
Copernical Team
MyGalileoSolution and MyGalileoDrone: A word from the winners

Nine global space startups to join Australia's first space dedicated incubator program

New study finds satellites contribute significant light pollution to night skies

Black hole seeds key to galaxies behemoths

String theory solves mystery about how particles behave outside a black hole photon sphere

SwRI scientists discover a new auroral feature on Jupiter

SpaceX postpones Starship test flight

Even with regular exercise, astronaut's heart left smaller after a year in space

With NASA preparing to send humans to Mars in the 2030s, researchers are studying the physical effects of spending long periods in space. Now a new study by scientists at UT Southwestern shows that the heart of an astronaut who spent nearly a year aboard the International Space Station shrank, even with regular exercise, although it continued to function well.
The results were comparable with what the researchers found in a long-distance swimmer who spent nearly half a year trying to cross the Pacific Ocean.
The study, published today in Circulation, reports that astronaut Scott Kelly, now retired, lost an average of 0.74 grams—about three-tenths of an ounce—per week in the mass of his heart's left ventricle during the 340 days he spent in space, from March 27, 2015, to March 1, 2016. This occurred despite a weekly exercise regimen of six days of cycling, treadmill, or resistance work.
SpaceX says no Starship launch on Monday

SpaceX has postponed the latest test flight of its prototype interplanetary Starship rocket from the company's south Texas facility, Elon Musk said Monday.
"FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) inspector unable to reach Starbase in time for launch today," the company's founder and CEO tweeted.
"Postponed to no earlier than tomorrow."
No launch window has so far been provided for Tuesday.
The company is hoping to finally perform a successful test flight after the last three attempts ended in spectacular explosions, and had been granted a five hour window for spaceflight activities by local authorities on Monday.
NASA begins final assembly of spacecraft destined for asteroid Psyche

A major component of NASA's Psyche spacecraft has been delivered to the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the phase known as assembly, test, and launch operations is now underway. Over the next year, the spacecraft will finish assembly and undergo rigorous checkout and testing before it's shipped to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for an August 2022 launch to the main asteroid belt.
The Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) Chassis, crafted by Maxar Technologies' team in Palo Alto, California, is the size of a van and represents more than 80% (by mass) of the hardware that will ultimately make up the Psyche spacecraft. The large, box-shaped structure made a dramatic entrance as it rolled into the white-walled clean room of JPL's storied High Bay 1 of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility.