Understanding muscle wasting in space at the molecular level
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03Most of us have imagined how free it would feel to float around, like an astronaut, in conditions of reduced gravity. But have you ever considered what the effects of reduced gravity might have on muscles? Gravity is a constant force on Earth which all living creatures have evolved to rely on and adapt to. Space exploration has brought about many scientific and technological advances, yet manned
Dating the stars
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03Scientists have succeeded in dating some of the oldest stars in our galaxy with unprecedented precision by combining data from the stars' oscillations with information about their chemical composition. The team led by researchers at the University of Birmingham, surveyed around a hundred red giant stars, and were able to determine that some of these were originally part of a satellite gala
Alien radioactive element prompts creation rethink
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03The first-ever discovery of an extraterrestrial radioactive isotope on Earth has scientists rethinking the origins of the elements on our planet. The tiny traces of plutonium-244 were found in ocean crust alongside radioactive iron-60. The two isotopes are evidence of violent cosmic events in the vicinity of Earth millions of years ago. Star explosions, or supernovae create many of t
Rocket Lab mission failure blamed on possible engine problem
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03California-based launch company Rocket Lab has blamed a possible engine problem for the loss Saturday of its Electron rocket and commercial satellite payload. The rocket fell safely into the Pacific Ocean off the company's launch site in New Zealand due to an automatic shutdown triggered by safety systems, according to the company. It was the 20th mission for Electron and the sec
Proposed base for Elon Musk's SpaceX project threatens lands and livelihoods in Biak, Papua
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03In December 2020, the Indonesian government had offered the Papuan island of Biak, home to some 100,000 inhabitants, to the centibillionare Elon Musk as a potential launch site for the SpaceX Mars-bound expedition. SpaceX, an aerospace corporation founded in 2002 by Musk, is arguably the world's most leading-edge technological project. It aims to enable humans to travel to and live on Mars
New Phoebus contract paves the way for development of future lightweight composite rocket stages
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03The European Space Agency (ESA) and ArianeGroup, lead contractor and design authority for Ariane 6, have signed a new technological development contract in the field of carbon composites. The PHOEBUS (Prototype of a Highly OptimizEd Black UpperStage) program will increase the maturity of the technologies needed to lower both the manufacturing cost and the weight of the Ariane 6 upper stage.
Kayla Barron joins NASA's SpaceX Crew-3 mission to Space Station
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03NASA has assigned Kayla Barron to serve as a mission specialist for the agency's SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station, which is targeted to launch as early as Oct. 23. This will be the first spaceflight for Barron, who became a NASA astronaut in January 2020 after completing two years of training. She will join NASA astronauts Raja Chari and Tom Marshburn, as the missio
Scientists will peer at first galaxies with James Webb telescope
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03The most powerful telescope ever built, the James Webb Space Telescope, is fully booked to peer at other planets and the origins of the universe for more than a year after its planned launch in October. About 400 studies that could reveal secrets about the oldest galaxies, inhabitable planets and even the dawn of the universe already are scheduled, scientists said. "It's a totall
New evidence of how and when the Milky Way came together
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03New research provides the best evidence to date into the timing of how our early Milky Way came together, including the merger with a key satellite galaxy. Using relatively new methods in astronomy, the researchers were able to identify the most precise ages currently possible for a sample of about a hundred red giant stars in the galaxy. With this and other data, the researchers wer
BDS-3 system facilitates public transportation in east China's Nanchang
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03High-resolution terminal devices of China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) have been installed in public buses in the city of Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province, local authorities said Thursday. Installation of the sub-meter level positioning equipment, which took less than 10 minutes on each bus, is expected to offer real-time information with high accuracy. In remote
LatConnect 60 partners with SSTL in first UK-Australia 'Space Bridge' industry partnership
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03Smart satellite provider LatConnect 60 and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) have announced the first partnership under the UK-Australia 'Space Bridge', a program launched earlier this year by the Australian Space Agency and UK Space Agency to boost investment and knowledge across both countries' space sectors. Under the partnership, Perth-based LatConnect 60 will provide high resolut
Robotic Navigation Tech Will Explore the Deep Ocean
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03Terrain-relative navigation helped Perseverance land - and Ingenuity fly - autonomously on Mars. Now it's time to test a similar system while exploring another frontier. On May 14, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ship Okeanos Explorer will depart from Port Canaveral in Florida on a two-week expedition led by NOAA Ocean Exploration, featuring the technology demons
Monitoring coastal changes in Greece
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 06:50Hundreds of satellite images spanning over 25 years have been compiled to show the evolution of Greece’s ever-changing coastlines.
NASA launches rocket in search of aurora answers
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 04:44NASA launched one of its largest sounding rockets Sunday from an East Coast facility in an experiment led by a University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute space physics professor.
The four-stage Black Brant XII rocket carrying the KiNET-X experiment of principal investigator Peter Delamere lifted off from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia at 8:44 p.m. Eastern time. The ascent of the rocket, which flew on an arc into the ionosphere before beginning its planned descent over the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda, could be seen along the East Coast.
The experiment seeks to understand how a large mass of plasma such as the solar wind interacts at the particle level with, for example, the plasma of Earth's space environment.
NASA adds astronaut to commercial crew mission
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 01:46WASHINGTON — NASA announced May 17 it has assigned another astronaut to the next commercial crew mission to the International Space Station, a sign that NASA no longer expects to complete a seat barter agreement with Roscosmos in time for that flight.