Copernical Team
NASA advances solar sail deployment efforts after initial delay
NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) has initiated deployment operations for its innovative solar sail. However, during the initial attempt to unfurl the sail, the process was paused when an onboard power monitor detected higher-than-expected motor currents. Despite this, communications, power, and attitude control for the spacecraft all remain normal. Mission managers are now focu SpaceX Polaris Dawn launch pushed back after helium leak
SpaceX on Monday pushed back the historic launch of an all-civilian crew on an orbital expedition set to mark a new chapter in space exploration with the first spacewalk by private citizens.
The Polaris Dawn mission, organized by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, was set to lift off early Tuesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, but is now targeting early Wednesday after a late techn Solar panels for NASA's Roman Space Telescope pass key tests
China proposes magnetic launch system for sending resources back to Earth
In his famous novel "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," Robert A. Heinlein describes a future lunar settlement where future lunar residents ("Loonies") send payloads of wheat and water ice to Earth using an electromagnetic catapult.
In the story, a group of Loonies conspire to take control of this catapult and threaten to "throw rocks at Earth" unless they recognize Luna as an independent world. Interestingly enough, scientists have explored this concept for decades as a means of transferring lunar resources to Earth someday.
Given that space agencies are planning on sending missions to the moon to create permanent infrastructure, there is renewed interest in this concept. In a recent paper, a team of scientists from China's Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering (SAST) detailed how a magnetic launcher on the lunar surface could provide a cost-effective means of sending resources back to Earth.
Watching Salsa’s reentry live from the sky
On 8 September 2024, the first of four Cluster satellites will return home and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere in an uncontrolled ‘targeted reentry’ over a remote area of the South Pacific Ocean.
In the nearly 70 years of spaceflight about 10 000 intact satellites and rocket bodies have reentered the atmosphere. Yet we still lack a clear view on what actually happens during a reentry.
An airborne observation experiment will now attempt to witness the ‘Salsa’ (Cluster 2) reentry. Scientists on board a small plane will try to collect rare data on how and when a satellite breaks up,
Japan's space agency ends Moon probe operation
Japan's space agency said on Monday it had ended its Moon lander operation after losing communication with the uncrewed spaceship last week.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), dubbed the "Moon Sniper" for its landing precision, touched down eight months ago—making Japan only the fifth nation to achieve a soft lunar landing.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) wrote on X there was no response from the SLIM after trying to communicate last week following three frigid lunar nights or six cold weeks.
"We judged that there was no prospect of restoring communication with SLIM, and at around 22:40 (1340 GMT) on August 23, we sent a command to stop the SLIM activity," JAXA said, nearly a year after launching the operation.
This is ESA: your perfect introduction to what Europe does in space
This is ESA: your perfect introduction to what Europe does in space
NASA rolls out critical rocket part for upcoming manned Artemis II mission
NASA has taken the next critical step in preparing for the launch of its first crewed Artemis space mission, the agency announced Thursday.
On Wednesday, crews rolled out a key piece of space flight hardware, a cone-shaped launch vehicle stage adapter, that will connect the rocket's core stage to its upper one, protecting the engines that will help propel the Artemis II in a test flight SpaceX shows off Dragon capsule for Polaris Dawn flight
SpaceX on \revealed the Crew Dragon capsules that will take part in the Polaris Dawn and Crew-9 astronaut missions on Aug. 27 and Sept. 4.
The capsules were rolled out Wednesday at its processing facility in Florida with SpaceX saying on social media they were "readying for flight."
Polaris Dawn is the first of three private missions paid for by billionaire tech owner Jared Isaac Polaris Dawn team collaborates with MCG physicians to investigate vision loss in space
Physicians at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) at Augusta University are collaborating with the Polaris Dawn mission, part of the Polaris Program's series of human spaceflights, to explore the causes of eye changes that many astronauts experience during space missions. These changes, known as Spaceflight Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS), can result in a range of symptoms from needing