Berkeley CA (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
Diamond rain? Super-ionic water? These are just two proposals that planetary scientists have come up with for what lies beneath the thick, bluish, hydrogen-and-helium atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune, our solar system's unique, but superficially bland, ice giants. A planetary scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, now proposes an alternative theory - that the interiors of bo

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
NASA's upcoming mission to Uranus aims to explore the icy moons first photographed by Voyager 2 in 1986, this time seeking evidence of subsurface oceans that could potentially harbor life. Researchers from the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) are developing advanced tools to support the mission, including a computer model designed to detect hidden oceans using data from spacec

London, UK (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
Tracking potentially hazardous asteroids with greater precision may now be achievable thanks to a novel equation for calculating their orbits more accurately. Building on concepts introduced by Sir Isaac Newton and advanced by Albert Einstein's general relativity, researchers have devised a method to pinpoint the positions of minor solar system objects, such as asteroids, Kuiper Belt objec

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
Scientists led by Lowell Observatory's Dr. Teddy Kareta have made remarkable strides in characterizing near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) by combining telescopic observations with fireball camera data. Their study, published in 'The Planetary Science Journal', focuses on asteroid 2022 WJ1, integrating data from the Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT) in Arizona and meteor observation cameras in Ontario, C

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Nov 25, 2024
New research led by Curtin University has identified what may be the earliest direct evidence of ancient hot water activity on Mars, highlighting the planet's potential habitability in its distant past. The study examined a 4.45 billion-year-old zircon grain from the Martian meteorite NWA7034, commonly referred to as "Black Beauty." Researchers found geochemical signatures indicating the p

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
Scientists have achieved a major milestone in Martian space research by constructing the first complete energy spectrum of high-energy solar protons during a solar eruptive event. This effort sheds light on the radiation environment around Mars and has important implications for future Mars exploration. The research was a collaborative effort involving the University of Science and Technol

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
HyImpulse Technologies GmbH, a prominent European company specializing in launch systems for small satellite transportation, has announced the acquisition of euro 11.8 million in funding through the European Space Agency's (ESA) Boost! Program. This funding, structured as a co-funded contract extension, aims to expedite the development of HyImpulse's Small Launcher 1 (SL1) orbital vehicle. The

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
A recent publication in 'Gravitational and Space Research' highlights significant findings from research conducted through the ISS National Laboratory, focusing on transport phenomena - key processes that govern the movement of momentum, energy, and mass. These processes, such as heat transfer and diffusion, are fundamental to understanding how substances interact with their surroundings. By stu

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
PLD Space has announced the selection of Deimos to co-lead the development of the Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) system for its MIURA 5 orbital launcher. Scheduled to commence its launch campaign in late 2025, this collaboration aims to enhance MIURA 5's capability to deliver both dedicated and rideshare small payload missions efficiently and reliably. Deimos joins a growing consortium

Tokyo (AFP) Nov 26, 2024
A huge fire erupted Tuesday at a Japanese rocket testing station, sending flames and smoke soaring into the sky, in the latest mishap for the country's ambitious space programme. There were no reports of any injuries in the incident, in a remote area of Kagoshima in southern Japan, where a solid-fuel Epsilon S rocket was being tested. Footage on national broadcaster NHK showed towering b