Copernical Team
Wednesday, 29 December 2021 06:07
Webb Telescope Aft Sunshield Pallet Deployed
Washington DC (SPX) Dec 29, 2021
Webb is beginning to resemble the form it will take when it is fully deployed - now that the mission operations team has successfully deployed and latched into place the observatory's forward and aft Unitized Pallet Structures.
The team began working through the deployment of the forward pallet this morning, concluding at approximately 1:21 p.m. EST. The team then moved on to the aft palle
Webb is beginning to resemble the form it will take when it is fully deployed - now that the mission operations team has successfully deployed and latched into place the observatory's forward and aft Unitized Pallet Structures.
The team began working through the deployment of the forward pallet this morning, concluding at approximately 1:21 p.m. EST. The team then moved on to the aft palle
Published in
News
Tagged under
Tuesday, 28 December 2021 15:32
99 objects telling tales from ESA's technical heart
From simulated moondust to an ultraflat floor, a 3D-printed human bone to a wall decoration that once flew on the Hubble Space Telescope, the new 99 Objects of ESA ESTEC website gives visitors a close-up view of intriguing, often surprising artifacts assembled together to tell the story of ESA's technical heart.
"Objects are what matter," famed anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss once wrote. "Only they carry the evidence that throughout the centuries something really happened among human beings." So what manner of objects come out of more than half a century of activity at Europe's biggest space center?
The European Space Research and Technology Centre, ESTEC, is ESA's singe largest establishment, based on the North Sea coast at Noordwijk in the Netherlands.
Often described as the technical heart of ESA, ESTEC is where most ESA projects are born and where they are guided through the various phases of development.
Published in
News
Tagged under
Tuesday, 28 December 2021 11:24
UK firm closer to offering global internet via satellites
Moscow (AFP) Dec 27, 2021
A Russian Soyuz rocket on Monday took 36 more satellites from British operator OneWeb into orbit, bringing the company more than halfway towards its goal of providing global broadband internet.
The London-headquartered company is working to complete the construction of a constellation of low earth orbit satellites providing enhanced broadband and other services to countries around the planet
A Russian Soyuz rocket on Monday took 36 more satellites from British operator OneWeb into orbit, bringing the company more than halfway towards its goal of providing global broadband internet.
The London-headquartered company is working to complete the construction of a constellation of low earth orbit satellites providing enhanced broadband and other services to countries around the planet
Published in
News
Tagged under
Tuesday, 28 December 2021 11:24
China slams US after space station 'close encounters' with Musk's satellites
Beijing (AFP) Dec 28, 2021
Beijing on Tuesday accused the United States of irresponsible and unsafe conduct in space over two "close encounters" between the Chinese space station and satellites operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Tiangong, China's new space station, had to manoeuvre to avoid colliding with one Starlink satellite in July and with another in October, according to a note submitted by Beijing to the United Na
Beijing on Tuesday accused the United States of irresponsible and unsafe conduct in space over two "close encounters" between the Chinese space station and satellites operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Tiangong, China's new space station, had to manoeuvre to avoid colliding with one Starlink satellite in July and with another in October, according to a note submitted by Beijing to the United Na
Published in
News
Tagged under
Tuesday, 28 December 2021 11:24
Tracking down the forces that shaped our solar system's evolution
Washington DC (SPX) Dec 28, 2021
Meteorites are remnants of the building blocks that formed Earth and the other planets orbiting our Sun. Recent analysis of their isotopic makeup led by Carnegie's Nicole Nie and published in Science Advances settles a longstanding debate about the geochemical evolution of our Solar System and our home planet.
In their youth, stars are surrounded by a rotating disk of gas and dust. Over ti
Meteorites are remnants of the building blocks that formed Earth and the other planets orbiting our Sun. Recent analysis of their isotopic makeup led by Carnegie's Nicole Nie and published in Science Advances settles a longstanding debate about the geochemical evolution of our Solar System and our home planet.
