Copernical Team
XRISM spacecraft will open new window on the X-ray cosmos
The upcoming XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, pronounced "crism") spacecraft will study the universe's hottest regions, largest structures, and objects with the strongest gravity.
Led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), XRISM will peer into these cosmic extremes using spectroscopy, the study of how light and matter interact. In this explainer, video producer Sophia Roberts from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center walks us through how understanding spectroscopy deepens our knowledge of the universe.
"I think we all get excited for the beautiful images we get from missions like NASA's James Webb Space Telescope," Roberts said. "But after taking a deep dive into spectroscopy, I really appreciate the critical context it gives scientists about the story behind those pictures.
Talking with Webb using the Deep Space Network
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is nearly 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometer) away from Earth, orbiting around the sun-Earth Lagrange point 2. How do we send commands and receive telemetry—the science and engineering data from the observatory—from that far away? We use the DSN (Deep Space Network) to communicate with the observatory. We receive data when we have a contact with Webb using a DSN antenna
Sandy Kwan, the mission interface manager for Webb within the DSN, notes that "each mesmerizing Webb image that has graced our screens would not have been possible without the support of the DSN antennas and personnel, the backbone of interplanetary communication."
The DSN has three sites around the world, each positioned 120 degrees apart. There are antennas in Goldstone, California; Canberra, Australia; and Madrid, Spain. This allows us to communicate with Webb at any time of day, as the Earth rotates. The DSN is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.
RTX to develop platform agnostic, beyond-line-of-sight, satcoms
Collins Aerospace, an RTX (NYSE: RTX) business, has been awarded a $36 million contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to develop and demonstrate a platform-agnostic, Beyond-Line-Of-Sight, satellite communications pod.
The communications pod will provide warfighters resilient, high bandwidth, low latency communications and data directly to the cockpit. The pod brings together After capturing image of black hole, what's next?
Agroup of international researchers led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard and Smithsonian (CfA) achieved the once-unimaginable four years ago: using a groundbreaking telescope to capture an image of a black hole.
Last month some of those researchers, engineers, and physicists convened at Harvard to consider and begin drawing up plans for the next step: a closer study of the photon r Hundred-year storms? That's how long they last on Saturn.
The largest storm in the solar system, a 10,000-mile-wide anticyclone called the Great Red Spot, has decorated Jupiter's surface for hundreds of years.
A new study now shows that Saturn - though much blander and less colorful than Jupiter - also has long-lasting megastorms with impacts deep in the atmosphere that persist for centuries.
The study was conducted by astronomers from the All Eyes on the Ice Giants
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft plans to observe Uranus and Neptune from its location far out in the outer solar system this fall, and the mission team is inviting the global amateur astronomy community to come along for the ride - and make a real contribution to space science - by observing both ice giants at the same time.
In September - in tandem with the Hubble Space Telescope - New Hor China's Kuaizhou-1A rocket launches five new satellites
China launched a Kuaizhou 1A carrier rocket on Monday afternoon at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, placing five communication satellites in space, according to the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp.
The State-owned space contractor said in a news release that the solid-propellant rocket blasted off at 1:32 pm from its launch vehicle and soon deployed the He KBR JV awarded $719M contract to aid NASA's development of space orbital systems
KBR (NYSE: KBR) is pleased to announce NASA's award to the Space and Technology Solutions team, a KBR joint venture with Intuitive Machines (Nasdaq: LUNR, LUNRW), to provide multidisciplinary engineering for some of NASA's most critical space orbital systems in its Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Maryland. The Government Accountability Offi Viasat Real-Time Earth opens ground station in Japan
Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), today announced the opening of a Real-Time Earth (RTE) ground station in Hokkaido, Japan, now enabling RTE customers the ability to downlink Ka-band payload data in the northwestern Pacific at the site hosted by RTE partner Infostellar. This new ground site gives RTE customers unique access to a strategic location that reduces the time it takes to deliver mission crit Momentus awarded innovation research contract from Space Development Agency
Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS) has signed a contract with the U.S. Defense Department's Space Development Agency (SDA) for a Small Business Innovation Research Award, "Orbital Service Vehicle Enhancements to Meet Department of Defense (DoD) Mission Requirements."
Under this award, Momentus will tailor the capabilities of its Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle to support a full range of DoD pay