Copernical Team
Russian rocket blasts off carrying Japanese billionaire to the ISS
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A Russian rocket lifted off on Wednesday carrying a Japanese billionaire to the International Space Station, marking the country's return to space tourism after a decade-long pause that saw the rise of competition from privately held US companies.
Online fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa and his production assistant Yozo Hirano blasted off from the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Comet Leonard soon visible to naked eye?
Mirror, mirror, on the Moon
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Mirror, mirror, on the Moon, how far away are you?
MoonLIGHT or Moon Laser Instrumentation for General relativity/geophysics High-accuracy Tests is seeking the answer to this and more questions on general relativity, the gravitational dynamics of the Earth-Moon system and the deep lunar interior.
MoonLIGHT is a laser retroreflector, imaged here, which allows laser beams sent from Earth to be reflected back from the Moon to receivers on our planet. This allows very precise measurement of the distances between the reflector and the ground station.
Known as lunar laser ranging, this technique has been in use since the Apollo missions to investigate
Gemini South telescope catches a one-winged butterfly
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Airbus will build ESA's Ariel exoplanet satellite
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ESA and Airbus have signed a contract to move forward with the design and construction of the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey, Ariel, planned for launch in 2029.
Ariel is the third in a trio of dedicated exoplanet missions conceived by ESA focusing on various aspects of this rapidly evolving subject area. It will follow Cheops, which launched in 2019, and Plato, scheduled for launch in 2026.
Ariel will study the composition of exoplanets, how they formed and how they evolve, by surveying a diverse sample of about 1000 extrasolar planets, simultaneously in visible and infrared wavelengths.
It is the first mission dedicated to measuring the chemical composition and thermal structures of exoplanets, linking them to the host star's environment. This will fill a significant gap in our knowledge of how the planet's chemistry is linked to the environment where it formed, or if and how the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet's evolution.
Hack an ESA spacecraft
JWST – A New View of the Universe
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The world’s next generation cosmic observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, is due for launch on an Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana in late December.
Developed and constructed over more than 30 years, Webb is a remarkable feat of engineering and technology – with the largest astronomical mirror ever flown in space, sophisticated new scientific instruments, and a sunshield the size of a tennis court.
Webb is a joint project between NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency and will reveal the Universe in a whole new light. Optimised for infrared wavelengths, its detectors will be
Japanese tycoon 'excited' ahead of trip to ISS
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Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa said Tuesday he was feeling "excited" ahead of his mission to the International Space Station, which marks Russia's return to space tourism.
Maezawa, a space enthusiast who made his wealth in online fashion, and his production assistant, Yozo Hirano, will spend 12 days on the ISS.
Their Soyuz rocket operated by Russia's Roscosmos space agency will blast off from the Moscow-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
"I feel excited. I'm like an elementary student waiting for a school trip," Maezawa said at a press conference on the eve of the launch.
"I want to see the earth from space.
Exoplanet system artwork
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Exoplanet system artwork ESA’s new and future exoplanet missions
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ESA’s new and future exoplanet missions