Copernical Team
Time to build zero-debris satellites
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ESA is committed to deliver on the promise of Zero Debris by 2030. To ensure compliant satellites can be designed and built in time, ESA is supporting industry during this technologically challenging transition.
On 25 June 2024, three major European space industry players each signed a contract with ESA to develop large low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite platforms that conform to Zero Debris standards.
The space bricks have landed!
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ESA scientists have been exploring how a future Moon base might be built from materials on the lunar surface. Inspired by LEGO building, they have used dust from a meteorite to 3D-print 'space bricks' to test the idea. ESA's space bricks are on display in selected LEGO Stores from 20 June to 20 September, helping to inspire the next generation of space engineers.
Astrobotic reveals lunar surface proving ground for payload testing
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Astrobotic has unveiled its Lunar Surface Proving Ground (LSPG) at its Mojave, CA facility. The 100mx100m high-fidelity 3D test field replicates the Moon's surface topography and optical properties.
The LSPG's terrain is based on a map of the Moon's South Pole, scanned by Astrobotic's LunaRay system. This site will support various test campaigns, including precise lunar landing technologie China's Chang'e-6 mission successfully returns to Earth with historic moon samples
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China's Chang'e-6 mission successfully returned to Earth early Tuesday, bringing with it the first-ever samples retrieved from the far side of the moon.
The Chang'e-6 return capsule successfully landed in the Siziwang Banner area of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 2:07 p.m. local time, the China National Space Administration said in a statement.
"This marks the comple NASA successfully launches GOES-U weather satellite on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy
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The final GOES-U satellite successfully launched Tuesday from Cape Canaveral in Florida to aid efforts to track and forecast weather amid changing climate conditions across the globe.
Launch time was at 5:26 p.m. EDT with 2.8 million pounds of propellent fueling all 27 Merlin engines at 5.1 million pounds of thrust.
The mission launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Predicting changes inside astronauts' bodies during space travel through blood sample analysis
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Researchers develop MoonIndex, open-source software that allows study of lunar surface
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With MoonIndex, researchers from Constructor University and the National Institute of Astrophysics in Italy have developed an open-source software that for the first time gives scientists access to a free tool that creates science-ready products from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) to study the composition of the lunar surface. It also enables a wide range of applications.
An article now published in the specialist journal Earth and Space Science describes the research success.
"Spectral indices are a key product to understanding and mapping planetary surfaces," said Javier Eduardo Suárez Valencia, Ph.D. student at Constructor University and first author of the article.
Each surface has a very special, individual reflectance pattern, a kind of spectral fingerprint. It provides information about the presence of certain minerals in rocks or about the physical properties of the surface.
NASA calls off spacewalk after spacesuit water leak
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NASA on Monday canceled a spacewalk at the International Space Station after water leaked from an astronaut's spacesuit.
Astronauts Tracy Dyson and Mike Barratt opened the hatch to the space station's airlock when Dyson reported water leaking from her spacesuit's cooling system. The leak occurred when Dyson switched her spacesuit to battery power. The astronauts hadn't floated outside yet.
"There's literally water everywhere here now," Barratt said.
The duo were not in danger, according to NASA.
The astronauts were supposed to remove a faulty communications box and collect microbe samples from outside the orbiting laboratory.
Year's 1st SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch on tap Tuesday with NOAA satellite
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SpaceX is locked and loaded for what would be only the 10th launch for its powerhouse Falcon Heavy rocket Tuesday, scheduled to take a powerful weather satellite to space if weather cooperates.
The payload is the 11,000-pound GOES-U satellite for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, headed to geostationary orbit where next year it will take on the duties of scanning the Atlantic Ocean for tropical threats as well as other dangerous weather affecting the United States.
"GOES-U … will be the sentinel in the sky to keep an eye on hurricanes," said Dan Lindsey, the chief scientist of NOAA's GOES program, during a press conference Monday. It will also continue to scan Central America, the Caribbean and South America as well as add to the lightning and wildfire observation capability in the U.S.
Liftoff is targeted at 5:16 p.m. from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A at the opening of a two-hour window, with a backup during the same window on Wednesday. NASA plans launch broadcast coverage on NASA TV and its social media channels beginning at 4:15 p.m.
Hydrothermal Vents on Ocean Worlds Could Support Life, UC Santa Cruz Study Finds
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UC Santa Cruz researchers have found that lower-temperature hydrothermal vents, which are common on Earth's seafloor, may create conditions that support life on "ocean worlds" in our solar system.
Ocean worlds are planets and moons with liquid oceans, often under ice or within their rocky interiors. Some of Jupiter's and Saturn's moons are considered ocean worlds. These moons have inspired 
