NASA completes launch readiness review for Crew-2 mission
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 20:23
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WASHINGTON — The next commercial crew mission to the International Space Station passed its final review before its scheduled April 22 launch, with weather the only major issue.
At an April 20 briefing, NASA said the Crew-2 mission passed its launch readiness review, the final major review before launch.
AE Industrial Partners’ American Pacific Corp. invests in Frontier Aerospace
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 19:25 Write a comment
SAN FRANCISCO – AE Industrial Partners subsidiary American Pacific Corp. announced a multimillion-dollar investment in Frontier Aerospace, a space propulsion startup based in Simi Valley, California. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Private equity firm AE Industrial Partners has become well known in the space industry since last year when it founded Redwire, a space structures firm growing rapidly through acquisitions that plans to become a publicly traded company through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition corporation.
Astronauts flying reused SpaceX rocket, capsule for 1st time
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 17:55 Write a comment
Astronauts' mental health risks tested in the Antarctic
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 15:57 Write a comment
Astronauts who spend extended time in space face stressors such as isolation, confinement, lack of privacy, altered light-dark cycles, monotony and separation from family. Interestingly, so do people who work at international research stations in Antarctica, where the extreme environment is characterized by numerous stressors that mirror those present during long-duration space exploration.
To better understand the psychological hurdles faced by astronauts, University of Houston professor of psychology Candice Alfano and her team developed the Mental Health Checklist (MHCL), a self-reporting instrument for detecting mental health changes in isolated, confined, extreme (ICE) environments. The team used the MHCL to study psychological changes at two Antarctic stations. The findings are published in Acta Astronautica.
"We observed significant changes in psychological functioning, but patterns of change for specific aspects of mental health differed. The most marked alterations were observed for positive emotions such that we saw continuous declines from the start to the end of the mission, without evidence of a 'bounce-back effect' as participants were preparing to return home," reports Alfano.
Canada budgets for next-generation EO satellites and ground systems
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 13:37 Write a comment
VICTORIA, British Columbia — The Canadian government will fund upgrades to aging ground-based infrastructure for receiving satellite data as well as provide seed money to begin planning for the country’s next generation of Earth observation satellites.
The commitments were in the 2021 federal government budget tabled in the House of Commons on April 19 by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Video: Orbital debris threatens satellites
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 13:25 Write a comment
The launch of Sputnik, humankind's first satellite, in 1957 marked the dawn of a new era for the people of Earth.
Decades later, our planet is now surrounded by spacecraft carrying out extraordinary work to study our changing climate, save lives following disasters, deliver global communication and navigation services and help us answer important scientific questions.
But these satellites are at risk. Accidental collisions between objects in space can produce huge clouds of fast-moving debris. These clouds can spread and damage additional satellites with cascading effect, eventually making the most useful orbits around Earth no longer safe for spacecraft or people.
Satellites today have to carry out collision avoidance maneuvers to avoid possible impact with debris. These are costly, and hundreds of collision avoidance alerts are already issued every week.
And this is nothing compared to what is coming. Several companies have begun to launch mega-constellations into low-Earth orbit to provide global internet access. They have great benefits, but could be a source of huge disruption if we do not change our behavior.
Our current methods for avoiding collisions in space will become inadequate in just a few years—and even compliance with space debris mitigation guidelines may no longer be enough.
Mars: How Ingenuity helicopter made the first flight on another planet
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 12:22 Write a comment
Imagine that you are flying a model helicopter or a drone. You are there with the auto controls. You switch them on. The rotors start to turn, gradually increasing their spin. You watch, then push the control for lift. Your helicopter rises, hovers, then at the next command moves forward. Oops, it didn't go high enough. You quickly move the joystick and the drone rises to fly above the obstruction. Finally it's in the air, moving at speed above sand dunes, hills and valleys—sending back pictures as the landscape unfolds.
Now imagine that you are flying your drone on a planet 180 million kilometers away. It takes 20 minutes for your command to reach the planet—and the pictures you see of what is happening are 20 minutes old. You cannot take evasive or corrective action if anything goes wrong. If it went wrong, it would be too late. This is the type of situation that Nasa's engineers did not wish to experience on the maiden flight of the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars on April 19.
Interview with Frank De Winne on mission Alpha launch
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 12:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:02:29
ESA astronaut and ESA’s International Space Station programme manager Frank de Winne interviewed in Florida, USA, in the run-up to the launch of ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet on his Alpha mission.
Frank was the first European commander of the International Space Station and as ESA celebrates 20 years of Europeans visiting the orbital outpost it is fitting that Frank is in Florida to see Thomas off to space.
French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet is returning to the International Space Station on his second spaceflight. Called ‘Alpha’ the mission will see a European astronaut launch on a US spacecraft for
Russia says to launch own space station in 2025
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 11:19 Write a comment
Russia's space agency said Tuesday it hoped to launch its own orbital station in 2025 as Moscow considers withdrawing from the International Space Station programme to go it alone.
Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said work had begun on the fist module of a new station, after officials warned that Russia was considering pulling out of the ISS, one of the few successful examples of cooperation Jeff Bezos' Amazon signs rocket deal to launch network to rival SpaceX
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 11:19 Write a comment
Amazon's plans to build the Kuiper Project satellite Internet service to rival SpaceX's Starlink now have a launch provider, Colorado-based United Launch Alliance.
Amazon has contracted with ULA for nine launches, the online retail giant said, but it didn't say when launches will occur.
"Those details will be released closer to launch," ULA spokeswoman Jessica Rye said in an emai NASA's Mars helicopter succeeds in historic first flight
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 11:19 Write a comment
NASA successfully flew its mini helicopter Ingenuity on Mars early Monday, the first powered flight on another planet and a feat the agency likened to "our Wright brothers moment."
The four pound (1.8 kilogram) rotorcraft lifted off at 3:34 am Eastern Time (0734 GMT), rose to a height of 10 feet (three meters), swiveled its tissue-box sized body, swayed in a gentle Martian breeze and then to NASA Crew 2 science payload to carry human tissue growth studies to ISS
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 11:19 Write a comment
NASA's Crew 2 payload is scheduled to carry several important science experiments to the International Space Station this week.
During a press briefing on Monday, investigators detailed several of the experiments slated to make the trip to ISS.
Several of the experiments involve the growth of biological tissues in 3D, which can allow scientists to study the development and behavi Tracking the progress of fusion power through 60 years of neutral particle analysis
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 11:19 Write a comment
As the world's energy demands grow, so too does growing concern over the environmental impact of power production. The need for a safe, clean, and reliable energy source has never been clearer. Fusion power could fulfil such a need.
A review paper published in EPJ H examines the 6-decade history of neutral particle analysis (NPA), developed in Ioffe Institute, Saint Petersburg, Russia, a v Spotting greenhouse gas super-emitters
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 11:19 Write a comment
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California is providing the instrument that will enable a nonprofit organization called Carbon Mapper to pinpoint and measure methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) point-sources from space.
The data collected by the instrument will help to find super-emitters - the small percentage of individual sources that are responsible for a significant fraction Peering through the clouds of Earth's 'Evil Twin'
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 11:19 Write a comment
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory scientists were recently left scratching their heads over a familiar sight in the sky. Venus images are nothing new, but a solar probe surprised the researchers by seeing through the planet's clouds. NRL's Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) took a stunning image of Earth's celestial neighbor Venus last year that left researchers searching for answers