Copernical Team
SpaceX launches 52 Starlink satellites, two other payloads
SpaceX has launched 52 more Starlink satellites, plus payloads for two other firms, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The launch at 6:56 p.m. Saturday was successful, SpaceX said, with all satellites released into orbit about an hour after liftoff. This brings the number of Starlink satellites in orbit to more than 1,600, according to astronomers.
The roc Tianzhou 2, carrier rocket transported to launchpad for liftoff
China's Tianzhou 2 cargo spacecraft and its carrier rocket - a Long March 7 - were moved to the launchpad on Sunday morning, undergoing final tests before their planned launch in the coming days, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
Preparation work before the launch has begun at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southernmost island province of Hainan, the agency said in a bri China lands on Mars in major advance for its space ambitions
China's probe to Mars touched down on the Red Planet early Saturday to deploy its Zhurong rover, state media reported, a triumph for Beijing's increasingly bold space ambitions and a history-making feat for a nation on its first-ever Martian mission.
The lander carrying Zhurong completed the treacherous descent through the Martian atmosphere using a parachute to navigate the "seven minutes of terror" as it is known, aiming for a vast northern lava plain known as the Utopia Planitia.
Rocket Lab's satellite launch from New Zealand site fails
California-based Rocket Lab said a launch of satellites from its facility in New Zealand failed Saturday.
The problem occurred during ignition of the Electron rocket's second stage, the company said in a statement.
The rocket was carrying two Earth-observation satellites for BlackSky, a global monitoring company.
"Today's anomaly occurred after 17 successful orbital launches of the Electron launch vehicle. With multiple launch vehicles currently in production, Rocket Lab is prepared for a rapid return to flight as soon as investigations are complete and any required corrective actions are in place," the statement said.
Rocket Lab said the rocket's first stage successfully parachuted into the ocean and crews were working to recover it. The company is trying to develop a capability to recover and reuse Electron first stages.
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Perseverance, Hope and a fire god: a history of Mars rovers
China's probe to Mars touched down on the Red Planet Saturday to deploy its Zhurong rover, during a busy time for Martian exploration.
China, the US and hitherto space minnows the UAE have sent probes to the treacherous planet, where failure to land safely is more frequent than success.
China's Tianwen-1 probe successfully launched last July and entered Mars' orbit in February - a major 'Nihao Mars': China's Zhurong rover touches down on Red Planet
China's probe to Mars touched down on the Red Planet early Saturday to deploy its Zhurong rover, state media reported, a triumph for Beijing's increasingly bold space ambitions and a history-making feat for a nation on its first-ever Martian mission.
The lander carrying Zhurong completed the treacherous descent through the Martian atmosphere using a parachute to navigate the "seven minutes o China rover to attempt Mars landing over coming days
China's "Zhurong" rover, part of its ambitious space programme to send a probe to Mars, is set to attempt the challenging landing on the Red Planet in the next five days, Beijing's space agency said Friday.
The tricky touchdown, if successful, would come a few months behind America's latest probe to Mars, as Beijing presses ahead with its increasingly bold space ambitions.
"Based on current flight conditions, the Tianwen-1 probe intends to choose an opportunity to land ... in the period from early morning Saturday to Wednesday Beijing time," the China National Space Administration said in an online statement.
Vandenberg Air Force Base to be renamed Space Force Base
California's Vandenberg Air Force Base will be renamed as a U.S. Space Force Base on Friday.
The name will be changed to Vandenberg Space Force Base during an afternoon ceremony on the parade field at the sprawling base on the state's Central Coast, which tests ballistic missiles and conducts orbital launches for defense, science and commercial purposes.
The Space Force was created as the sixth uniformed military branch in 2019 during the administration of former President Donald Trump. Personnel assigned to the Air Force Space Command were reassigned to the Space Force, ending its Air Force lineage.
"Redesignating Air Force installations as Space Force installations is critical to establishing a distinct culture and identity for the Space Force," a base statement said.
Vandenberg's host unit, the 30th Space Wing, will be redesignated Space Launch Delta 30, under Space Operations Command.
Vandenberg was originally established in 1941 as Camp Cooke, an Army garrison for tank, infantry and artillery training.
Its geographical location made it ideal for missile tests and launches into polar orbit. During the Cold War, it was redesignated as Cooke Air Force Base and then Vandenberg in honor of Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, the second chief of staff of the Air Force.
Supercomputer simulations unlock an old space weather puzzle
Scientists have long questioned why the bursts of hot gas from the sun do not cool down as fast as expected, and have now used a supercomputer to find out.
The team will compare the simulations with 'real' data from the Solar Orbiter mission, with the hope that it will confirm their predictions and provide a conclusive answer.
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles continuously shot out from the sun into the solar system. These ejections greatly impact the conditions of our solar system and constantly hit the Earth.
Impacts on Earth
If the solar wind is particularly strong, it can cause problems to:
- satellites
- astronauts in space
- mobile phones
- transport
- electricity networks
To successfully forecast and prepare for such space weather events, a team of scientists is trying to solve the mysteries that space weather holds. This includes how the solar wind is heated and accelerated.
The team, with funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and led by UCL, ran and analyzed simulations of the solar wind on a powerful supercomputer.
Extrasolar Object Interceptor could chase down interstellar objects, return samples
What if we had the ability to chase down interstellar objects passing through our solar system, like 'Oumuamua or Comet Borisov? Such a spacecraft would need to be ready to go at a moment's notice, with the capacity to increase speed and change direction quickly.
That's the idea behind a new mission concept called the Extrasolar Object Interceptor and Sample Return spacecraft. It has received exploratory funding from NASA through its Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program.
"Bringing back samples from these objects could fundamentally change our view of the universe and our place in it," says Christopher Morrison, an engineer from the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation-Tech (USNC-Tech) who submitted the proposal to NIAC.
The concept Morrison and his team propose is a radioisotope-electric-propulsion spacecraft that relies on Chargeable Atomic Battery (CAB) technology, a power system that USNC has been developing for commercial use. The batteries are compact and possess one million times the energy density of state-of-the-art chemical batteries—as well as fossil fuels.
