Copernical Team
A giant piece of space junk is hurtling towards Earth. Here's how worried you should be
A large piece of space debris, possibly weighing several tonnes, is currently on an uncontrolled reentry phase (that's space speak for "out of control"), and parts of it are expected to crash down to Earth over the next few weeks.
If that isn't worrying enough, it is impossible to predict exactly where the pieces that don't burn up in the atmosphere might land. Given the object's orbit, the possible landing points are anywhere in a band of latitudes "a little farther north than New York, Madrid and Beijing and as far south as southern Chile and Wellington, New Zealand".
The debris is part of the Long March 5B rocket that recently successfully launched China's first module for its proposed space station. The incident comes roughly a year after another similar Chinese rocket fell to Earth, landing in the Atlantic Ocean but not before it reportedly left a trail of debris in the African nation of Cote D'Ivoire.
Parker discovers natural radio emission in Venus' atmosphere
During a brief swing by Venus, NASA's Parker Solar Probe detected a natural radio signal that revealed the spacecraft had flown through the planet's upper atmosphere. This was the first direct measurement of the Venusian atmosphere in nearly 30 years—and it looks quite different from Venus past. A study published today confirms that Venus' upper atmosphere undergoes puzzling changes over a solar cycle, the Sun's 11-year activity cycle. This marks the latest clue to untangling how and why Venus and Earth are so different.
Born of similar processes, Earth and Venus are twins: both rocky, and of similar size and structure.
Oxygen production from three-body photodissociation of water using light
The provenance of oxygen on Earth and other solar planetary bodies is a fundamental issue. It is widely accepted that the prebiotic pathway of oxygen production in the Earth primitive atmosphere was via vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photodissociation of CO2 and subsequent recombination of two O atoms.
In contrast, the photodissociation of H2O, one of the dominant oxygen carriers, has long been US Aerospace Company Blue Origin to Begin Selling Tickets for Tourist Trips in Space
The US aerospace company Blue Origin announced on Thursday that it will soon begin selling tickets to individuals interested in travelling to space.
"It's time. You can buy the very first seat on New Shepard. Sign up to learn how at blueorigin.com. Details coming May 5th," Blue Origin said via Twitter.
The company's New Shepard rocket - named after US astronaut Alan Shepard - is desi Northrop Grumman Solar Arrays to Power Airbus OneSat Spacecraft
Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract by Airbus Defence and Space for the design, development and production of 24 ship sets of solar arrays to support the OneSat satellite product line. The solar arrays will power the OneSat communication satellites in geosynchronous orbit.
The solar array technology features the Northrop Grumman Compact Telescoping Array (CTA) design that utilizes NanoAvionics adds satellite twin to Aurora Insight global wireless spectrum mission
NanoAvionics, a leading smallsat bus manufacturer and mission integrator, has successfully established communications with "Bravo," the second nanosatellite the company built and launched for Aurora Insight, a U.S. business analytics company for the wireless industry.
"Bravo" was sent into low Earth orbit (LEO) on 28 April onboard an Arianespace Vega rocket by Italian rocket maker Avio. It Advanced weapons able to 'destroy US satellites' warns Space Chief
Previously, the annual threat assessment report of the US Intelligence community released on 13 April cited a diverse array of threats, magnified by rapidly evolving technology, and warned of the broad national security challenges posed by China and Russia.
A United States Space Force general has warned that space has become a "warfighting domain", just like air, land, and sea, with the ne EU space regulation ready to take off with the creation of the EUSPA
The Agency welcomes the European Parliament's position expressed today, confirming the political agreement on the Space Regulation reached in December 2020 and the creation of the European Union Agency for the Space Programme. The EU Space Programme, with the largest budget ever for Space - euro 14.88 billion, encompasses all EU space activities under one roof and will allow for an effective an Bill Nelson, head of NASA, hails 'new day in space'
Former Florida senator Bill Nelson was sworn in Monday as head of NASA, hailing a "new day" for space exploration as the United States seeks to return to the Moon.
With his hand on a Bible, Nelson took the oath of office from Vice President Kamala Harris as he officially took up the role of NASA administrator.
"It's a new day in space," he said, after bringing a Moon rock to the event.
Nelson, 78, who traveled into space in 1986, takes over the agency with the United States hoping to put astronauts back on the Moon by 2024.
Humans last set foot on the Moon in 1972 during the Apollo program.
Under the Artemis program, NASA wants to establish a sustainable presence, complete with a lunar space station, to test new technologies that would pave the way for a crewed mission to Mars.
Chinese company claims to be working on a Starship-like rocket
Last weekend, China celebrated its sixth "National Space Day" in Nanjing, an event that highlights advances China has made in space. Similar to Space Day that is held each year on the first Thursday in May (this year, it will be held on May 7th), the goal is to foster interest in space exploration and the STEMS so as to inspire the next generation of astronauts and aerospace engineers.
This year, the festivities focused on the Chang'e-5 mission (which showcased some of the lunar samples it brought back), and the name of China's first Mars rover (Zhurong) – which will be landing on the Red Planet later this month. But another interesting snippet was a video presented by one of China's main rocket manufacturers that showed demonstrated that they are working on a rocket similar to the Starship.
The video, titled "One Hour Global Arrival in the Space Transportation System," was presented by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) – one of the country's main state-owned rocket manufacturers.
