Copernical Team
How astronauts can do laundry during space mission
The main goal is to solve the issue of astronauts having to get rid of tonnes of clothes every year, which is then placed in the trash and burned in the atmosphere. Tide is now collaborating with NASA to develop a laundry detergent tailor-made for astronauts to clean their dirty clothes while aboard the International Space Station (ISS). This comes as Tide's parent company, Procter and Gamble (P
How does China's urine recycling system work in space
Storing basic life support materials like water, food and oxygen aboard a space station can be challenging - so much so that some are generated aboard rather than delivered to space. Chinese scientists have devised a system to recycle water from the urine, breath and sweat produced by astronauts in space, which could save up to 100 million yuan (about 15.5 million U.S. dollars) over a peri
Benchmark unveils in-space mobility service to unlock OSAM innovations
Benchmark Space Systems, a leading provider of in-space mobility products and services, has announced a breakthrough in-space mobility service that virtually eliminates upfront propulsion equipment costs and boosts on-orbit, servicing, assembly and manufacturing (OSAM) mission revenues by allowing satellite operators and service providers to pay as they go for in-space transport. SCOUT, an
Life in these star-systems could have spotted Earth
Scientists at Cornell University and the American Museum of Natural History have identified 2,034 nearby star-systems - within the small cosmic distance of 326 light-years - that could find Earth merely by watching our pale blue dot cross our sun. That's 1,715 star-systems that could have spotted Earth since human civilization blossomed about 5,000 years ago, and 319 more star-systems that
NASA, Nelson push for annual moon landings for 'a dozen years'
NASA needs crewed lunar landings every year for "a dozen years," the agency's administrator, Bill Nelson, said in a House of Representatives committee hearing Wednesday. Nelson, who became administrator May 3, said Congress hasn't appropriated enough money for the nation's coming lunar aspirations. "We want to have these sustained landings over a dozen years, and that's gonna cos
Europe seeks disabled astronauts, more women in space
Less metal, more X-rays: New research unlocks key to high luminosity of black holes
A recent article published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, led by Dr. Kostas Kouroumpatzakis, of the Institute of Astrophysics at the Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas (IA-FORTH), and the University of Crete, provides new insights into the connection between the X-ray luminosity of accreting black holes and neutron stars and the composition of the stellar populations they are associated with.
Image: Jezero Crater's 'Delta scarp'
Video: Simulating atmospheric reentry in a plasma wind tunnel
Simulating the burn-up during atmospheric reentry of one of the bulkiest items aboard a typical satellite using a plasma wind tunnel.
This Solar Array Drive Mechanism (SADM) has the essential task of keeping a satellite's solar wings trained on the Sun, maintaining mission operations.
But its bulky nature presents a problem in terms of space debris guidelines. When a spacecraft reenters on an uncontrolled basis, the spacecraft operator has to prove that the on-ground casualty risk posed by its satellite is lower than 1 in 10 000.
So last year SADM manufacturer Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace (KDA) started an investigation supported by ESA, Hyperschall Technologie Göttingen GmbH (HTG) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to demonstrate the 'desmisability' of one of its satellite products.
They began by modeling such a reentry using ESA's dedicated SCARAB (Spacecraft Atmospheric Reentry and Aerothermal Break-up) software and comparable resources, tweaking the SADM by switching one screw to lower-melting-point alumimium to promote an earlier, higher-altitude breakup.
Media briefing on ESA's astronaut selection
Want to learn more about applications to ESA’s astronaut selection? Watch the replay of this media briefing to get an insight into the total number and spread of applications across all ESA Member and Associate Member states. Vacancies for the positions of astronaut and astronaut (with a physical disability) have closed on 18 June 2021, after a two-and-a-half-month-long application period.