Copernical Team
Sounding rocket mission to offer snapshot of sun's magnetic field
Measuring a magnetic field isn't so hard if you're inside of it. Measuring a magnetic field remotely—whether from across a room, across a country, or 93 million miles away—is an entirely different story. But that's exactly what a team of NASA scientists and international collaborators aim to do with the CLASP2.1 mission: measure the magnetic field in a critical slice of the sun's atmosphere called the chromosphere.
CLASP2.1, short for Chromospheric Layer Spectropolarimeter 2.1, will make these measurements from a NASA sounding rocket. Sounding rockets are small rockets that carry instruments into space for five to ten minutes before falling back down to Earth. The launch window for the CLASP2.1 sounding rocket mission opens at 11:30 a.m. MT on Oct. 5, 2021, at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
The upcoming flight will be the CLASP instrument's third trip to space.
NASA issues contracts to mature electrified aircraft propulsion technologies
NASA has selected two U.S. companies to support its Electric Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) that will rapidly mature Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP) technologies through ground and flight demonstrations. Through the EPFD program, NASA seeks to introduce EAP technologies to U.S. aviation fleets no later than 2035, supporting short-range and regional commercial air travel, as w
Aerojet Rocketdyne completes Space Launch System rocket engine test series
The latest RS-25 engine test at NASA's Stennis Space Center completed the Retrofit-2 test series, which validated modernized, lower-cost components for new RS-25 engines to be used on the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket. RS-25 development test engine No. 0528 completed a full duration firing of 500 seconds and reached 109% of its originally designed Space Shuttle Main Engine po
Arianespace to launch GSAT-24 satellite for NSIL with Ariane 5
On September 28, 2021, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) entrusted Arianespace with the launch of its GSAT-24 telecommunications satellite. GSAT-24 is scheduled for launch in the 1st quarter of 2022, from the Guiana Space Center, Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on one of the seven Ariane 5 missions remaining to be performed with the heavy-lift launcher. This Ku-band satellite is a
Zeroing in on the origins of Earth's "single most important evolutionary innovation"
Some time in Earth's early history, the planet took a turn toward habitability when a group of enterprising microbes known as cyanobacteria evolved oxygenic photosynthesis - the ability to turn light and water into energy, releasing oxygen in the process. This evolutionary moment made it possible for oxygen to eventually accumulate in the atmosphere and oceans, setting off a domino effect
Space Force selects more than 900 personnel to transfer FY22
The Space Force, working with the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, has selected 670 active-duty service members and 259 civilians to transfer into the Space Force during fiscal year 2022. These volunteers come from the pool of candidates who applied in March 2021 and members who are currently assigned to Army and Navy units slated to transfer into the new service. These new selects join the in
GomSpace signs a contract with SpaceAble to enhance the sustainability of Low Earth Orbit
GomSpace signs a contract with SpaceAble to enhance the sustainability of Low Earth Orbit GomSpace enters into an agreement with SpaceAble, to enhance the sustainability of Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The contract is worth 21MSEK (US$2.4M) and the project will begin in 2021 with expected delivery in late 2023. The mission is designed to enhance the sustainability of LEO. By tracking the i
New small satellite platform debuts
China is offering a small communication satellite platform to countries seeking an affordable solution for their own space-based internet networks. The DFH-3E satellite platform was designed by the China Academy of Space Technology, a subsidiary of the State-owned space conglomerate, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. It is the country's first small satellite platform designed fo
BepiColombo's first views of Mercury
The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission has captured its first views of its destination planet Mercury as it swooped past in a close gravity assist flyby last night. The closest approach took place at 23:34 UTC on 1 October at an altitude of 199 km from the planet's surface. Images from the spacecraft's monitoring cameras, along with scientific data from a number of instruments, were collected during t
China plans to build special site for weekly launch of Long March 8 rockets
China plans to build a special pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan to launch the next-generation Long March 8 rockets on a weekly basis, the head of the Long March 8 project at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), Xiao Yun, said on 4 October. "Our current preliminary plan is that we will be able to carry out one launch every seven days to meet public n