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Washington DC (UPI) Mar 23, 2021
Scientists have revealed the global nature of magnetospheric substorms, the space weather phenomena responsible for the Northern Lights. The discovery was made possible by the same algorithms that help social networking sites match like-minded friends. Researchers amassed data on disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field collected by magnetometers positioned all over the Norther
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Washington DC (UPI) Mar 23, 2021
NASA plans to fly its Mars helicopter Ingenuity on the Red Planet - the first powered aircraft flight on another planet - as early as April 8, space agency officials said Tuesday. But first, the helicopter must detach from the bottom of the rover Perseverance in Jezero Crater, where the robotic explorer landed Feb. 18, mission controllers said at a media briefing at the Jet Propulsion
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Beijing (XNA) Mar 24, 2021
The lander and the rover of the Chang'e-4 probe have been switched to dormant mode for the lunar night after working stably for a 28th lunar day, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration. The lander was switched to dormant mode at 2 a.m. Sunday (Beijing Time), and the rover, Yutu-2 (Jade Rabbit-2), at 5:09 p.m. Saturday, said th
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Paris, France (SPX) Mar 24, 2021
Today, at the occasion of the World Meteorological Day, EUMETSAT and Arianespace signed an update of their Launch Services Agreement for two Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellites. Through this updated agreement, Arianespace is confirmed by EUMETSAT to launch the sounder satellite MTG-S1 and the imager satellite MTG-I2 with Ariane 6, the next generation of Ariane family of launchers. T
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Columbia IL (SPX) Mar 24, 2021
Smallsat mission integrator NanoAvionics, which has gained recognition from the industry for its nanosatellite technology in recent years, aims to capture a share of the lucrative microsatellite segment with the first modular microsat bus in the industry, the "MP42". With 10,000 smallsats scheduled to be launched over the next 10 years, NanoAvionics expects to grow fivefold in size across its en
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Littleton CO (SPX) Mar 24, 2021
Omnispace and Lockheed Martin have entered into a strategic interest agreement to explore jointly developing 5G capability from space. The proposed global 5G standards-based non-terrestrial network (NTN) would offer commercial, enterprise and government devices ubiquitous communications worldwide. This type of network has the potential to redefine mobile communications, benefiting users requirin
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Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 24, 2021
In the quest for habitable planets beyond our own, NASA is studying a mission concept called Pandora, which could eventually help decode the atmospheric mysteries of distant worlds in our galaxy. One of four low-cost astrophysics missions selected for further concept development under NASA's new Pioneers program, Pandora would study approximately 20 stars and exoplanets - planets outside of our
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Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 24, 2021
NASA is targeting no earlier than April 8 for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to make the first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. Before the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) rotorcraft can attempt its first flight, however, both it and its team must meet a series of daunting milestones. Ingenuity remains attached to the belly of NASA's Perseverance rover, which to
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Algorithms inspired by social networks reveal lifecycle of substorms, a key element of space weather
Map representing a snapshot of the community structure at onset. Credit: Background map credit: SuperMAG

Space weather often manifests as substorms, where a beautiful auroral display such as the Northern Lights is accompanied by an electrical current in space which has effects at earth that can interfere with and damage power distribution and electrical systems. Now, the lifecycle of these auroral substorms has been revealed using social media-inspired mathematical tools to analyse space weather observations across the Earth's surface.

Analysis by researchers led by the University of Warwick has revealed that these substorms manifest as global-scale systems associated with the spectacular aurora, reaching across over a third of the globe at .

New research which involves the University of Warwick, John Hopkins University—Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Bergen and Cranfield University, and published today in the journal Nature Communications processes data on disturbances in the Earth's from over a hundred magnetometers in the Northern hemisphere using a new technique that enables them to find 'like-minded friends'.

Monday, 22 March 2021 12:27

Image: Mont Mercou on Mars

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Mont Mercou on Mars
Credit: NASA

Here are a few stunning views of the Curiosity Rover's current location, Mont Mercou in Gale Crater on Mars. This towering outcrop provides a great look at layered sedimentary rock structures. On Earth, it's common to find layered rock like the ones within this cliff face, especially where there were once lakes. The pancake-like layers of sediment are compressed and cemented to form a rock record of the planet's history.

This is from one of our favorite image editors, Kevin Gill. He assembled 202 raw images taken by MSL's MastCam between sols 3057 and 3061. You can see Kevin's full mosaic on Flickr.

Gale Crater was specifically chosen as the destination for the Curiosity rover from approximately original 60 candidate sites, because data from orbiting spacecraft determined that Mount Sharp—the big mountain in the middle of the crater—is created from dozens of layers of sedimentary rock, perhaps built over millions of years. These layers are telling the story of Mars' geological and climate history, and planetary geologists are having a field day with Mont Mercou.

And the cadre of image editing enthusiasts around the world have been taking advantage of this amazing rock formation, too.

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