Copernical Team
Planetary radar captures detailed view of oblong asteroid
On Feb. 3, an asteroid more than three times as long as it is wide safely flew past Earth at a distance of about 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers, or a little under five times the distance between the Moon and Earth). While there was no risk of the asteroid - called 2011 AG5 - impacting our planet, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California closely tracked the Euclid electromagnetic compatibility tests successful
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ESA’s Euclid mission is undergoing the final test before launch in July 2023.
Here it is standing in a special room in the Thales Alenia Space test facilities in Cannes, France, where it successfully underwent electromagnetic compatibility testing.
This kind of testing is routine for spacecraft. All electronics emit some form of electromagnetic waves that can cause interference with other devices. Think of the buzz that speakers give out right before an incoming call on a mobile phone. Spacecraft electronics can cause similar interference, but out in space such interference can have disastrous consequences, so all systems must be checked
Call opens for ESA’s twelfth Earth Explorer
Understanding Earth’s delicate natural balance and how it is being altered by human activity is not only key to advancing science but also fundamental to acting on environmental issues, the climate crisis, and preparing for their societal impact. With their hallmark of demonstrating novel space technologies and returning scientific excellence, ESA’s family of Earth observing Earth Explorer research satellite missions are world-renowned – and now it’s time for scientists to pitch their new ideas for the twelfth mission in this outstanding series.
Inmarsat-6 F2 marks 12th SpaceX launch of 2023
SpaceX completed a launch doubleheader Friday night, February 17. When an Airbus-built communications satellite soared into orbit at 10:59 p.m. EST (0359 GMT on February 18) Friday from Cape Canaveral atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, to place the satellites in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the Earth to provide connectivity for ships and aircraft in the SpaceX faces a $175,000 penalty for failure to report launch data to FAA
The United States' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a $175,000 civil penalty to SpaceX for failing "to submit launch collision analysis trajectory data directly to the FAA before the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket in August 2022, which carried Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Per federal regulations, the data must be submitted at least seven days before a SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from Florida, part of Inmarsat program
SpaceX on Friday completed its second launch of the day, sending a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit from Florida as part of its Inmarsat program.
The Falcon 9 liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10:59 p.m. EST.
Earlier Friday, the company completed a Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:12 a.m. PST, pu SpaceX launches 51 Starlink satellites from California
SpaceX launched 51 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Friday. The payload lifted off as scheduled aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 11:12 a.m. PT, 2:12 p.m. ET.
The first stage booster separated minutes after launch and successfully landed onboard a drone ship - called "Of Course I Still Love You" - in the Pacific Ocean.
The live feed from the booster NASA, Boeing target April for manned Starliner test flight
NASA and Boeing said Friday they aim to launch the first manned test flight mission of the CST-100 Starliner to the International Space Station in April.
The long-awaited Starliner, described as the "next generation" spacecraft has been highly anticipated to add a needed transportation option to the orbiting laboratory, along with other missions. The launch had been planned for February ChatGPT sparks AI 'gold rush' in Silicon Valley
Generative AI, of which ChatGPT is an example, wades through oceans of data to conjure up original content - an image, a poem, a thousand-word essay - in seconds and upon a simple request.
Since its discrete release in late November, ChatGPT has become one of the fastest growing apps ever and pushed Microsoft and Google to rush out projects that had until now stayed carefully guarded over Planetary scientist lays out arguments for sending a dedicated probe to Uranus (Update)
Kathleen Mandt, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory has published a Perspectives piece in the journal Science arguing that NASA should send a dedicated probe to the planet Uranus. She notes that a window is opening in 2032 for the launch of such a probe.
Planetary scientists have spent far more time studying Mars than they have other planets, partly due to its close proximity and partly due to the fact that Mars has a surface upon which craft can land. Planets that have thick atmospheres, on the other hand, are more difficult to study, especially if they provide no place to land.
Still, Mandt argues, such research is important. And initiating the development of a probe to study Uranus, she adds, would be a good start. She further notes that now would be a good time to begin such plans because the next good window for launching a Uranus probe would be in 2032, when Jupiter's alignment with Earth will allow a slingshot maneuver toward Uranus.
