Pasadena CA (JPL) May 12, 2022
Though climate change is driving sea level rise over time, researchers also believe that differences in surface height from place to place in the ocean can affect Earth's climate. These highs and lows are associated with currents and eddies, swirling rivers in the ocean, that influence how it absorbs atmospheric heat and carbon. Enter the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission,

Lund, Sweden (SPX) May 16, 2022
A research team led by Lund University in Sweden has investigated a meteorite from Mars using neutron and X-ray tomography. The technology, which will probably be used when NASA examines samples from the Red Planet in 2030, showed that the meteorite had limited exposure to water, thus making life at that specific time and place unlikely. In a cloud of smoke, NASA's spacecraft Perseverance

Washington DC (Sputnik) May 16, 2022
Boeing's new CST-100 Starliner is set to fly to the ISS on May 19 atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Florida, with the company hoping to demonstrate to NASA that the spacecraft is safe to transport astronauts to and from the orbiting outpost. Previous uncrewed tests were postponed multiple times due to various issues. Boeing and its supplier, Aerojet Rocketdyne, are blaming each other for a major

Jiuquan (XNA) May 16, 2022
The launch of the fourth SQX-1 commercial carrier rocket on Friday was unsuccessful. Abnormal performance was identified during the flight of the rocket, which lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 3:09 p.m. (Beijing Time). The cause of the failure is under investigation, the launch center said in a statement. span class="BDL">Source: Xinhua

Moscow (Sputnik) May 16, 2022
Susan Helms, a former NASA astronaut and a member of the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, has said that the International Space Station's (ISS) partnership with Russia is experiencing some "administrative difficulties" due to Western sanctions imposed on the country over its military operation in Ukraine. "The geopolitical sanctions that have been levied on Russia that we've seen happ

Washington DC (SPX) May 16, 2022
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is issuing a license to the Huntsville-Madison Airport Authority in Alabama to operate the Huntsville International Airport (HSV) as a commercial space reentry site. The license permits the airport to offer its site for Sierra Space Dream Chaser vehicles returning to Earth from future NASA resupply missions to th

Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) May 16, 2022
Teams at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida continue to work on the main tasks needed to prepare the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft to return to launch pad 39B for the next wet dress rehearsal attempt. After re-tightening the flange bolts on the tail service mast umbilical lines to address a hydrogen leak identified during the previous wet dress rehearsal, engine

Melbourne, Australia (SPX) May 16, 2022
A study led by a Monash University geologist has provided fresh evidence for when high rates of erosion occurred throughout the history of Mars. The findings, published in Geology date when climate was far more erosive in Mars' past - with the implication that there were sustained periods of time when liquid water moved across the planet's surface. Scientists have long been keen to u

Milton Keynes UK (JPL) May 13, 2022
We drove just over 30 metres in the last plan, reaching today's location. If you look closely at the last blog's image you can locate the block in front of us today in the distance of that image. But it's tricky if you are not used to looking at landscapes in different perspectives. The almost rectangular block in the upper middle of today's navigation camera image can be seen in the upper

Tucson AZ (SPX) May 16, 2022
After mobilizing more than 300 scientists and engineers to establish a network of synchronized telescopes that form an Earth-sized virtual telescope, the international Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration snapped the first-ever images of supermassive black holes. The first image, of the black hole at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, was released in 2019. The latest image, released Thu