Copernical Team
Researchers aim to move an asteroid
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An asteroid strike on Earth could be prevented by new technology launching into space this year, involving a Queen's University Belfast scientist.
Professor Alan Fitzsimmons from the Astrophysics Research Centre at Queen's is playing a role in two space missions that will measure how hard it is to deflect an asteroid. He will be telling people about it in an online public talk on World Ast Virgin Galactic receives approval from FAA for Full Commercial Launch License
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Virgin Galactic has announced that the Federal Aviation Administration has updated the Company's existing commercial space transportation operator license to allow the spaceline to fly customers to space.
The Company also announced that it has completed an extensive review of data gathered from its May 22 test flight and confirmed that the flight performed well against all flight objective Getting a robot to take a selfie on Mars
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Ever wondered how Mars rovers take a selfie? Color video from NASA's Perseverance shows how the rover captured the historic April 6, 2021, image of itself beside the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. As a bonus, the rover's entry, descent, and landing microphone captured the sound of the arm's motors whirring during the process.
Selfies allow engineers to check wear and tear on the rover. But the AFRL leaps forward in NTS-3 spacecraft development
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The Air Force Research Laboratory is excited to announce that the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3) satellite navigation program is closer in the development of the spacecraft for its in-space demonstration, thanks to the delivery of its bus that will carry it to space in 2023.
In 2019, the U.S. Air Force designated NTS-3 as one of three Vanguard programs, which are priority initia Giant comet found in outer solar system by Dark Energy Survey
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A giant comet from the outskirts of our Solar System has been discovered in 6 years of data from the Dark Energy Survey. Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is estimated to be about 1000 times more massive than a typical comet, making it arguably the largest comet discovered in modern times. It has an extremely elongated orbit, journeying inward from the distant Oort Cloud over millions of years. It i Unique use of ESA spacecraft ‘housekeeping’ data reveals cosmic ray behaviour
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Using data originally gathered for spacecraft ‘housekeeping’ aboard ESA’s Rosetta and Mars Express missions, scientists have revealed how intense bursts of high-energy radiation, known as cosmic rays, behave at Mars and throughout the inner Solar System.
NASA completes additional tests to diagnose computer problem on Hubble space telescope
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NASA is continuing to diagnose a problem with the payload computer on the Hubble Space Telescope after completing another set of tests on June 23 and 24. The payload computer halted on June 13 and the spacecraft stopped collecting science data. The telescope itself and its science instruments remain in good health and are currently in a safe configuration.
The spacecraft has two payload computers, one of which serves as a backup, that are located on the Science Instrument and Command and Data Handling (SI C&DH) unit. There are various pieces of hardware which make up both payload computers, including but not limited to:
- a Central Processing Module (CPM), which processes the commands that coordinate and control the science instruments
- a Standard Interface (STINT), which bridges communications between the computer's CPM and other components
- a communications bus, which contains lines that pass signals and data between hardware
- and one active memory module, which stores operational commands to the instruments. There are three additional modules which serve as backups.
Additional tests performed on June 23 and 24 included turning on the backup computer for the first time in space.
Watch (and hear) how NASA's Perseverance rover took its first selfie
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Ever wondered how Mars rovers take a selfie? Color video from NASA's Perseverance shows how the rover captured the historic April 6, 2021, image of itself beside the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. As a bonus, the rover's entry, descent, and landing microphone captured the sound of the arm's motors whirring during the process.
Astronauts complete solar panel work in 3rd spacewalk
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Astronauts finished unfurling a new pair of solar panels outside the International Space Station on Friday, making their third spacewalk in just over a week.
NASA's Shane Kimbrough and France's Thomas Pesquet successfully installed the second in a series of powerful solar wings that should keep the space station running the rest of this decade, as space tourism ramps up with visitors beginning in the fall.
Virgin Galactic gets FAA's OK to launch customers to space
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