Copernical Team
Building a home in the sky
After initial solid steps, upcoming missions will ensure operation of China's Tiangong space station. China plans to conduct its Shenzhou XIII manned space flight this month, sending three astronauts to stay six months inside the country's Tiangong space station.
During their mission, the astronauts, whose names have yet to be disclosed, will be mainly tasked with demonstrating and testing NASA selects crew for simulated trip to a Mars Moon
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to head deep into space, all the way to Mars? Through a simulated journey, four volunteer research subjects will soon have a chance to find out.
Beginning Oct. 1, 2021, four people will live and work for 45 days inside a unique, ground-based habitat at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Designed to serve as an analog for isolation, confinem Blue Origin accused of 'toxic' work culture, compromising safety
A group of current and former Blue Origin employees on Thursday accused Jeff Bezos' space company of having a "toxic" work culture with rampant sexual harassment and a pattern of decision-making that prioritized speedy rocket development over safety.
The allegations, firmly rejected by Blue Origin, were outlined in a lengthy blogpost signed by Alexandra Abrams, the company's former head of e Space for climate: raising awareness ahead of COP26
Ahead of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26), climate and energy ministers are coming together this week in Milan, Italy, to discuss the key political topics to be addressed at the upcoming global summit – taking place in early November in Glasgow.
ESA will be present at both the Pre-COP and COP26, highlighting the vital importance of observing our changing world from space and showing how satellite data play a critical role in underpinning climate policy.
Earth from Space: Mackenzie River, Canada
The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission takes us over the Mackenzie River, a major river system in the Canadian boreal forest. Its basin is the largest in Canada and is the second largest drainage basin of any North American river, after the Mississippi.
Out now: ESA’s third quarter in images
Out now: ESA’s third quarter in images
Join our free online Space2Connect event
The first ESA virtual conference devoted entirely to telecommunications will take place between 11 October and 14 October.
'Planet confusion' could slow Earth-like exoplanet exploration
When it comes to directly imaging Earth-like exoplanets orbiting faraway stars, seeing isn't always believing.
A new Cornell study finds that next-generation telescopes used to see exoplanets could confuse Earth-like planets with other types of planets in the same solar system.
With today's telescopes, dim distant planets are hard to see against the glare of their host stars, but next-generation tools such as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, currently under development by NASA, will be better at imaging Earth-like planets, which orbit stars at just the right distance to offer prime conditions for life.
"Once we have the capability of imaging Earth-like planets, we're actually going to have to worry about confusing them with completely different types of planets," said Dmitry Savransky, associate professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (College of Engineering) and the Department of Astronomy (College of Arts and Sciences).
Lunar landers could spray instant landing pads as they arrive at the moon
Space exploration requires all kinds of interesting solutions to complex problems. There is a branch of NASA designed to support the innovators trying to solve those problems—the Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC). They occasionally hand out grant funding to worthy projects trying to tackle some of these challenges. The results from one of those grants are now in, and they are intriguing. A team from Masten Space Systems, supported by Honeybee Robotics, Texas A&M, and the University of Central Florida, came up with a way a lunar lander could deposit its own landing pad on the way down.
Lunar dust poses a significant problem to any powered landers on the surface. The retrograde rockets needed to land on the moon's surface softly will also kick dust and rock up into the air, potentially damaging the lander itself or any surrounding human infrastructure.
Image: Cosmic kit
ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer is suited, booted and ready for his Cosmic Kiss mission. As a member of US Commercial Crew-3 he will be launched to the International Space Station in a Crew Dragon spacecraft in around one month's time for his first six-month stay in orbit.
Matthias is pictured in the SpaceX spacesuit that he will wear alongside his crew mates, NASA astronauts Kayla Barron, Thomas Marshburn and Raja Chari, during their journey to and from space.
Each SpaceX spacesuit is tailor-made for its wearer. The helmet is 3D printed and its gloves are designed to work with the touchscreens on board. The suit's primary purpose is to protect astronauts from the unlikely event of depressurisation. However, it also helps regulate an astronaut's body temperature and provides hearing and fire protection.
When an astronaut enters the Dragon capsule, they plug the suit into their seat using an umbilical. This provides the electronics to power communications, air to cool the suit and gas to pressurize the garment when needed.
This suit is only worn in the Crew Dragon capsule, not during spacewalks. Matthias is trained and certified in both the US Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) and Russian Orlan spacesuits for any spacewalk he may perform in orbit.