Copernical Team
NASA's Perseverance rover gets the dirt on Mars
NASA's Perseverance rover snagged two new samples from the Martian surface on Dec. 2 and 6. But unlike the 15 rock cores collected to date, these newest samples came from a pile of wind-blown sand and dust similar to but smaller than a dune. Now contained in special metal collection tubes, one of these two samples will be considered for deposit on the Martian surface sometime this month as part NSF-funded solicitation seeks physical science proposals to utilize ISS National Lab
For the eighth year, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc. (CASIS) and U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) have partnered to solicit transport phenomena and fluid dynamics research leveraging the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory.
NSF will provide up to $3.6 million for multiple projects to utilize the space station's research facilities for fundam Can plasma instability in fact be the savior for magnetic nozzle plasma thrusters
A research group has demonstrated that spontaneously excited plasma waves may be the solution to a long-associated problem with magnetic nozzle plasma thrusters, turning conventional thinking on its head.
Details of their research were published in the journal Scientific Reports on December 5, 2022.
In magnetic nozzle radio frequency thrusters, sometimes referred to as helicon thrust New rocket successfully takes to outer space
Kuaizhou 11, the newest model of carrier rocket developed by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, carried out its first successful flight on Wednesday morning, lifting an experimental satellite into space, according to the company.
The rocket blasted off at 9:15 am at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert and soon deployed the Xingyun Transport VDES NASA advances Artemis Moon rocket production for future missions
NASA is moving forward with Space Launch System (SLS) production and assembly activities for future Artemis missions.
The agency is optimizing manufacturing capabilities by enabling SLS core stage lead contractor Boeing to use facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to perform some core stage assembly and outfitting activities beginning with the Artemis III rocket. In tandem, Southern Launch and ATSpace return to launch up to two Kestrel I rockets before the end of the year
by Kurtis Eichler for The Lead
After a severe electrical storm damaged an ATSpace rocket on the launch pad in November, the company has announced that repairs have been completed and they will attempt another launch in the coming weeks, followed by another already planned launch of a second rocket.
ATSpace CEO Dr Yen Sen Chen said they were pleased to discover that the repairs required to New lidar technique could help robotic vehicles land safely on Mars
In a new study, scientists demonstrate a new lidar technique that could help robotic vehicles avoid hazards when landing during future missions to Mars or the moon. The method uses flash lidar to record full 3D images with a single laser pulse, which prevents the motion blur that is present with traditional lidar approaches.
Farzin Amzajerdian from NASA Langley Research Center will present the new findings at the Optica Laser Congress, 11–15 December 2022. The presentation, titled "Development of a 3D Flash Lidar for Terrain Sensing and Safe Landing on Planetary Bodies," will be presented on-site and online in a hybrid format.
"Lidar technology plays a critical role in future missions to the moon, Mars, and other solar system bodies since they require precision safe landing at specific locations where valuable resources may be found or may lead to important scientific discoveries," said principal investigator, Farzin Amzajerdian, Ph.D.
A streamlined design
Flash lidar is useful for several purposes throughout the process of landing robotic vehicles. As a vehicle descends to a surface, flash lidar can be used to generate 3D terrain maps from an altitude of several kilometers to reduce position error.
Will we ever go back to explore the ice giants? Yes, if we keep the missions simple and affordable
It's been over 35 years since a spacecraft visited Uranus and Neptune. That was Voyager 2, and it only did flybys. Will we ever go back? There are discoveries waiting to be made on these fascinating ice giants and their moons.
How karst caves can be used as a terrestrial simulation platform to test and design human bases in lunar lava tubes
If human beings want to survive on the other planets for a long time, they must first find or set up a safe, stable, and long-term shelter. Lunar lava tubes are geological structures on the moon discovered in recent years. They take the form of hollow pipe-shaped caves formed on the surface of the planet by volcanic activity.
Because a lunar lava tube has a hard basalt roof, its internal environmental factors such as temperature changes, radiation doses, and the probability of being hit by meteorites are relatively limited. As such, it offers in theory an ideal human lunar habitat. Until now, more than 300 potential cave entrances have been identified on the moon. The "skylights" they display are the result of a kind of pit caused by the active lava tube collapsing.
In a new article published in Space: Science & Technology, the research team led by Gengxin Xie and Linli Guo has discussed the feasibility of using lunar lava tubes for human habitation, proposed the idea of using the Earth's karst caves to simulate extraterrestrial lava tubes, selected caves in Chongqing as the simulation site, and demonstrated the feasibility in terms of both structural and environmental aspects.
ESA plasma sampler headed to the Moon and ISS
An innovative ESA-backed instrument to sample the space weather environment in-situ is set to join the International Space Station. Norway’s multi-Needle Langmuir Probe, m-NLP, due to be fitted to the European-made Bartolomeo platform on the ISS, a ‘front porch’ open to space, will map the ionospheric plasma surrounding the Station in unprecedented high resolution, performing almost 10 000 measurements per second continuously along its orbit.