SpaceX launches 4 astronauts for NASA after private flight
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:57SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA on Wednesday, less than two days after completing a flight chartered by millionaires.
It's the first NASA crew comprised equally of men and women, including the first Black woman making a long-term spaceflight, Jessica Watkins.
"This is one of the most diversified, I think, crews that we've had in a really, really long time," NASA's space operations mission chief Kathy Lueders said on the eve of launch.
Solar beats nuclear at many potential settlement sites on Mars
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:48The high efficiency, light weight and flexibility of the latest solar cell technology means photovoltaics could provide all the power needed for an extended mission to Mars, or even a permanent settlement there, according to a new analysis by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley.
Most scientists and engineers who've thought about the logistics of living on the surface of the Red Planet have assumed that nuclear power is the best alternative, in large part because of its reliability and 24/7 operation. In the past decade, miniaturized Kilopower nuclear fission reactors have advanced to the point where NASA considers them to be a safe, efficient and plentiful source of energy and key to future robotic and human exploration.
SpaceX set to launch its latest crew to ISS for NASA
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:42Days after a SpaceX Dragon capsule crewed by wealthy adventurers splashed down off Florida's coast, another is set to launch Wednesday, this time for a NASA mission to the International Space Station. With weather appearing favorable, the Crew-4 mission should blast off from the Kennedy Space Center at 3:52 am (0752 GMT), carrying Americans Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins, as w
NASA's moon rocket, spacecraft return for repair after scrubbed test
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:42NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission arrived safely at Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida, the agency said Tuesday. The SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft arrived at the assembly building after a 10-hour journey from launch pad 39B that began Monday morning, NASA confirmed. Crews will now extend the work platforms
NASA Chief expects cooperation with Russia on ISS to continue
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:42NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on Thursday that he has full confidence Russia will extend its cooperation with the United States on the International Space Station (ISS) based on the continuing close cooperation and warm personal relations between crews from both countries and their control teams back on earth. "I see the friendliness between the two crews. I have that confidence that
Back Through the Buttes! Sols 3456-3457
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:42Our weekend drive brought us successfully to our planned stop. The priority in this Touch and Go drive plan is to image the buttes which surround us. Mastcam will image "Blackcraig" and "Maringma" buttes which lie on our left and right respectively as we continue to head down from the pediment, and "Deepdale" butte which is ahead of us in the distance. Although we have imaged Blackcraig an
Enigmatic rocks on Mars show evidence of a violent origin
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:42Determining the history of Mars, how it formed and evolved over time, has been a goal of both orbiter and rover missions to the Red Planet for decades. Analyzing data from several of these Mars missions, a team of researchers led by Steve Ruff of Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration has determined that enigmatic olivine-rich bedrock in Gusev crater and in and around J
Chinese research institutions set to receive 4th batch of lunar samples
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:42China has announced a list of research institutions that are set to receive the fourth batch of lunar samples brought back by the country's Chang'e-5 mission. The samples, which weigh 8.768 grams, will be distributed to scientists at 11 research institutions, according to a notice issued by the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration. The
Microrobot collectives display versatile movement patterns
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:42Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS), Cornell University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have developed collectives of microrobots which can move in any desired formation. The miniature particles are capable of reconfiguring their swarm behavior quickly and robustly. Floating on the surface of water, the versatile microrobotic discs can go round in circles,
Carbon dioxide glaciers are moving at the Martian south pole
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:42Glaciers of carbon dioxide are moving, creating deposits kilometers thick today across the south polar region of Mars, something that could have been going on more than 600,000 years, a paper by Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Isaac Smith says. "The CO2 deposits that were first identified in 2011 turn out to be flowing today, just like glaciers on Earth," said Smith, lead au
Scientists find DNA's code for life in meteorites
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:42New evidence found in meteorites suggests the ingredients for life came from space. Scientists at NASA and in Japan confirmed Tuesday they found all five key building blocks of DNA and RNA in space rocks that fell to Earth within the last 100 years, according to research published in the journal Nature Communications. Astrochemist Daniel Glavin at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Cent
NASA Chief slams China's refusal to cooperate with US
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:42China continues to display a lack of transparency and willingness to cooperate with the United States and other countries in space, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on Tuesday. "We want cooperation that has not been forthcoming from the Chinese government (but) it takes two to tango," Nelson told a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "We simply haven't had any trans
NASA selects investigation teams to join Geospace Dynamics Mission
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:42NASA has selected three investigation teams to join the agency's Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) mission science team in studying Earth's upper atmosphere, as well as five additional investigations that will be under consideration for inclusion in the mission. GDC is a coordinated group of satellites that will provide the first direct global measurements of the dynamic and complex re
UAE vows 'responsible' artificial intelligence rollout
Wednesday, 27 April 2022 06:42The world's first minister for artificial intelligence says the United Arab Emirates isn't only looking for economic benefits as it seeks to become a leading nation in the sector. The UAE's minister of state for AI, Omar bin Sultan al-Olama, said "quality of life" considerations were key, and also stressed the importance of a "responsible" rollout - with impacts potentially reverberating fo
Dixon calls for greater transparency and data interoperability
Tuesday, 26 April 2022 22:41Russia's invasion of Ukraine is underscoring the need to fuse intelligence datasets, like geospatial intelligence, signals intelligence, human intelligence, said Stacey Dixon, U.S. deputy director of national intelligence.
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