What's it Like to Spacewalk?
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 11:56
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Spacewalks occur in the vacuum of deep space, but astronauts are tethered to their spacecraft if they exit an orbiting space station, space module, or spacecraft. Inside a spaceship, conditions are well suited to humans. Outside, in space, it's an entirely different story. The frigid vacuum of space presents deadly risks. Earth scientists take flight, set sail to verify PACE satellite data
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 11:56 Write a comment
From sea to sky to orbit, a range of vantage points allow NASA Earth scientists to collect different types of data to better understand our changing planet. Collecting them together, at the same place and the same time, is an important step used to verify the accuracy of satellite data.
NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite launched in February 2024 and is colle Astroscale and ClearSpace get funds to advance double satellite de-orbit mission
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 10:56
Amid Boeing's Starliner troubles, WA space industry thrives
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 10:47 Write a comment
It'd be reasonable to think Washington's space economy has a lot riding on Boeing's Starliner, the spacecraft that left two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station and headed back to Earth with an empty cabin Friday.
The astronauts were scheduled to return on Starliner in June after a week on the ISS, but thruster failures and helium leaks on the way there made NASA decide a trip back on the Boeing spacecraft was too risky. Boeing's troubles with Starliner date back years, including a flawed, unmanned test flight in 2019 that had to be repeated in 2022.
But, outside of some classified satellite jobs that pop up in South King County, Boeing's efforts in the Seattle area are largely centered on its commercial airplane business, according to industry experts. Instead, the biggest players in the Seattle area's space industry are Amazon, Blue Origin and SpaceX.
"The Seattle space ecosystem is small but mighty because we have companies here that cover the entire space supply chain," said Stan Shull, founder of space technology consulting firm Alliance Victory.
Shull said there are the space and tech giants like SpaceX and Amazon manufacturing thousands of satellites in their Starlink and Project Kuiper divisions, respectively, and Blue Origin with its rocket engines and spacecraft.
Report highlights severe infrastructure challenges at NASA
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 10:12
Landspace completes 10-kilometer reusable rocket test, eyes 2025 orbital launch
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 09:24
Below the surface - ExoMars Rosalind Franklin mission
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 07:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:04:29
Watch the second episode of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission – Europe’s ambitious exploration journey to search for past and present signs of life on Mars.
This episode starts with Rosalind searching for traces of life below the martian surface using a ground penetrating radar and a set of cameras.
The rover will dig, collect, and investigate the chemical composition of material collected by a drill. Rosalind Franklin will be the first rover to reach a depth of up to two metres deep below the surface, acquiring samples that have been protected from surface radiation and extreme temperatures.
Weak gravitational lensing: how Euclid maps dark matter
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 07:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:04:11
ESA's Euclid mission is surveying the sky to explore the composition and evolution of the dark Universe. But how can Euclid see the invisible? Watch this video to learn about the light-bending effect that enables scientists to trace how dark matter is distributed in the Universe.
By making use of Euclid’s flagship simulation, the video illustrates how dark-matter filaments subtly alter the shape of galaxies. Light travelling to us from vastly distant galaxies is bent and distorted by concentrations of matter along its way. The effect is called gravitational lensing because matter (both ‘normal’ and dark matter) acts
Voyager 1 team accomplishes tricky thruster swap
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 06:39 Write a comment
Engineers working on NASA's Voyager 1 probe have successfully mitigated an issue with the spacecraft's thrusters, which keep the distant explorer pointed at Earth so that it can receive commands, send engineering data, and provide the unique science data it is gathering.
After 47 years, a fuel tube inside the thrusters has become clogged with silicon dioxide, a byproduct that appears with age from a rubber diaphragm in the spacecraft's fuel tank. The clogging reduces how efficiently the thrusters can generate force. After weeks of careful planning, the team switched the spacecraft to a different set of thrusters.
The thrusters are fueled by liquid hydrazine, which is turned into gases and released in tens-of-milliseconds-long puffs to gently tilt the spacecraft's antenna toward Earth.
SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew set for historic private spacewalk
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 06:10 Write a comment
A private crew set out on an audacious orbital expedition Tuesday, journeying deeper into the cosmos than any humans in half a century as they prepare for the first ever spacewalk by non-professional astronauts.
The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, led by Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman, launched early morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and attained its peak altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) later that day.
"Achievement unlocked—apogee 1,400.7 km," SpaceX said on X Tuesday night.
Congress, industry criticize FAA launch licensing regulations
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 02:19
OneWeb launches alternative navigation service amid GPS vulnerability concerns
Tuesday, 10 September 2024 21:26
National lab takes its radiation expertise to space
Tuesday, 10 September 2024 20:05 Write a comment
An experiment designed to answer questions about the radiation environment for manned space missions was launched from Kennedy Space Center today.
For the five-day mission, experiments from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and several other institutions will circle the Earth 435 miles above—nearly twice as high as the International Space Station. Before settling in at that altitude, Polaris Dawn will reach 870 miles, the highest that any person has been since NASA's Apollo program several decades ago.
Who is on SpaceX's historic private spacewalk mission?
Tuesday, 10 September 2024 19:30 Write a comment
Four US civilians are set to attempt the first-ever private spacewalk on Thursday—a risky endeavor usually reserved for trained astronauts from government agencies.
The ambitious mission, dubbed Polaris Dawn, is being carried out on a SpaceX capsule that launched early Tuesday from Florida.
Who are the select few to pioneer this new chapter of space exploration?
Jared Isaacman, billionaire
The driving force behind the mission is Jared Isaacman, a billionaire who serves as mission commander.
The 41-year-old American from Pennsylvania is the CEO of the digital finance company Shift4 Payments, which he founded in his family's basement when he was only 16.
Isaacman is a seasoned pilot who is qualified to fly military aircraft and holds several world records.
He had previously gone into space in 2021 as part of another SpaceX mission he chartered, Inspiration4, which was the first orbital spacecraft to feature no professional astronauts.
SpaceX successfully launches all-civilian crew for historic private spacewalk
Tuesday, 10 September 2024 19:24 Write a comment
SpaceX successfully launched the Polaris Dawn mission early Tuesday morning, marking the beginning of a multiday orbital expedition featuring the first-ever spacewalk conducted by private citizens. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 5:23 a.m. ET from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"Liftoff of Polaris Dawn!" SpaceX announced on X, along with an image of the rocket ascending into the