Copernical Team
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Dunes trapped in a crater on Mars form this interesting pattern
Symmetry in nature is pleasing to look at, and even more so when that symmetry is novel. There's plenty of it to see on Earth, as biological processes have a penchant for patterns. But finding it off-world is trickier, and sometimes more striking. Which is why a picture from HiRISE of some Martian dunes is so spectacular.
The picture was actually taken back in 2010, inside of a crater in Noachis Terra, in the red planet's southern hemisphere, around 38 degrees by -42.5 degrees in latitude / longitude. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE was about 252 km above the planet's surface when it snapped the image, which covers an area of about 25 square kilometers.
Even with that relatively large size, the image still resolves objects that are less than a meter in size. But the most striking feature of the pictures is the similarity between the dunes, which are actually the thin dark lines.
Image: Jupiter antenna that came in from the cold
An instrument destined for Jupiter orbit is checked after completing eight days of cryogenic radio-frequency testing at ESA's ESTEC technical center in the Netherlands.
The Sub-millimeter Wave Instrument of ESA's Juice mission will survey the churning atmosphere of Jupiter and the scanty atmospheres of its Galilean moons.
Testing took place in ESA's custom-built Low-temperature Near-field Terahertz chamber , or Lorentz.
The first chamber of its kind, the 2.8-m diameter Lorentz chamber can perform high-frequency radio-frequency testing in realistic space conditions, combining space-quality vacuum with ultra-low temperatures.
"The successful test of the flight hardware inside Lorentz, follows an intensive commissioning phase." says ESA antenna engineer Paul Moseley. "This demonstration opens up a wide range of testing possibilities for missions to come."
Meanwhile the flight model of the SWI instrument's parent Juice spacecraft has itself reached the ESTEC Test Center, in preparation for a month long thermal vacuum test campaign.
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The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission – Presenting Hera
Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two briefcase-sized Cubesats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos and Dimorphos, an asteroid pair typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth.
Lockheed Martin tests Navy's Hypersonic Strike System
The Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have conducted a significant live fire hypersonic strike system test in support of the U.S. Navy's Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) and U.S. Army's Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) programs.
In this live fire ground test of the first stage solid rocket motor, the motor fired for the full trial duration and met performance parameters and objective MDA test does not intercept target
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, conducted Flight Test Aegis Weapon System 31 Event 1 on May 29, 2021.
The objective of the test was to demonstrate the capability of a ballistic missile defense (BMD)-configured Aegis ship to detect, track, engage and intercept a medium range ballistic missile target with a salvo of two Standard Missile-6 Dual II (BMD-init US Air and Space Forces budget released
The Department of the Air Force released its Fiscal Year 2022 budget proposal, May 28, focusing on investing in people and capability, building the future force and delivering joint lethality and effectiveness.
The Department's $173.7 billion request includes the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force budgets. The Air Force's budget of $156.3 billion is a 2.3% increase and the Space Force's b China's Beidou-related industry estimated to top 1t yuan by 2025
The value of industries related to China's homegrown BeiDou Navigation Satellite System is estimated to exceed 1 trillion yuan (about $156.4 billion) by 2025, said an official with the country's satellite navigation administration.
The figure was revealed by Yang Jun, deputy director of China's Satellite Navigation System Management Office, at the three-day 12th China Satellite Navigation Quark-gluon plasma flows like water, according to new study
What does quark-gluon plasma - the hot soup of elementary particles formed a few microseconds after the Big Bang - have in common with tap water? Scientists say it's the way it flows.
A new study, published in the journal SciPost Physics, has highlighted the surprising similarities between quark-gluon plasma, the first matter thought to have filled the early Universe, and water that comes NASA stacks elements for upper portion of Artemis II Core Stage
NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) team fully stacked three hardware elements together May 24 to form the top of the rocket's core stage for the Artemis II mission. NASA and core stage prime contractor Boeing connected the forward skirt with the liquid oxygen tank and intertank flight hardware inside an assembly area at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
Teams had previously st