Carbon dioxide monitoring satellite given the shakes
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 13:25
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A new satellite destined to be Europe’s prime mission for monitoring and tracking carbon dioxide emissions from human activity is being put through its paces at ESA’s Test Centre in the Netherlands. With nations at COP26 pledging net-zero emissions by 2050, the pressure is on to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we pump into the atmosphere – but the race is also on to support the monitoring that shows targets are being met. ESA, the European Commission, Eumetsat and industrial partners are therefore working extremely hard to get the Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring mission ready for liftoff
Weird weather: Metal rain and super-high temperatures on an ultra-hot exoplanet
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 13:07 Write a comment
Ultra-hot Jupiters—named as such because of their physical similarities to the planet Jupiter—are exoplanets that orbit stars other than the sun with temperatures so high that the molecules in their atmospheres are completely torn apart. They are among the most extreme environments in our galaxy.
They also whip around their parent stars in orbits that only last a few days, and astronomers still aren't sure how it's possible for them to form.
While these harsh conditions might sound like they're as extreme as it gets, astronomers are starting to realize they may just be the tip of the (very hot) iceberg. In a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, my colleagues and I discovered that one of these exotic worlds in particular is even more extreme than we'd ever thought.
European software-defined satellite starts service
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 12:28 Write a comment
A telecommunications satellite that can be reprogrammed in-orbit, offering unprecedented mission reconfiguration capacity, has successfully passed its in-orbit acceptance review.
European software-defined satellite ready to start service
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 12:28 Write a comment
A telecommunications satellite that can be reprogrammed in-orbit, offering unprecedented mission reconfiguration capacity, has successfully passed its in-orbit acceptance review.
Momentus makes progress implementing national security agreement
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 11:25 Write a comment
In-space transportation company Momentus says it’s making progress in implementing a national security agreement that would allow the company to secure the licenses needed for its first mission.
Interview with Thomas Pesquet on return to Earth a second time
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 10:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:04:56
ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet gives a brief interview in Cologne, Germany, less than 48 hours after leaving the International Space Station.
He talks with ESA web TV editor Gaelle Lacroix in French and ESA editor Julien Harrod in English about returning to Earth after his six-month International Space Station mission Alpha, how it feels to splash down in a SpaceX Crew Dragon, and the differences with the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that flew him to space on his first mission, Proxima, in 2017.
After completing two six-month Space Station missions in five years, Thomas recounts the changes he saw while observing
Astronaut training in the land of volcanoes
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 08:25 Write a comment
A team of astronauts, engineers and geologists is travelling to Spain’s Canary Islands, one of Europe’s volcanic hot spots, to learn how to best explore the Moon and Mars during ESA’s Pangaea geological training course.
Crew-3 mission cleared for launch
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 08:19 Write a comment
NASA and SpaceX are ready to proceed with the launch of a commercial crew mission Nov. 10 after overcoming weather and astronaut health issues as well as concerns about the spacecraft’s parachutes.
Satellites detect large methane emissions from Madrid landfills
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 07:30 Write a comment
High-resolution satellites have detected substantial quantities of methane leaking from adjacent landfill sites close to the centre of Madrid, Spain. Using data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P mission combined with GHGSat’s high-resolution commercial imagery, scientists from the SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research and GHGSat discovered both landfill sites combined emitted 8800 kg of methane per hour in August 2021 – the highest observed in Europe by GHGSat.
NASA sending Mars helicopter back to where it all started
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 07:24 Write a comment
NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity has flown for the 15th time on Mars, starting a journey back to its starting point for future missions in a new direction.
The latest flight, over the weekend, was relatively short - at just 128 seconds - and was designed in part to further test flight conditions at Jezero Crater now that summer has arrived.
"Ingenuity opportunistically took ima SwRI, UTSA to study hypersonic separation events with $1.5 million grant
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 07:24 Write a comment
Southwest Research Institute will advance hypersonics research in collaboration with The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) under a three-year, $1.5 million grant through the University Consortium of Applied Hypersonics. As a subcontractor to UTSA, SwRI will design experiments to push the envelope on what is capable with hypersonic system designs and provide methods to better model comple NASA outlines challenges, progress for Artemis Moon Missions
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 07:24 Write a comment
In the first major Artemis update provided under the Biden-Harris Administration, NASA leadership discussed Tuesday the challenges and progress of America's lunar exploration plans and reiterated a long-term commitment to exploring the Moon and sending astronauts to Mars.
The update follows a judge's recent decision to uphold NASA's selection of SpaceX to develop and demonstrate a modern h Isotropic Systems and SES redefine global satellite services with first-ever multi-orbit field tests
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 07:24 Write a comment
Isotropic Systems, the leading developer of transformational multi-link satellite technology, and SES have announced the successful completion of the first-ever simultaneous multi-orbit antenna field tests, a game-changing development empowering a new age of connectivity on land, in the air and at sea for both civil and defense communications.
Isotropic Systems' UK-built multi-link antenna Chinese astronauts' EVAs to help extend mechanical arm
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 07:24 Write a comment
The extravehicular activities (EVAs) carried out by two Chinese astronauts from Sunday evening till early Monday morning will help expand the capabilities of the mechanical arm on the country's space station, said the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).
Astronauts Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping were out of China's space station core module Tianhe by 8:28 p.m. (Beijing Time) Sunday, and Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys Instrument resumes science, investigation continues
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 07:24 Write a comment
The Hubble team successfully recovered the Advanced Camera for Surveys instrument Nov. 7. The instrument has started taking science observations once again. Hubble's other instruments remain in safe mode while NASA continues investigating the lost synchronization messages first detected Oct. 23. The camera was selected as the first instrument to recover as it faces the fewest complications shoul