orbiting in the equatorial p

Moscow (Sputnik) Oct 28, 2021
Earlier this month, a Russian actress and a film director spent 12 days in orbit making the world's first movie in space. Director General of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said that the space mission for the film crew of "The Challenge" was "a solid five". Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos, has signed a preliminary agreement under which two commercial fli

Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 28, 2021
The successful 14th flight of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took place shortly after 1:18 a.m. PDT Oct. 24 at Jezero Crater. As planned, the helicopter executed its first 2,700 rpm flight, proving that Ingenuity is capable of flying in the weeks and months ahead on Mars, during which seasonal changes on the surface will result in decreases in air density. The short 23-second flight incl

Beijing (XNA) Oct 28, 2021
China launched a high-resolution Earth-observation satellite into space aboard a Kuaizhou 1A carrier rocket on Wednesday afternoon, according to the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. In a statement, the State-owned space contractor said that the solid-propellant rocket blasted off at 2:19 pm from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, and placed the satellite -