As ESA’s Hera spacecraft for planetary defence goes through pre-flight testing, the system that will steer it around its target binary asteroid system is also undergoing its final checks for space.

Video: 00:03:29

Mars’s surface is covered in all manner of scratches and scars. Its many marks include the fingernail scratches of Tantalus Fossae, the colossal canyon system of Valles Marineris, the oddly orderly ridges of Angustus Labyrinthus, and the fascinating features captured in today’s video release from Mars Express: the cat scratches of Nili Fossae.

Nili Fossae comprises parallel trenches hundreds of metres deep and several hundred kilometres long, stretching out along the eastern edge of a massive impact crater named Isidis Planitia.

This new video features observations from Mars Express's High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). It first flies northwards towards and

Boston MA (SPX) May 23, 2024
Metals get softer when they are heated, which is how blacksmiths can form iron into complex shapes by heating it red hot. And anyone who compares a copper wire with a steel coat hanger will quickly discern that copper is much more pliable than steel. But scientists at MIT have discovered that when metal is struck by an object moving at a super high velocity, the opposite happens: The hotte

Sydney, Australia (SPX) May 29, 2024
The Shenzhou XVIII crew conducted their first spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station on Tuesday, completing several assignments, according to the China Manned Space Agency. The agency said in a news release that mission commander Senior Colonel Ye Guangfu and crew member Lieutenant Colonel Li Guangsu returned to the Wentian science module at 6:58 pm after floating nearly eight and a

Sydney, Australia (SPX) May 29, 2024
KT SAT, Korea's national satellite communications services provider, and Rivada Space Networks have signed an MoU to provide next-generation connectivity for Enterprise and Government customers, enabling expansion in Asia Pacific and beyond. KT SAT will deploy Rivada's outernet, a space-based network in low earth orbit, to provide ultra-secure connectivity to Enterprise, Government, and Ma

Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 29, 2024
Colossus, formerly known as Zephyr Computing Systems, is at the forefront of the artificial intelligence (AI) computing hardware market for space, having achieved space heritage for its radiation-tolerant processor as part of Loft Orbital's YAM-6 satellite. This customer milestone brings Colossus's radiation-tolerant, GPU-based processor, Kestrel, to TRL-9, confirming a leap in AI-enabled space

Sydney, Australia (SPX) May 29, 2024
The aviation and marine industries are currently undergoing a significant transformation, thanks to advancements in satellite and communication technologies. Companies such as Intelsat, SES, MDA Space, Hughes Network Systems, Orbit Communications Systems, Collins Aerospace, and Gogo Business Aviation are pioneering these innovations, enhancing connectivity and operational capabilities. These dev

Paris (AFP) May 29, 2024
The Euclid space telescope has discovered seven more rogue planets, shining a light on the dark and lonely worlds floating freely through the universe untethered to any star. Without being bound to a star, as the Earth is to the Sun, there are no days or years on these planets, which languish in perpetual night. Yet scientists believe there is a chance they could be able to host life -

Pasadena CA (JPL) May 29, 2024
An analysis of data from Magellan's radar finds two volcanoes erupted in the early 1990s. This adds to the 2023 discovery of a different active volcano in Magellan data. Direct geological evidence of recent volcanic activity on Venus has been observed for a second time. Scientists in Italy analyzed archival data from NASA's Magellan mission to reveal surface changes indicating the formatio