Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 29, 2024
Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE), a pioneer in the field of commercial space travel, has completed its first spaceflight of 2024, marking its 11th mission overall. The 'Galactic 06' flight is notable for being the first to carry a full complement of private astronauts on board the VSS Unity. Michael Colglazier, the CEO of Virgin Galactic, expressed his pride and confidence in th

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 29, 2024
Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR), a renowned global provider of space-based data, analytics, and space services, has recently announced an exciting new mission. The company is set to launch four satellites dedicated to Space Situational Awareness (SSA) for NorthStar Earth and Space, a significant step in commercial space surveillance. This mission, named 'Four of a Kind,' is scheduled to lift off

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 29, 2024
If life ever existed on Mars, the Perseverance rover's verification of lake sediments at the base of the Jezero crater reinforces the hope that traces might be found in the crater. In new research published in the journal Science Advances, a team led by UCLA and The University of Oslo shows that at some point, the crater filled with water, depositing layers of sediments on the crater floor

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 29, 2024
Much like the Earth, our Sun is a dynamic body with a complex - and sometimes violent - weather system. Solar storms eject highly energetic radiation that can impact our planet, forming strong auroras and disrupting power grids, electronics, and satellites. The scientific study of space weather attempts to understand, track, and forecast this solar activity, which peaks with the solar maxi

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jan 29, 2024
In a significant development in lunar science, a team of renowned scientists, including Dr. Dijun Guo from the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. Jianhzong Liu from the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Dr. James W Head from Brown University, have proposed an updated time scale for the Earth's Moon. This

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 26, 2024
Earth planning date: Wednesday, January 24, 2024: We arrived at a workspace with bedrock delightfully dotted with resistant features whose granular appearance and gray color were intriguing enough to warrant attention from APXS, ChemCam, and MAHLI. ChemCam will target one of these features, "Tehipite Dome," while MAHLI and APXS will target a different feature on the same block, "Sierra Col

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 26, 2024
Since parking at Airey Hill during Solar Conjunction back in November, Perseverance has been busy exploring. We drove north from Airey Hill to Flat Point, where we had the best views to conduct imaging using Mastcam-Z of some of the deepest parts of the Margin Unit. We then drove south-east, parallel to a ridge that shows apparent layering, and imaged targets including Burnt Island and Lil

Montreal, Canada (SPX) Jan 26, 2024
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope observed the smallest exoplanet where water vapor has been detected in the atmosphere. At only approximately twice Earth's diameter, the planet GJ 9827d could be an example of potential planets with water-rich atmospheres elsewhere in our galaxy. "This would be the first time that we can directly show through an atmospheric detection, that th

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 26, 2024
As NASA continues to make progress toward sending astronauts to the lunar South Pole region with its Artemis campaign, data from a NASA-funded study is helping scientists better understand this strategic part of the Moon. The study presents evidence that moonquakes and faults generated as the Moon's interior gradually cools and shrinks are also found near and within some of the areas the agency

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 25, 2024
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U (GOES-U), the last addition to NOAA's current generation of weather satellites, has officially touched down in Florida, marking a significant milestone in the United States' efforts to enhance its environmental monitoring and weather forecasting capabilities. This advanced satellite, part of the GOES-R Series, arrived via a United States Ai