If we want to visit more asteroids, we need to let the spacecraft think for themselves
Tuesday, 09 April 2024 16:02
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Missions to asteroids have been on a tear recently. Visits by Rosetta, Osirix-REX, and Hayabusa2 have all visited small bodies and, in some cases, successfully returned samples to the Earth. But as humanity starts reaching out to asteroids, it will run into a significant technical problem—bandwidth.
There are tens of thousands of asteroids in our vicinity, some of which could potentially be dangerous. If we launched a mission to collect necessary data about each of them, our interplanetary communication and control infrastructure would be quickly overwhelmed. So why not let our robotic ambassadors do it for themselves—that's the idea behind a new paper published in the Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics and available on the arXiv preprint server from researchers at the Federal University of São Paulo and Brazil's National Institute for Space Research.
The paper primarily focuses on the control problem of what to do when a spacecraft is approaching a new asteroid.
SpaceWERX initiative lends startups a crucial hand in tech validation
Tuesday, 09 April 2024 14:53
Delta eclipse flight: Here's what it was like
Tuesday, 09 April 2024 13:20 Write a comment
At 35,000 feet over the U.S. the air was thick with anticipation and excited chatter as everyone pulled out their phones hoping to get a photo.
Gray shadows entered the blue sky, turning it a rich slate as the moon started to eclipse the sun.
The moment everyone had been waiting for was here—totality.
Before even getting into the air Delta Air Lines treated passengers to an experience. As they arrived at gate E15 at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport for Flight 1010 to Detroit, they were met with a celestial-themed balloon arch, a red carpet and music.
Flight attendants in purple and gray passed out eclipse-viewing glasses the airline produced in collaboration with Warby Parker—paper shades but with blue-and-white star path drawings on the front and "Eyes on the Sky" written inside.
Delta workers wore T-shirts emblazoned with "Climbing the Cosmos," the airline's slogan for the pair of flights from Austin and Dallas that would be in the path of the eclipse 35,000 feet in the air.
People were excited, and the gate party only heightened the anticipation. Most passengers flew to Dallas that morning or the night before just to turn right around, all to experience totality in a way few others could.
Moon's early volcanic activity reshaped by internal movements
Tuesday, 09 April 2024 11:50 Write a comment
Approximately 4.5 billion years ago, a collision between a small planet and the young Earth dispersed molten debris into space, which eventually coalesced to form the moon. This widely accepted theory of lunar formation provides a backdrop to recent discoveries by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, as detailed in a new study in Nature Geoscience. The research underscores s Joint mission by Astrobotic and Mission Control showcases lunar rover tech aboard Griffin-1
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Astrobotic and Mission Control have embarked on a collaborative lunar rover demonstration mission. The mission features Astrobotic's CubeRover, designed for traversing multiple kilometers on planetary surfaces, integrated with Mission Control's Spacefarer operations platform. This integrated system will operate aboard Astrobotic's inaugural Griffin lander mission targeting the lunar south pole. Zenno Astronautics collaborates with Faraday Factory Japan on space-bound superconducting magnets
Tuesday, 09 April 2024 11:50 Write a comment
New Zealand headquartered space-flight systems company Zenno Astronautics (Zenno), a developer of world-first superconducting electromagnets for space applications, and Faraday Factory Japan LLC, the world's leading superconducting tape maker, have partnered to collaborate on the development of bespoke high-temperature superconductor (HTS) magnets for space applications.
Zenno and Faraday UK Space Agency allocates 13 million pounds to international space projects
Tuesday, 09 April 2024 11:50 Write a comment
The UK Space Agency's International Bilateral Fund is focused on supporting the UK space sector to work directly with international partners on exciting and innovative projects. It is funding, amongst others, the University of Strathclyde to work with organisations including MIT and the Alan Turing Institute to use Artificial Intelligence to improve space operations, safety and sustainability. MDA Space Defines The Next Generation Of Robotics With New MDA Skymaker Product Line
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MDA Space (TSX: MDA), a trusted mission partner to the rapidly expanding global space industry, has announced MDA SKYMAKERTM, a new suite of space robotics purpose-built to meet the diverse needs of our customers' most ambitious missions. Unveiled at the Space Symposium conference in Colorado Springs, MDA SKYMAKERTM, the world's leading space robotics technology and services, is now available fo Private space company, Taobao team up to test rocket-powered deliveries
Tuesday, 09 April 2024 11:50 Write a comment
A private Chinese commercial rocket developer, Beijing Sepoch Technology Co, is exploring the use of reusable rocket technology for expedited delivery services in a joint research project with Alibaba's Taobao e-commerce platform.
The first test of cargo recovery from a rocket is planned for this year. If successful, the initiative could enable e-commerce packages to travel intercontinenta Climate warming endangers Antarctic meteorite collection
Tuesday, 09 April 2024 11:50 Write a comment
Using artificial intelligence, satellite observations, and climate model projections, a team of researchers from Switzerland and Belgium calculate that for every tenth of a degree of increase in global air temperature, an average of nearly 9,000 meteorites disappear from the surface of the ice sheet. This loss has major implications, as meteorites are unique samples of extraterrestrial bodies th China, Thailand to cooperate in lunar exploration missions
Tuesday, 09 April 2024 11:50 Write a comment
China and Thailand will cooperate on the exploration and peaceful use of outer space as well as on the International Lunar Research Station, according to two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed Friday in Beijing.
China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation of Thailand signed the two MoUs.
China's Chang'e-7 l 'Spectacular' total eclipse leaves North Americans spellbound
Tuesday, 09 April 2024 11:50 Write a comment
Eclipse mania gripped North America on Monday as a breathtaking celestial spectacle captivated tens of millions of people, offering a rare blend of scientific interest, commercial opportunity and daytime partying.
The Moon's shadow plunged the Pacific coast of Mexico into total darkness at 11:07 am local time (1807 GMT) then swept across the United States at supersonic speed, returning to th Axient establishes subsidiary in the Netherlands to enhance European aerospace and defense presence
Tuesday, 09 April 2024 11:50 Write a comment
Axient LLC (Axient) has announced the opening of its first international office and the establishment of a wholly owned subsidiary, Axient Systems B.V. (Axient Systems), in Delft, Netherlands. This expansion is a part of Axient's ongoing effort to strengthen its relationships with several technical organizations in the Netherlands over the past two years.
These partnerships include a colla SpaceBilt and Phison Skyrocket to International Space Station in 2025
Tuesday, 09 April 2024 11:50 Write a comment
SpaceBilt Inc., has partnered with Phison to fly the Large in Space Server (LiSS), the world's first 100 terabyte plus data storage and edge compute center to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025. The LiSS will be flight qualified on the Japanese Kibo External Facility on the SpaceBD iSEEP platform to ensure its readiness to withstand the space environment. SpaceBilt and partner Novium HawkEye 360 prepares dual satellite clusters for spring SpaceX launch
Tuesday, 09 April 2024 11:50 Write a comment
HawkEye 360 Inc., a prominent defense technology company specializing in space-based radio frequency (RF) data and analytics, has announced the upcoming spring launch of its clusters 8 and 9. This launch marks the company's first simultaneous placement of two satellite clusters into orbit. The six satellites of clusters 8 and 9 will be launched aboard SpaceX's Bandwagon-1 Rideshare mission from