Despite ESA’s GOCE mission ending over seven years ago, scientists continue to use this remarkable satellite’s gravity data to delve deep and unearth secrets about our planet. Recent research shows how scientists have combined GOCE data with measurements taken at the surface to generate a new model of Earth’s crust and upper mantle. This is the first time such a model has been created this way – and it is shedding new light on processes of plate tectonics, which, in turn, are related to phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Beijing (XNA) Mar 11, 2021
China actively promoted international space cooperation in 2020, offering satellite exports and launches, cooperative research and application services to the world, according to a recent report on China's aerospace industry. By the end of last year, 51 Chinese rockets had launched 59 foreign commercial satellites into space, said the 2020 Blue Book of China Aerospace Science and Technolog

Boston MA (SPX) Mar 05, 2021
In the era of social distancing, using robots for some health care interactions is a promising way to reduce in-person contact between health care workers and sick patients. However, a key question that needs to be answered is how patients will react to a robot entering the exam room. Researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital recently set out to answer that question. In a study

Edwards AFB CA (SPX) Mar 10, 2021
At one-sixth that of Earth, the unique gravity of the lunar surface is one of the many variable conditions that technologies bound for the Moon will need to perform well in. NASA will soon have more options for testing those innovations in lunar gravity thanks to a collaboration with Blue Origin to bring new testing capabilities to the company's New Shepard reusable suborbital rocket system.

Washington DC (AFNS) Mar 04, 2021
Increasing worker knowledge, productivity, and efficiency has been a seemingly never ending quest for the military as well as commercial companies. Today, military personnel are expected to perform a growing number of complex tasks while interacting with increasingly sophisticated machines and platforms. Artificial intelligence (AI) enabled assistants have the potential to aid users as the

Paris, France (SPX) Mar 11, 2021
Exotrail signed a license contract with Thales Alenia Space for ExoOPS, its simulation and operation software dedicated to space mobility. Thales Alenia Space, Joint Venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), becomes a customer of ExoOPS - Mission Design. Thales Alenia Space and Exotrail signed the contract in January. ExoOPS - Mission Design is Exotrail's simulation and mission desi

Washington DC (SPX) Mar 09, 2021
You're going at the speed limit down a two-lane road when a car barrels out of a driveway on your right. You slam on the brakes, and within a fraction of a second of the impact an airbag inflates, saving you from serious injury or even death. The airbag deploys thanks to an accelerometer - a sensor that detects sudden changes in velocity. Accelerometers keep rockets and airplanes on the

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 10, 2021
When NASA's Parker Solar Probe sent back the first observations from its voyage to the Sun, scientists found signs of a wild ocean of currents and waves quite unlike the near-Earth space much closer to our planet. This ocean was spiked with what became known as switchbacks: rapid flips in the Sun's magnetic field that reversed direction like a zig-zagging mountain road. Scientists think pi

Broomfield CO (SPX) Mar 10, 2021
Ball Aerospace, partnered with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, successfully completed the critical design review of the Wide Field Instrument (WFI), which will be the primary science instrument on NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, formerly known as the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). "Now that we have passed this critical milestone, we will continue to work hand-in