Copernical Team
Aiming for the Triple Junction: Sols 3723-3724
Your blogger is a little tired right now... I am just back from a field trip to the salt flats in Botswana, guided by colleagues from BIUST University, walking, viewing and sampling in 38C heat. It was great to walk around and see with my own eyes geology relevant to Mars here on Earth. This enhances my - and more generally our - understanding of the physical and chemical processes that underly Phew! Truck-sized asteroid misses Earth
Bruce Willis: you can stand down.
A truck-sized asteroid that suddenly loomed out of the darkness a few days ago - with the Earth in its sights - sailed harmlessly past us on Thursday, space scientists said.
Despite what we've seen in movies like "Armageddon," no global mission to blow it up or knock it off course with nuclear weapons was required.
Instead, Asteroid 2023 BU whizze Tempestuous young stars in Orion
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Tempestuous young stars in Orion ESA branded merchandise made easy
We’ve just made it easier to use the ESA brand to create merchandise or materials for events. If you are interested in producing and selling merchandising that shows the ESA logo, the ESA flags patch or ESA’s mission patches, there is now a simple way to request the use of ESA emblems.
How cells could help Artemis astronauts exercise
In 2033, NASA and China plan to send the first crewed missions to Mars. These missions will launch every two years when Earth and Mars are at the closest points in their orbits (Mars Opposition). It will take these missions six to nine months to reach the Red Planet using conventional technology. This means that astronauts could spend up to a year and a half in microgravity, followed by months of surface operations in Martian gravity (roughly 40% of Earth gravity). This could have drastic consequences for astronaut health, including muscle atrophy, bone density loss, and psychological effects.
Aboard the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts maintain a strict exercise regimen to mitigate these effects.
NASA marks 20 years since space shuttle Columbia disaster
NASA's Webb Telescope receives top space foundation award
Asteroid coming exceedingly close to Earth, but will miss
BepiColombo and Solar Orbiter compare notes at Venus
The convergence of two spacecraft at Venus in August 2021 has given a unique insight into how the planet is able to retain its thick atmosphere without the protection of a global magnetic field.
The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission, en route to study Mercury, and the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter, which is observing the sun from different perspectives, are both using a number of gravity-assists from Venus to change their trajectories and guide them on their way.
The Sample Transfer Arm – A helping hand for Mars
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The mission to return martian samples back to Earth will see a European 2.5 metre-long robotic arm pick up tubes filled with precious soil from Mars and transfer them to a rocket for an historic interplanetary delivery.
The sophisticated robot, known as the Sample Transfer Arm or STA, will play a crucial role in the success of the Mars Sample Return campaign.
The Sample Transfer Arm is conceived to be autonomous, highly reliable and robust. The robot can perform a large range of movements with seven degrees of freedom, assisted by two cameras and a myriad of