Copernical Team
You can help train NASA's rovers to better explore Mars
Members of the public can now help teach an artificial intelligence algorithm to recognize scientific features in images taken by NASA's Perseverance rover.
Artificial intelligence, or AI, has enormous potential to change the way NASA's spacecraft study the universe. But because all machine learning algorithms require training from humans, a recent project asks members of the public to label features of scientific interest in imagery taken by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover.
Called AI4Mars, the project is the continuation of one launched last year that relied on imagery from NASA's Curiosity rover. Participants in the earlier stage of that project labeled nearly half a million images, using a tool to outline features like sand and rock that rover drivers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory typically watch out for when planning routes on the Red Planet.
Announcement of opportunity to fly payloads on ESA’s Space Rider
ESA is offering the opportunity for payloads to ride on board the first return flight, and future flights, to low orbit of its reusable Space Rider. Applications should reach ESA by 30 November.
Pathfinding experiment to study origins of solar energetic particles
A joint NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory experiment dedicated to studying the origins of solar energetic particles—the Sun's most dangerous form of radiation—is ready for launch.
UVSC Pathfinder—short for Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph Pathfinder—will hitch a ride to space aboard STPSat-6, the primary spacecraft of the Space Test Program-3 (STP-3) mission for the Department of Defense. STP-3 is scheduled to lift off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 rocket no earlier than Nov. 22, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
SpaceX needs to tame toilet trouble before weekend launch
SpaceX is taming some toilet troubles in its capsules before it launches four more astronauts.
Floating through the Space Station in 360
ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet takes you on a brief tour of the International Space Station like no other. Filmed with a 360 camera, he floats from Node-3 to Europe’s Columbus laboratory.
Immerse yourself in this brief but unique fly through humankind’s orbital outpost.
Follow Thomas: https://blogs.esa.int/exploration/it/category/astronauts/thomas-pesquet/
Astronomers provide 'Field Guide' to Exoplanets known as Hot Jupiters
Hot Jupiters - giant gas planets that race around their host stars in extremely tight orbits - have become a little bit less mysterious thanks to a new study combining theoretical modeling with observations by the Hubble Space Telescope. While previous studies mostly focused on individual worlds classified as "hot Jupiters" due to their superficial similarity to the gas giant in our own so
Air Force Materiel Command reaches IOC as servicing major command for USSF
The Air Force Materiel Command declared Initial Operational Capability for its support to the U.S. Space Force on Oct. 1, 2021. The IOC milestone means AFMC is well on its way to fully supporting the Space Force as its Servicing Major Command for Space Force-assigned Airmen. The USAF and USSF took a series of steps over the past year in the designation of AFMC as Servicing MAJCOM for the U
AFRL presents results from DSX spacecraft experiments
Fifty scientists from Department of Defense laboratories, industry and research universities met virtually September 22 - 23, to discuss the initial findings from the Air Force Research Laboratory's Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) spacecraft that completed a 23-month mission in May 2021. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate located on Kirtland AFB, hos
AFRL, industry launch revolutionary spacecraft technology
The Air Force Research Laboratory has partnered with ThermAvant Technologies and Maxar Technologies to develop and deploy the next generation of spacecraft thermal control technology. The groundbreaking technology, Oscillating Heat Pipes (OHPs), provides lightweight and highly efficient temperature control on higher power yet smaller spacecraft. The OHP was recently launched in the second
GOP senator wants more cash hypersonic missiles
Earlier this week, Western media alleged that China had carried out a missile test in the summer involving a nuclear-capable hypersonic glide vehicle. Beijing dismissed the claims, saying its test involved reusable rocket technology. On Thursday, the Financial Times reported that the PRC had carried out not one, but two hypersonic missile tests. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has sugges