When spring arrives in southern Mars, a cloud of water ice emerges near the 20-kilometre-tall Arsia Mons volcano, rapidly stretching out for many hundreds of kilometres before fading away in mere hours. A detailed long-term study now reveals the secrets of this elongated cloud, using exciting new observations from the ‘Mars Webcam’ on ESA’s Mars Express.

With the need for satellite data to be received more frequently for faster weather forecasting updates in the Arctic, ESA has signed a contract with OHB Sweden to a build prototype satellite for the Arctic Weather Satellite mission.

Manchester UK (The Conversation) Mar 05, 2021
Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the Sun and all other stars. During fusion, the nuclei of two atoms are brought close enough together that they fuse together, releasing huge amounts of energy. Replicating this process on Earth has the potential to deliver almost limitless electricity with virtually zero carbon emissions and greater safety, and without the same level of nuclear wa

University Park PA (SPX) Mar 08, 2021
When a block of ice the size of Houston, Texas, broke off from East Antarctica's Amery Ice Shelf in 2019, scientists had anticipated the calving event, but not exactly where it would happen. Now, satellite data can help scientists measure the depth and shape of ice shelf fractures to better predict when and where calving events will occur, according to researchers. Ice shelves make up near

Washington DC (AFNS) Mar 05, 2021
Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa hosted a joint, multi-national Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control demonstration in February. The USAFE-AFAFRICA-led demonstration, which took place in the Baltic Sea region, incorporated the assistance of the 16th Space Control Squadron located at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. The collaboration confirmed the ess

Beijing (XNA) Mar 09, 2021
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation's leading space contractor, plans to carry out the maiden flight of its Smart Dragon 3 carrier rocket next year, a company executive said. Li Hong, deputy general manager at the State-owned conglomerate, said on Sunday that research and development of the new rocket began at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in December.

Cambridge, Canada (SPX) Mar 04, 2021
exactEarth Ltd. has signed an agreement with MDA to provide advanced Satellite-AIS data services as part of MDA's recently announced Dark Vessel Detection ("DVD") program for the Government of Canada. The DVD program is intended to detect and identify vessels that have switched off their AIS transponders and are engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated ("IUU") fishing. IUU fishing is

Beijing (XNA) Mar 09, 2021
The lander and rover of China's Chang'e 4 probe have begun their 28th lunar day of work on the far side of the moon. Landing on the moon on Jan. 3, 2019, the Chang'e 4 probe has survived 795 Earth days on the moon, the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration said Monday. A lunar day is equal to about 14 days on Earth, and a lunar night is

Bethesda MD (SPX) Mar 09, 2021
The space community is moving beyond Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) and expanding more activities toward the Moon and in cislunar space, i. e., lying between the earth and the moon or the moon's orbit. Thus, as in LEO, space is getting more congested with crowding and pollution problems. As countries expand commercial and military cislunar operations we can expect to face the challenges of managing space

Urbana IL (SPX) Mar 08, 2021
Using data collected in a NASA Langley Mach 6 wind tunnel, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign replicated the hypersonic flow conditions of a compression ramp flow by means of Direct Numerical Simulation. The simulation yielded an abundance of additional data, which can be used to better understand the phenomena that occur surrounding vehicles traveling at hypersonic speed