Copernical Team
Contract signed to build Scout CubeMAP
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ESA has signed a contract with GomSpace to build the Scout CubeMAP mission. Embracing the concept of New Space, CubeMAP is a trio of nanosatellites to help quantify atmospheric processes in the upper atmosphere and how they impact our climate. The constellation will measure water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide and aerosols – all of which play a key role in the greenhouse effect and climate change.
How TIMED Flies
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Launched in 2001, NASA's TIMED mission has now spent 20 years surveying the complicated dynamics of Earth's upper atmosphere. Short for Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics, TIMED observes the chemistry and dynamics where Earth's atmosphere meets space. On its 20th anniversary, the scientific community is reflecting on what they've learned from TIMED's two decades of oper Successful and diverse harvest in darkness and eternal ice
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Jess Bunchek, the NASA guest scientist at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) EDEN ISS greenhouse, is nearing the end of her mission in Antarctica. Bunchek has been living and working as a member of the 41st overwintering expedition at the German Neumayer III Station, operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research Astronaut applicants thanked as ESA contacts all candidates
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Applicants to ESA’s astronaut selection are being thanked for their patience as thousands of acceptance or rejection notifications are distributed to candidates across Europe.
Earth from Space: Fairbanks, Alaska
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The city of Fairbanks, the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and its surroundings, are featured in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image.
Science with Webb: the nearby cosmos
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The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) is designed to answer fundamental questions about the Universe.
One of Webb’s key science goals is to study the nearby cosmos: uncovering hidden parts of our Solar System, peering inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming, and revealing the composition of exoplanets in more detail.
Exoplanets
Thanks to its powerful capabilities at infrared wavelengths, Webb will offer a unique view of the outer planets in our own magnificent Solar System. Looking beyond, Webb will study in detail the atmospheres of a wide diversity of exoplanets.
Webb can study exoplanets as
Five things to know about the James Webb Space Telescope
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The James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful space observatory ever built, is finally set for launch in late December after decades of waiting.
An engineering marvel, it will help answer fundamental questions about the Universe, peering back in time 13 billion years. Here are five things to know.
Giant gold mirror
The telescope's centerpiece is its enormous primary mirror, a concave structure 21.5 feet (6.5 meters) wide and made up of 18 smaller hexagonal mirrors. They're made from beryllium coated with gold, optimized for reflecting infrared light from the far reaches of the universe.
The observatory also has four scientific instruments, which together fulfill two main purposes: imaging cosmic objects, and spectroscopy—breaking down light into separate wavelengths to study the physical and chemical properties of cosmic matter.
James Webb Space Telescope moved to meet its rocket
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On Dec. 7, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope was transferred to the final assembly building at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana to meet its Ariane 5 launch vehicle.
Stowed inside a special transport container and mobile clean room, Webb's vitals were meticulously monitored throughout the entire process of moving between buildings.
The Ariane 5 rocket Webb will ride to space was moved to the same building on Nov. 29. Here, adjustable platforms allow engineers to access the launch vehicle and its payload.
The next steps ahead are to safely lift Webb to an upper platform which has been prepared so that Webb can be connected to the Ariane 5's upper stage. After being connected to the rocket, technicians will move forward to encapsulate Webb inside Ariane 5's specially adapted fairing.
In preparation for a Dec. 22 launch, ground teams have already successfully completed the delicate operation of loading the spacecraft with the propellant it will use to steer itself while in space.
NASA launches new mission to explore universe's most dramatic objects
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NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission launched at 1 a.m. EST Thursday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A joint effort with the Italian Space Agency, the IXPE observatory is NASA's first mission dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from the most extreme and mysterious objects in the universe - supernova remnants, superm Webb telescope to look for first light of cosmic dawn
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Peering into deep space and billions of years back in time, the James Webb telescope promises to offer the clearest glimpse yet of the Universe's cosmic dawn, when the earliest galaxies began to form.
The largest and most powerful telescope ever to be launched into space, which will take over from Hubble, will "directly observe a part of space and time never seen before", says NASA.
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