Sensors prepare to collect data as Perseverance enters Martian atmosphere
Saturday, 13 February 2021 13:56
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Nearly six-and-a-half months and 300 million miles since launch, NASA's Perseverance rover will land on Mars Feb. 18, 2021, to begin its robotic exploration of the Red Planet. But before Perseverance touches down on the surface of Mars, it has to achieve a successful entry, descent, and landing (EDL).
Onboard the rover's protective aeroshell is the Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrume A new way of forming planets
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In the last 25 years, scientists have discovered over 4000 planets beyond the borders of our solar system. From relatively small rock and water worlds to blisteringly hot gas giants, the planets display a remarkable variety. This variety is not unexpected. The sophisticated computer models, with which scientists study the formation of planets, also spawn very different planets. What the models h Lasers reveal the secret interior of rocky exoplanets
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Advances in astronomical observations have resulted in the discovery of an extraordinary number of extrasolar planets, some of which are believed to have a rocky composition similar to Earth. Learning more about their interior structure could provide important clues about their potential habitability.
Led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), a team of researchers aims to unloc Scientists develop new, faster method for seeking out dark matter
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For nearly a century, scientists have worked to unravel the mystery of dark matter - an elusive substance that spreads through the universe and likely makes up much of its mass, but has so far proven impossible to detect in experiments. Now, a team of researchers have used an innovative technique called "quantum squeezing" to dramatically speed up the search for one candidate for dark matter in Hubble uncovers concentration of small black holes
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Globular clusters are extremely dense stellar systems, in which stars are packed closely together. They are also typically very old - the globular cluster that is the focus of this study, NGC 6397, is almost as old as the Universe itself. It resides 7800 light-years away, making it one of the closest globular clusters to Earth. Because of its very dense nucleus, it is known as a core-collapsed c Vaporised crusts of Earth-like planets found in dying stars
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Remnants of planets with Earth-like crusts have been discovered in the atmospheres of four nearby white dwarf stars by University of Warwick astronomers, offering a glimpse of the planets that may have once orbited them up to billions of years ago.
These crusts are from the outer layers of rocky planets similar to Earth and Mars and could give astronomers greater insights into the chemistr Chinese tracking vessel sets sail for monitoring missions in Indian Ocean
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China's tracking vessel Yuanwang-6 on Wednesday departed from a port in east China's Jiangsu Province for maritime spacecraft monitoring missions in the Indian Ocean.
The Yuanwang fleet will continue to carry out intensive and challenging maritime missions this year, and Yuanwang-6 alone will operate at sea for over 200 days, according to sources with the country's satellite maritime track Proba-V's plus one
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This satellite mockup, seen during antenna testing, shows the shape of ESA's new Proba-V Companion CubeSat, which is due for launch at the end of this year.
The mission is a 12-unit 'CubeSat' - a small, low-cost satellite built up from standardised 10-cm boxes. It will fly a cut-down version of the vegetation-monitoring instrument aboard the Earth-observing Proba-V to perform experimental InSight is meeting the challenge of winter on dusty Mars
Friday, 12 February 2021 10:42 Write a comment
As dust collects on the solar panels and winter comes to Elysium Planitia, the team is following a plan to reduce science operations in order to keep the lander safe.
NASA's InSight lander recently received a mission extension for another two years, giving it time to detect more quakes, dust devils, and other phenomena on the surface of Mars. While the mission team plans to continue collecting data well into 2022, the increasing dustiness of the spacecraft's solar panels and the onset of the Martian winter led to a decision to conserve power and temporarily limit the operation of its instruments.
InSight was designed to be long-lasting: The stationary lander is equipped with solar panels, each spanning 7 feet (2 meters) across. InSight's design was informed by that of the solar-powered Spirit and Opportunity rovers, with the expectation that the panels would gradually reduce their power output as dust settled on them but would have ample output to last through the two-year prime mission (completed in November 2020).
Despite its small size, Space Force plans to have its voice heard in the Pentagon
Thursday, 11 February 2021 22:49 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The Space Force is by far the smallest branch of the U.S. military and will have to “punch above its weight” to get its share of military funding and other resources, said Lt.
Timing of next Virgin Galactic flight still up in the air
Thursday, 11 February 2021 21:11 Write a comment
A window is set to open for Virgin Galactic to make another attempt at a rocket-powered flight from New Mexico to the fringe of space, but the company announced Friday it would be holding off on a new effort.
Virgin Galactic said in a social media post that during pre-flight preparations, it was decided more time was needed for technical checks and the team would be working to identify the next opportunity to hit what would be a key milestone as the promise of commercial flights continues to loom.
The last attempt in December was cut short when computer trouble prevented the spaceship's rocket from firing properly. Instead of soaring toward space, the ship and its two pilots were forced to make an immediate landing by gliding back down to the runway at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Over the past week, preparations for the latest attempt included installing the rocket motor into the spacecraft and checking the operation of a feathering system that slows and stabilizes the craft as it re-enters the atmosphere.
The spacecraft also was secured to the carrier plane that will fly it to a high altitude, where it will be released so it can fire its rocket motor and make the final push to space.
Report recommends NASA accelerate space nuclear propulsion development
Thursday, 11 February 2021 18:48 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — NASA needs to pursue “aggressive” development of space nuclear propulsion technologies if the agency wants to use them for human missions to Mars in the next two decades, a report by a National Academies committee concluded.
Week in images: 08 - 12 February 2021
Thursday, 11 February 2021 14:23 Write a comment
Week in images: 08 - 12 February 2021
Discover our week through the lens
Perseverance will make sure it has a safe landing
Thursday, 11 February 2021 12:48 Write a comment
To casual observers, landing a rover on Mars can seem kind of like old news, believe it or not, especially after all of NASA's successes. But many are likely not aware of the so-called "Mars Curse." The fact is, many of the spacecraft that attempt to land there fail and crash.
Next to run the gauntlet of the Mars curse is NASA's Perseverance rover. It'll attempt its long-awaited landing at Jezero Crater on February 18. The people at NASA have given the Perseverance rover some finely tuned tools to get it to the Martian surface safely and to beat the Mars curse.
The Perseverance rover is landing at Jezero Crater because NASA thinks they can do the best science there. The mission's goal is to seek signs of ancient life and collect samples for a potential return to Earth. Jezero Crater is an ancient, dried-up paleo-lakebed. It holds both preserved sediments and a delta. According to NASA, the crater is one of the "oldest and most scientifically interesting landscapes Mars has to offer." Scientists think that if there's any fossilized evidence of ancient life, they may find it at Jezero.
China's Mars probe sends back video of Red Planet
Thursday, 11 February 2021 11:44 Write a comment
China's space agency released video footage from its spacecraft circling Mars on Friday, two days after it successfully entered the planet's orbit in Beijing's latest ambitious space mission.
In the video, published by state broadcaster CCTV, the surface of the planet is seen coming into view out of a pitch black sky against the outside of the Tianwen-1, which entered the orbit of the Red Planet on Wednesday.
White craters are visible on the planet's surface, which fades from white to black through the video as the probe flies over the course of one Martian day, said official news agency Xinhua.
The five-tonne Tianwen-1—which translates as "Questions to Heaven"—includes a Mars orbiter, a lander and a solar-powered rover and launched from southern China last July.