Berkeley CA (SPX) Feb 24, 2023
Before DESI, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, can begin its 5-year mission from an Arizona mountaintop to produce the largest 3D sky map yet, researchers first needed an even bigger 2D map of the universe. The 2D map, pieced together from 200,000 telescope images and several years of satellite data, lacks information about galaxy distances, and DESI will supply this and provide ot

Kitt Peak AZ (SPX) Feb 24, 2023
The largest two-dimensional map of the sky ever made has grown even larger with the tenth data release from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys - a monumental six-year survey covering nearly half the sky. This new data release adds increased sky and wavelength coverage to the already completed surveys made with data from NSF's NOIRLab telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona and Cerro

Norman OK (SPX) Feb 24, 2023
As the world transitions toward more renewable energy resources and deals with the consequences of a changing climate, the resiliency of energy infrastructure is becoming ever more urgent. University of Oklahoma researcher Paul Moses, Ph.D., has received a Faculty Early CAREER Development award from the National Science Foundation to better understand how chaotic grid disturbances from events li

Bonn, Germany (SPX) Feb 24, 2023
An international research group led by Stefanie Komossa from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, presents important new results on the galaxy OJ 287, based on the most dense and longest radio-to-high-energy observations to date. The scientists were able to test crucial binary model predictions using multiple observing tools including the Effelsberg radio telescope and

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Feb 24, 2023
Earth and Venus are rocky planets of about the same size and rock chemistry, so they should be losing their internal heat to space at about the same rate. How Earth loses its heat is well known, but Venus' heat flow mechanism has been a mystery. A study that uses three-decade-old data from NASA's Magellan mission has taken a new look at how Venus cools and found that thin regions of the planet's

Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 21, 2023
After a holiday/soliday weekend, we're back to work with today's single sol plan, and there's a lot to pack into it. After the drive, Curiosity's wheel scuffed the rippled sand feature right in front of us, which you can see in the image above. This scuff - nicknamed 'Taracua' - is the subject of both ChemCam and Mastcam observations looking at both the surface and interior of the feature.

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Feb 24, 2023
Asteroid Ryugu has a rich complement of organic molecules, according to a NASA and international team's initial analysis of a sample from the asteroid's surface delivered to Earth by Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft. The discovery adds support to the idea that organic material from space contributed to the inventory of chemical components necessary for life. Organic molecules are the building

Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 22, 2023
We continue to drive along the Marker Band and found ourselves this morning (as planned) in an area of strongly laminated bedrock. The accompanying image shows the bedrock to the right of our current workspace, with very regular distinctive laminations or layers, about 3 cm or less apart. We are interested generally to see how this compares to the "rippled" Marker Band material that we tri

Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 24, 2023
NASA's MAVEN spacecraft went into safe mode on Feb. 16 due to an issue with its Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), which measures the spacecraft's rate of rotation for determining its pointing during a minor maneuver scheduled to reduce eclipse durations in 2027. On Feb. 17, MAVEN exited safe mode and is currently operating in all stellar mode, which does not rely on IMU measurements and all

Beijing, China (SPX) Feb 24, 2023
Galactic Energy, a private space company in Beijing, plans to launch one of its own rockets from the sea in the coming summer, which, if it succeeds, will become the first sea-based launch by the country's private sector. Xia Dongkun, a vice-president at Galactic Energy, said on Thursday that the prospective launch has been scheduled to take place in the Yellow Sea off the coast of Shandon