Hubble passes 1-billion-second mark
Thursday, 06 January 2022 13:06On Jan. 1, 2022, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope officially passed the one-billion second mark.
Hubble was deployed from the Space Shuttle Discovery's cargo bay on April 25, 1990, making it one-billion seconds (over 31 years) since Hubble began operating. For more than three decades, Hubble has provided us with groundbreaking scientific discoveries and iconic images of space.
Hubble's first one-billion seconds included five astronaut servicing missions to replace and repair components of the telescope, and more than 1.5 million scientific observations and counting. We can only imagine what discoveries the next one-billion seconds will bring as new telescopes like the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope and the future Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope build upon Hubble's discoveries and work together with Hubble to expand our understanding of the universe.
Explore further
NASA releases autonomous flight termination unit software to industry
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28NASA has provided an advance release of its NASA Autonomous Flight Termination Unit (NAFTU) software code to the launch industry, a critical milestone toward the final certification of NAFTU, which is on-track for February 2022. NAFTU is a game-changing command and control system available to launch vehicle providers for use at all U.S. launch ranges in ensuring public safety during launch
Earth isn't 'super' because the Sun had rings before planets
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28Before the solar system had planets, the sun had rings - bands of dust and gas similar to Saturn's rings - that likely played a role in Earth's formation, according to a new study. "In the solar system, something happened to prevent the Earth from growing to become a much larger type of terrestrial planet called a super-Earth ," said Rice University astrophysicist Andre Izidoro, referring to the
Webb Secondary Mirror Deployment Confirmed
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28The Webb teams has deployed the observatory's secondary mirror support structure. When light from the distant universe hits Webb's iconic 18 gold primary mirrors, it will reflect off and hit the smaller, 2.4-foot (.74-meter) secondary mirror, which will direct the light into its instruments. The secondary mirror is supported by three lightweight deployable struts that are each almost 25 fe
Rogozin says Baikonur security strengthened amid Kazakhstan protests
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28The Russian forces have strengthened armed protection over the Baikonur Cosmodrome's key objects amid rallies in Kazakhstan, Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos Head Dmitry Rogozin said on Wednesday. Rogozin noted that the situation at the Baikonur Cosmodrome is calm as "Roscosmos' branches, law enforcement bodies, city services and organizations are working in the routine mode."
Supernovae and life on Earth appears closely connected
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28Evidence demonstrates a close connection between the fraction of organic matter buried in sediments and changes in supernovae occurrence. This correlation is apparent during the last 3.5 billion years and in closer detail over the previous 500 million years. The correlation indicates that supernovae have set essential conditions under which life on Earth had to exist. This is concluded in
Helping to make nuclear fusion a reality
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28Up until she served in the Peace Corps in Malawi, Rachel Bielajew was open to a career reboot. Having studied nuclear engineering as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, graduate school had been on her mind. But seeing the drastic impacts of climate change play out in real-time in Malawi - the lives of the country's subsistence farmers swing wildly, depending on the rains
North Korea fires suspected ballistic missile into sea
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28North Korea fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile into the sea on Wednesday, South Korea and Japan said, in the first such launch by Pyongyang this year. In the decade since Kim Jong Un took power, North Korea has made rapid progress in its military technology at the cost of international sanctions. The nuclear-armed nation's first apparent weapons launch of 2022 follows a year o
IBCS connects the Joint Force, enabling effects across all domains
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28Northrop Grumman was awarded a five-year contract valued at more than $1 billion from the U.S. Army for low-rate initial production and full-rate production of the Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) on December 23. "IBCS is a centerpiece of the U.S. Army's modernization strategy for air and missile defense to address the changing battlefield," said Mary Petryszyn, corporate vice presi
China will continue to 'modernise' nuclear arsenal: foreign ministry
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28China Tuesday said it will continue to "modernise" its nuclear arsenal and called on the United States and Russia to reduce their stockpiles a day after global powers pledged to prevent such weapons spreading. In a rare joint statement setting aside rising West-East tensions, the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France reaffirmed their goal of creating a world free of atomic weapons
Callisto Technology Demonstration to Fly Aboard Orion for Artemis I
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28Flying on NASA's Orion spacecraft during the uncrewed Artemis I mission will be Callisto, a technology demonstration developed through a reimbursable space act agreement with Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin has partnered with Amazon, and Cisco to bring the Alexa digital assistant and Webex video collaboration aboard Orion's first flight test in deep space. Named after a mythological Greek
Matter and antimatter seem to respond equally to gravity
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28As part of an experiment to measure-to an extremely precise degree-the charge-to-mass ratios of protons and antiprotons, the RIKEN-led BASE collaboration at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, has found that, within the uncertainty of the experiment, matter and antimatter respond to gravity in the same way. Matter and antimatter create some of the most interesting problems in physics today. They ar
China to complete building of space station in 2022
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28China will complete the building of its space station in 2022, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The country will see 40-plus space launches in 2022, including multiple manned space flights, the company said at a recent conference on its plan for the new year. It plans to launch two cargo craft, two Shenzhou spaceships and two laboratory modules of
CASC plans more than 40 space launches for China in 2022
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the country's major space contractor, plans to carry out more than 40 space launch missions this year, according to its annual work report. Among the scheduled launches, the most important ones will be the six related to the Tiangong space station program, according to the report delivered by Xu Qiang, general manager of the State-owned space co
New epoch of miniaturized Cherenkov detectors
Thursday, 06 January 2022 12:28Cherenkov radiation refers to the photon emission from the swift charged particle moves with the velocity greater than the phase velocity of light in the surrounding materials. Ever since its experimental observation by a Soviet physicist P.A. Cherenkov in 1934, Cherenkov radiation has been widely explored and applied in many research fields ranging from cosmology and information, to medical and