Video: We asked a NASA technologist – is there oxygen on Mars?
Monday, 04 October 2021 10:07Is there oxygen on Mars? Technically yes, but it's nothing like the amount we have on Earth. So breathing is out of the question. However, there is a lot of carbon dioxide (CO2) on Mars.
Now, a new technology—MOXIE—has proven that we can convert Martian CO2 into oxygen for use by future explorers. NASA engineer Asad Aboobaker tells us more.
Space technology rocketing upwards, reports IDTechEx
Monday, 04 October 2021 08:17Space. The final frontier, the first step in a journey just beginning, or a horrifying void matched only by your deep fear of the ocean? Whatever your feelings on space, technology has been steadily pushing forwards to take exploration further, faster, and foodier than ever before. Space for seconds? Many people are familiar with the concept of freeze-dried food for astronauts, from
Planets gone rogue could sustain life
Monday, 04 October 2021 08:17A rogue planet is an interstellar object of planetary mass without a host planetary system. As they freely roam around space, could they be fertile nurseries for life? A Florida Tech scientist believes it's possible based on extensive research he has undertaken over the past several years. In research highlighted this summer in Discover Magazine, university astrobiologist Manasvi Lin
NASA readies for future Artemis Moon Missions with rocket engine test series
Monday, 04 October 2021 08:17NASA marked a significant milestone Sept. 30 in its plans for future missions to the Moon and, eventually, Mars with completion of an RS-25 single-engine Retrofit-2 test series at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. A full-duration hot fire of RS-25 developmental engine No. 0528 on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis culminated a seven-test series to support development and pro
Using dunes to interpret wind on Mars
Monday, 04 October 2021 08:17Dunes develop when wind-blown sand organizes into patterns, most often in deserts and arid or semi-arid parts of the world. Every continent on Earth has dune fields, but dunes and dune-like sand patterns are also found across the solar system: on Mars, Venus, Titan, Comet 67P, and Pluto. On Earth, weather stations measure the wind speed and direction, allowing us to predict and understand airflo
HiRISE spots Perseverance in South Seitah
Monday, 04 October 2021 08:17The white speck is NASA's Perseverance rover in the "South Seitah" area of Mars' Jezero Crater. The image was taken by the agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera. The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion La
Investigating the potential for life around the galaxy's smallest stars
Monday, 04 October 2021 08:17When the world's most powerful telescope launches into space this year, scientists will learn whether Earth-sized planets in our 'solar neighborhood' have a key prerequisite for life - an atmosphere. These planets orbit an M-dwarf, the smallest and most common type of star in the galaxy. Scientists do not currently know how common it is for Earth-like planets around this type of star to ha
NASA confirms Roman Mission's flight design in milestone review
Monday, 04 October 2021 08:17NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has successfully passed its critical design review, signaling that all design and developmental engineering work is now complete. "After seeing our extensive hardware testing and sophisticated modeling, an independent review panel has confirmed that the observatory we have designed will work," said Julie McEnery, the Roman Space Telescope senior pro
NASA awards Sun-Sky Scanning Sun Photometers for the AERONET Project
Monday, 04 October 2021 08:17NASA has awarded a contract for Sun-Sky Scanning Sun Photometers to CIMEL Electronique of Paris, France to support the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET). This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with an estimated total ordering value of $10M. The five-year period of performance begins on September 28 and includes one six-month option. The work will be pe
Extending LIGO's reach into the cosmos
Monday, 04 October 2021 08:17Since LIGO's groundbreaking detection, in 2015, of gravitational waves produced by a pair of colliding black holes, the observatory, together with its European partner facility Virgo, has detected dozens of similar cosmic rumblings that send ripples through space and time. In the future, as more and more upgrades are made to the National Science Foundation-funded LIGO observatories-one in
Space Force intelligence organization established at Wright Patterson Air Force Base
Monday, 04 October 2021 07:24The Space Force Intelligence Activity was stood up Sept. 24 as an interim organization until the National Space Intelligence Center is established.
ESA and Mattel’s Barbie in zero-g and she feels fine!
Monday, 04 October 2021 07:03ESA and Mattel have released a Samantha Cristoforetti Barbie doll to coincide with World Space Week 2021 and its theme of ‘Women in Space’, to help encourage girls to become the next generation of astronauts, engineers and space scientists.
Nelson remains confident regarding funding for Artemis
Sunday, 03 October 2021 18:20NASA’s administrator says he remains confident that Congress will provide the agency with funding to allow it to select a second lunar lander developer despite a lack of public progress on funding and concerns raised elsewhere in the agency about the effect an ongoing protest could have on congressional support for the program.
Launchspace wins CASIS support for upcoming ISS demonstration
Saturday, 02 October 2021 23:32LaunchSpace Technologies Corp., a company developing technology to capture orbital debris, is the latest space startup to seek funding on an equity crowdfunding platform.
Millennium Space sees opportunities in missile defense satellites
Saturday, 02 October 2021 21:19Millennium, a satellite manufacturer owned by the Boeing Co., hopes to parlay the experienced gained from the Wide Field of View project into larger contracts.