Copernical Team
NOAA's GOES-U satellite completes solar array deployment test
GOES-U, the fourth and final satellite in NOAA's GOES-R Series, recently completed a successful test deployment of its solar array to ensure it will function properly in space.
This critical test verified that the satellite's large, five-panel solar array—which is folded up when the satellite is launched—will properly deploy when GOES-U reaches geostationary orbit. During this test, engineers unfurled the five panels on rails that simulated the zero-gravity environment of space. Each solar panel is approximately 13 feet tall by 4.5 feet wide and weighs approximately 45 pounds.
Once GOES-U reaches orbit, the deployed solar panels will form a single solar array wing that will rotate once per day to continuously point its photovoltaic (solar) cells toward the sun. The photovoltaic cells will convert energy from the sun into electricity to power the entire satellite, including the instruments, computers, data processors, sensors, and telecommunications equipment. The solar array will generate more than 5,000 watts of power for the satellite. This is equivalent to the power needed to run a central air conditioning system in your home.
ESA oversees in-orbit cybersecurity demonstration
Meteosat Third Generation's first stunning image
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Europe’s latest weather satellite, the Meteosat Third Generation Imager, has just delivered its first image of Earth. What does this satellite do exactly? And what does this mean for weather forecasting? Learn more about the Meteosat Third Generation and how this new generation of satellites is set to revolutionise weather forecasting in Europe.
The Meteosat Third Generation image can be downloaded here.
New weather satellite reveals spectacular images of Earth
Europe’s latest weather satellite, the Meteosat Third Generation Imager, has just delivered its first view of Earth – revealing conditions over Europe, Africa and the Atlantic in remarkable detail.
ESA’s Astronaut Class of 2022 | first news conference
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ESA astronaut candidates Sophie Adenot, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Rosemary Coogan, Raphaël Liégeois and Marco Sieber took up duty at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) on 3 April 2023 to be trained to the highest level of standards as specified by the International Space Station partners.
Watch the replay of their first news conference from EAC in Cologne, Germany.
Czech Republic latest nation to sign on to NASA's moon-focused Artemis Accords
The Czech Republic on Wednesday became the 24th country to sign NASA's Artemis Accords, a set of principles for countries participating in the American space program to return astronauts to the moon.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský signed the agreement at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., Wednesday.
The non-binding agreement establishes a set of guidelines to guide coop Brushing Ubajnara: Sols 3819-3820
Tactical planning started an hour and a half later than usual this morning, because we had to wait for better-illuminated Navcam images of the Ubajara block (seen at bottom center in this image). The Rover Planners needed these better images to determine whether the Ubajara target can be brushed using the DRT, and promptly confirmed that they are GO for brushing!
This was good news, becaus US senators launch renewed push to thwart China
US senators announced a major cross-party effort Wednesday to combat China's growing global influence by limiting the flow of investment and state-of-the-art technology to the Asian giant while deterring any potential threat to Taiwan.
The push comes after President Joe Biden signed a package last year aimed at boosting competition with Washington's main economic rival, with $52 billion in n Do your homework to prep for the 2023 and 2024 eclipses and beyond
This year and next, Americans will have the extraordinary opportunity to witness two solar eclipses as both will be visible throughout the continental U.S. On Oct. 14, 2023, the moon will obscure all but a small annulus of the sun, producing a "ring of fire" eclipse. On April 8, 2024, the eclipse will be total in a band stretching from Texas to Maine.
Both occurrences promise to be remarka What will the Artemis Moon base look like?
The next time NASA goes to the Moon, it intends to stay. Under the Artemis program, the US space agency plans to maintain a human presence, for the very first time, on a celestial body other than Earth.
But building a lunar base is no small feat. It will need power generators, vehicles and habitats, and the space industry is racing to meet the technological challenges.
"It's the Super Bo