...the who's who,
and the what's what 
of the space industry

Copernical Team

Copernical Team

Saturday, 20 March 2021 12:35

Large asteroid to (safely) zip past Earth

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Paris (AFP) March 21, 2021
The largest asteroid to pass by Earth this year will swing closest on Sunday, giving astronomers a rare chance for a good look at a space rock that formed at the dawn of our solar system. While in astronomical terms this marks a close encounter with the asteroid - called 2001 FO32 - NASA says there is no threat of a collision with our planet "now or for centuries to come". The nearest
Saturday, 20 March 2021 12:35

Swiss kids suit up for 'Mission to Mars'

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Lausanne (AFP) March 21, 2021
Leo pulls on a shiny, silver suit and places the helmet gingerly over his head before marching with the other budding astronauts towards their spaceship. "Going to Mars is really my dream," the eight-year-old said, jumping excitedly from foot to foot. While the world has been riveted by the escapades of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, a group of Swiss primary school children has been eag
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Dublin, Ireland (SPX) Mar 19, 2021
Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have been shedding light on the enigmatic "spiders from Mars", providing the first physical evidence that these unique features on the planet's surface can be formed by the sublimation of CO2 ice. Spiders, more formally referred to as araneiforms, are strange-looking negative topography radial systems of dendritic troughs; patterns that resemble branch
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Moscow (Sputnik) Mar 19, 2021
The spacecraft is due to be relocated by the crew to another port of the International Space Station as part of preparatory work for the crew's next mission. Sputnik is live from the International Space Station (ISS) as the Soyuz MS-17 space vehicle is being relocated from the station's Rassvet module to its Poisk module port. The operation is being conducted by an international crew, name
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Washington (AFP) March 19, 2021
The White House announced Friday that President Joe Biden was tapping Bill Nelson, a former Democratic senator for Florida who once flew on a Space Shuttle and helped craft key space legislation as his NASA chief. The nomination appears to confirm Biden's interest in maintaining US leadership in space as NASA prepares to return to the Moon under the Artemis program, while pivoting towards co
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Washington DC (SPX) Mar 19, 2021
The largest rocket element NASA has ever built, the core stage of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, fired its four RS-25 engines for 8 minutes and 19 seconds Thursday at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The successful test, known as a hot fire, is a critical milestone ahead of the agency's Artemis I mission, which will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on
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Paris, France (SPX) Mar 19, 2021
During the recent meeting in Rome between Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery, and Giancarlo Giorgetti, Italian Minister of Economic Development, Arianespace announced the signature of an agreement with Avio to start production of 10 new Vega C launch vehicles. This agreement kicks off the procurement of long lead-time items and the initial activities for t
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meteor
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

What is believed to be a meteor lit the sky over eastern Cuba and caused an explosion, scientists on the island said Saturday. There were no reports of damage or injury.

The head of the National Seismological Service, Enrique Arango Arias, told the official Cubadebate news site that the phenomenon was noticed in the towns of Moa, Sagua de Tanamo and Maisí .

He said the service's instruments "registered the expansive wave" of the explosion.

Social media users reported seeing red and white light followed by an explosion at about 10:06 p.m. local time Friday.



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If skies are clear, don’t miss a chance to catch sight of these distant orbital sentinels over the coming weeks.
A flare from the IGS 1B satellite in GEO orbi. Credit: Marco Langbroek

You can spot "GEOSat' satellites in far-flung orbits… if you know exactly where and when to look.

Watch the sky long enough, and you're bound to see one.

Seasoned observers are familiar with seeing satellites in low Earth , as these modern artificial sky apparitions lit by sunlight grace the dawn or dusk sky. Occasionally, you might even see a flare from a passing , as a reflective solar panel catches the last rays of sunlight passing overhead.

But look closely along either side of the celestial equator (the imaginary line that the Earth's equator traces on the sky) at certain times of the year, and you might just see the ghostly flare of a distant GEOSat (geosynchronous satellite) as it briefly brightens into visibility and fades away.

Right around equinox in March or September is a good time to try and in GEO as they reach near 100% illumination opposite to the sun, before entering the Earth's shadow and winking out.

Thursday, 18 March 2021 13:08

Researchers tackle Mars topographic systems

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Researchers tackle Mars topographic systems
An image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, acquired May 13, 2018 during winter at the South Pole of Mars, shows a carbon dioxide ice cap covering the region and as the sun returns in the spring, “spiders” begin to emerge from the landscape. Credit: NASA

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have been shedding light on the enigmatic "spiders from Mars," providing the first physical evidence that these unique features on the planet's surface can be formed by the sublimation of CO2 ice.

Spiders, more formally referred to as araneiforms, are strange-looking negative topography radial systems of dendritic troughs; patterns that resemble branches of a tree or fork lightning.

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