Paris (AFP) Feb 01, 2022
As the race to send people to the Moon and beyond heats up, Europe faces calls to make a choice: Keep paying for seats on spacecraft or finally fly its own manned vehicle. Imagine if Christopher Columbus did not have a ship to sail to the Americas, the head of the European Space Agency said recently, lamenting that the continent lacked a vessel to "explore the next frontier". "We wil

Moffett Field CA (SPX) Feb 01, 2022
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is getting ready to give us the best view yet of worlds beyond our own solar system, commonly known as exoplanets. Scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley will be among the first to observe the cosmos with Webb, and they're looking for clues about how exoplanets form, what they're made of, and whether any could be potentially hab

Paris (ESA) Feb 01, 2022
Since November 2021, ESA's satellites and ground stations have been running on a newly defined, incredibly precise "ESOC time". Measured by two atomic clocks in the basement of the ESOC mission control centre in Germany, this new time determination will bring wide-reaching operational benefits for all ESA missions, making new feats possible in space while adding to our global definition of 'now'

Montreal, Canada (SPX) Feb 01, 2022
When did the Earth reach oxygen levels sufficient to support animal life? Researchers from McGill University have discovered that a rise in oxygen levels occurred in step with the evolution and expansion of complex, eukaryotic ecosystems. Their findings represent the strongest evidence to date that extremely low oxygen levels exerted an important limitation on evolution for billions of years.

Beijing (XNA) Feb 01, 2022
China's Mars probe Tianwen-1 extended festival greetings to the Chinese people with stunning video footage captured by a camera on its orbiter to snap selfies above the red planet on Monday, the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year. The video published by the China National Space Administration showed that the orbiter's 3000N engine, propellant tank, attitude control engine and other componen

Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 01, 2022
We'll soon be on the move again after shaking loose some pesky pebbles that became lodged in Perseverance's bit carousel. How has the science team been making the best use of our extended stay at the Issole parking space, and preparing for our next phase of science investigations? As outlined in our previous blog post, the team made good progress ejecting pebbles that became lodged in the

Boston MA (SPX) Feb 01, 2022
In a global collaboration, a team of researchers recently proved a 90-year-old theory on why comets' heads, but never the tails, are green. The scientific explanation, published in PNAS on Dec. 21, has to do with the way the molecule dicarbon (C2) gets blown apart by sunlight. The other part of the story lies in an accidental discovery and a love of spectroscopic perturbations, passed from

Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 01, 2022
We continue to characterize "The Prow," which stands proud above nearby flat lying dust coated bedrock. Our sedimentologists are very keen to get grain size measurements, as this can give very valuable insights into conditions at the time the sediments were laid down. A change in grain size can show that we have changing conditions over time, so getting MAHLI on rocks here is the highest p

Houston TX (SPX) Feb 01, 2022
The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc. (CASIS), manager of the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory, has announced the release of a new online tool for educators called Expedition Space Lab. This tool is designed to provide educators with easy access to ISS-related lessons, activities, and other resources to integrate into their curriculum. Through Expedi

Orlando FL (SPX) Feb 01, 2022
SpaceX successfully launched an Italian Earth-observation satellite, the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation 2, from Florida after several days of setbacks. A Falcon 9 rocket mounted with the spacecraft lifted off at 6:11 p.m. EST from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. SpaceX scrubbed the launch three times due to weather worries and a fourth time on Sunday because a cruis