Global Initiative by Astronomers Without Borders to Recycle Eclipse Glasses
Thursday, 28 March 2024 20:55
In a significant global outreach effort, Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) is spearheading a campaign to gather gently-used solar eclipse glasses across North America, aiming to redistribute them to underprivileged communities and educational institutions worldwide for upcoming solar eclipses. This initiative is set against the backdrop of the April 8 total solar eclipse that will enchant millio Large language models use a surprisingly simple mechanism to retrieve some stored knowledge
Thursday, 28 March 2024 20:55
Large language models, such as those that power popular artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT, are incredibly complex. Even though these models are being used as tools in many areas, such as customer support, code generation, and language translation, scientists still don't fully grasp how they work.
In an effort to better understand what is going on under the hood, researchers at Mira Aerospace and VEDA Aeronautics Partner to Launch Specialized HAPS Technology in India
Thursday, 28 March 2024 20:55
Mira Aerospace, a joint venture between Bayanat and UAVOS for High Altitude Pseudo Satellites (HAPS) development, and VEDA Aeronautics, a front-runner in Unmanned Systems within the Indian Aerospace and Defence sector , have unveiled a strategic partnership. This collaboration aims to introduce the advanced ApusNeo HAPS technology, tailored specifically for India's unique needs, to serve both de New Satellite Technology Maps Coastal Depths with Enhanced Precision
Thursday, 28 March 2024 20:55
In a significant advancement for marine navigation and environmental research, a team of Korean scientists has developed a novel satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) model employing machine learning to estimate coastal water depths with increased accuracy. This development addresses longstanding challenges in bathymetric surveys such as high costs and geographical constraints, marking an important Satellite firms cautiously optimistic as DoD boosts funding to integrate commercial satcom
Thursday, 28 March 2024 20:37
China appears to be trying to save stricken spacecraft from lunar limbo
Thursday, 28 March 2024 19:58
Japanese lunar lander company ispace raises $53.5 million in stock sale
Thursday, 28 March 2024 19:21
Mercury could be the perfect destination for a solar sail
Thursday, 28 March 2024 17:36
Solar sails rely upon pressure exerted by sunlight on large surfaces. Get the sail closer to the sun and, not surprisingly, efficiency increases. A proposed new mission called Mercury Scout aims to take advantage of this to explore Mercury. The mission will map the Mercurian surface down to a resolution of 1 meter and, using the highly reflective sail surface to illuminate shadowed craters, could hunt for water deposits.
Unlike conventional rocket engines that require fuel which itself adds weight and subsequently requires more fuel, solar sails are far more efficient. Light falling upon the sail can propel a prob across space. It's a fascinating concept that goes back to the 1600s when Johannes Kepler suggested the idea to Galileo Galilei. It wasn't until the beginning of the 21st Century that the Planetary Society created the Cosmos 1 solar sail spacecraft. It launched in June 2005 but a failure meant it never reached orbit. The first successfully launched solar sail was Ikaros, launched by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency it superbly demonstrated the feasibility of the technology.
NASA's mission to an ice-covered moon will contain a message between water worlds
Thursday, 28 March 2024 17:10
NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft, headed to Jupiter's ice-covered moon Europa in October 2024, will carry a laser-etched message that celebrates humanity's connection to water. The message pays homage to past NASA missions that carried similar messages.
As the president of Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or METI, International, I helped design the message on Clipper with two fellow members of our board of directors: linguists Sheri Wells-Jensen and Laura Buszard-Welcher. METI International is a scientific organization dedicated to transmitting powerful radio messages to extraterrestrial life.
We collected audio recordings in 103 languages, and we decided how to convert these into waveforms that show these sounds visually. Colleagues from NASA etched these waveforms into the metal plate that shields the spacecraft's sensitive electronics from Jupiter's harsh radiation.
Small satellite launch advances comms experimentation, international collaboration
Thursday, 28 March 2024 16:43
In the dark, early morning sky of March 21 over NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility on the Virginia coast, a Rocket Lab Electron rocket carried a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) manifest featuring three collaborative research missions into low-Earth orbit—including the latest piece of home-grown space hardware from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS).
Led by Associate Research Professors Dr.
Connecting the Dots | Making light work of space junk removal
Thursday, 28 March 2024 15:21
NASA's attempt to bring home part of Mars is unprecedented: The mission's problems are not
Thursday, 28 March 2024 15:00
Massive cost overruns. Key deadlines slipping out of reach. Problems of unprecedented complexity, and a generation's worth of scientific progress contingent upon solving them.
That's the current state of Mars Sample Return, the ambitious yet imperiled NASA mission whose rapidly ballooning budget has cost jobs at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge and drawn threats of cancellation from lawmakers.
But not all that long ago, those same dire circumstances described the James Webb Space Telescope, the pioneering infrared scope that launched on Christmas Day 2021.
The biggest space telescope ever has so far proved to be a scientific and public relations victory for NASA. The telescope's performance has surpassed all expectations, senior project scientist Jane Rigby said at a meeting recently.
Its first images were so hotly anticipated that the White House scooped NASA's announcement, releasing a dazzling view of thousands of galaxies the day before the space agency shared the first batch of pictures. Thousands of researchers have since applied for observation time.
"The world has been rooting for this telescope to succeed," Rigby told the National Academies' committee on astronomy and astrophysics.
Bedtime routine for space
Thursday, 28 March 2024 14:57
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Bedtime routine for space Texas county issues disaster declaration for solar eclipse, expects 200K people
Thursday, 28 March 2024 14:40
A North Texas county issued a disaster declaration ahead of the April 8 solar eclipse, warning of traffic and potential gridlock as the celestial event ends.
Kaufman County Judge Jakie Allen issued the declaration Wednesday due to "projected and expected number of visitors," according to a news release from the county's Office of Emergency Management. County officials are expecting 200,000 people in attendance—nearly double its population—to view the total eclipse as Kaufman and Terrell are in the path of totality.
"The dramatic increase in population, even for a short time, will greatly impact our public safety agencies, taxing their ability to respond to calls," officials wrote in a release announcing the declaration.
For several months, law enforcement, fire, emergency response agencies and many others had held meetings to prepare for the eclipse, with their greatest concern being traffic and gridlock. The declaration will last four days from April 5 until April 9.
Allen has also sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott requesting a state disaster declaration to make additional resources available if needed, officials wrote in the release.
Hancom InSpace orders more Spire satellites with Hancom-2 in limbo
Thursday, 28 March 2024 13:51