In their youth, stars are surrounded by a rotating disk of gas and dust. Over ti
Published in
News
Tagged under
Tuesday, 28 December 2021 11:24
Wandering celestial bodies provide a glimpse into the formation of stars and planets
Vienna, Austria (SPX) Dec 28, 2021
The nature of free-floating planets (FFPs) is still mysterious. FFPs might originate in two ways: they either form on their own, like stars, through the gravitational collapse of small clouds of gas, or they form like planets around stars and then get stripped off from their stellar systems. Until now it was hard to investigate which formation mechanism is more likely, as a large homogenous samp
The nature of free-floating planets (FFPs) is still mysterious. FFPs might originate in two ways: they either form on their own, like stars, through the gravitational collapse of small clouds of gas, or they form like planets around stars and then get stripped off from their stellar systems. Until now it was hard to investigate which formation mechanism is more likely, as a large homogenous samp
Published in
News
Tagged under
Tuesday, 28 December 2021 11:24
Astronomers Detect Signature of Magnetic Field on an Exoplanet
Tucson AZ (SPX) Dec 28, 2021
An international team of astronomers used data from the Hubble Space Telescope to discover the signature of a magnetic field in a planet outside our solar system. The finding, described in a paper in the journal Nature Astronomy, marks the first time such a feature has been seen on an exoplanet.
A magnetic field best explains the observations of an extended region of charged carbon particl
An international team of astronomers used data from the Hubble Space Telescope to discover the signature of a magnetic field in a planet outside our solar system. The finding, described in a paper in the journal Nature Astronomy, marks the first time such a feature has been seen on an exoplanet.
A magnetic field best explains the observations of an extended region of charged carbon particl
Published in
News
Tagged under
Tuesday, 28 December 2021 11:24
ESO telescopes help uncover largest group of rogue planets yet
Munich, Germany (SPX) Dec 28, 2021
"We did not know how many to expect and are excited to have found so many," says Nuria Miret-Roig, an astronomer at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux, France and the University of Vienna, Austria, and the first author of the new study published in Nature Astronomy.
Rogue planets, lurking far away from any star illuminating them, would normally be impossible to image. However, Mir
"We did not know how many to expect and are excited to have found so many," says Nuria Miret-Roig, an astronomer at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux, France and the University of Vienna, Austria, and the first author of the new study published in Nature Astronomy.
Rogue planets, lurking far away from any star illuminating them, would normally be impossible to image. However, Mir
Published in
News
Tagged under
Tuesday, 28 December 2021 11:24
Billions of starless planets haunt dark cloud cradles
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 28, 2021
In Lovecraftian horror, the Universe is filled with "dark planets" ungraced by the light of a host star. New research shows that reality might be even scarier. An international team composed of French, Japanese, and Spanish astronomers has found about 100 planets floating freely in space rather than orbiting stars. Extrapolating this sample to the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy suggests that there
In Lovecraftian horror, the Universe is filled with "dark planets" ungraced by the light of a host star. New research shows that reality might be even scarier. An international team composed of French, Japanese, and Spanish astronomers has found about 100 planets floating freely in space rather than orbiting stars. Extrapolating this sample to the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy suggests that there
Published in
News
Tagged under
Tuesday, 28 December 2021 11:24
Earth and Mars were formed from inner Solar System material
Munster, Germany (SPX) Dec 28, 2021
Earth and Mars were formed from material that largely originated in the inner Solar System; only a few percent of the building blocks of these two planets originated beyond Jupiter's orbit. A group of researchers led by the University of Munster (Germany) report these findings in the journal "Science Advances".
They present the most comprehensive comparison to date of the isotopic composit
Earth and Mars were formed from material that largely originated in the inner Solar System; only a few percent of the building blocks of these two planets originated beyond Jupiter's orbit. A group of researchers led by the University of Munster (Germany) report these findings in the journal "Science Advances".
They present the most comprehensive comparison to date of the isotopic composit
Published in
News
Tagged under