A combined map of almost 15,000 dust storms on Mars
Monday, 15 February 2021 14:06
Write a comment
Data in the world of astronomy is spread out in so many different places. There are archives for instruments on individual spacecraft and telescopes. Sometimes all that is needed to get new insight out of old data is to collect it all together and analyze a whole set rather than isolated instances. That is exactly what happened recently when a team from the Harvard Center for Astrophysics collected and analyzed data about almost 15,000 dust storms that have taken place on Mars over the last eight Martian years.
The data used to build the combined database was collected by the Mars Global Surveyor, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which both take daily images of the whole Martian surface. The database they developed, known as the Mars Dust Activity Database (MDAD) provided a variety of insights into some characteristics of the dust storms that occur so regularly on the red planet.
Jezero crater and surrounds (annotated)
Monday, 15 February 2021 14:00 Write a comment
Image:
Jezero crater and surrounds (annotated) Media event: ESA seeks new astronauts
Monday, 15 February 2021 14:00 Write a comment
Video:
01:00:00
For the first time in 11 years, ESA is looking for new astronauts to work alongside ESA’s existing astronauts as Europe enters a new era of space exploration.
Speakers include Jan Wörner, ESA Director General; Samantha Cristoforetti, ESA astronaut; Tim Peake, ESA astronaut; David Parker, ESA Director of Human and Robotic Exploration; Frank De Winne, ESA Low Earth Orbit Exploration Group Leader, Head of the European Astronaut Centre; Jennifer Ngo-Anh, ESA Research and Payloads Programme Coordinator, Human and Robotic Exploration; Lucy van der Tas, ESA Head of Talent Acquisition.
Press briefings in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch, are
How to spot Mars: See the red planet in the sky the day NASA's Perseverance rover lands
Monday, 15 February 2021 13:19 Write a comment
Last year was the year of Mars launches, and this one will be the year of Mars landings. The Hope Mars mission, launched by the United Arab Emirates, entered its orbit around Mars on February 9, while China's Tianwen-1 rover, now orbiting the planet, will land in May. Meanwhile, Nasa's Perseverance rover will land on the red planet come February 18.
Mars is one of the easiest planets to see in the night sky, blazing bright orange and visible for almost the whole year. It's been high up in the sky since the second half of last year, and you don't need any special equipment to see it.
This means there are some great opportunities to see the planet travelling across the night skies, including just as the Perseverance rover is touching down. The day the rover lands, there will be a close approach of the moon and Mars—meaning they will appear next to each other in the night sky.
It's not every day you get to see a close approach while a rover makes its landing.
Frontier Aerospace wins second propulsion contract from Astrobotic
Monday, 15 February 2021 13:00 Write a comment
SAN FRANCISCO – Southern California startup Frontier Aerospace has won contracts to supply propulsion systems for two Astrobotic lunar landers.
Simi Valley, California-based Frontier Aerospace was already building 150-pound and 10-pound thrusters for Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander, when the Pittsburgh-based company awarded Frontier Aerospace a contract in January to build 700-pound-thrust axial engines for the Griffin lunar lander.
Astronauts test virus-fighting surface coating
Monday, 15 February 2021 12:41 Write a comment
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are conducting experiments with an antimicrobial surface coating designed to fight the spread of bacteria and viruses.
The coating was developed by The University of Queensland and Boeing as a joint research project to inhibit viral agents, such as the Earth-bound coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Professor Michael Monteiro from UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) said it was exciting to see the research go into space after years of development.
The technology has already been tested aboard Boeing's ecoDemonstrator as part of the company's Confident Travel Initiative.
Boeing's Mike Delaney said while testing continued on orbit and on Earth, the team had been encouraged by the preliminary results of the antimicrobial chemical compound.
"There is potential for broad-based applicability for a surface coating like this when used in conjunction with other measures to prevent disease transmission," Mr Delaney said.
The ISS experiment tests two identical sets of objects from aircraft—including a seatbelt buckle, fabric from airplane seats and seat belts, parts of an armrest and a tray table—with only one set receiving the antimicrobial surface coating.
Jezero crater through the eyes of Mars Express
Monday, 15 February 2021 12:00 Write a comment
On 18 February 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover is expected to arrive at Jezero impact crater, the site of a former lake on Mars. The High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express has provided important context for the landing site and its surrounds.
Join the new era of exploration as an ESA astronaut
Monday, 15 February 2021 11:30 Write a comment
For the first time in over a decade, the European Space Agency (ESA) is seeking new astronauts to join humankind’s greatest adventure for the benefit of Earth.
Contest for Crew Dragon seat well short of fundraising goal
Monday, 15 February 2021 11:01 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — A competition to raffle off a seat on an upcoming Crew Dragon mission has raised only a small fraction of its goal so far, but the contest organizers say that they will continue the fundraising effort even after the contest ends.
Join the team
Monday, 15 February 2021 10:48 Write a comment
Image:
For the first time in over a decade, the European Space Agency is seeking new astronauts. The last selection took place in 2008-09, and resulted in these familiar faces being welcomed into the ESA Astronaut Corps: (from left) Luca Parmitano, Thomas Pesquet, Alexander Gerst, Andreas Mogesen, Tim Peake, Samantha Cristoforetti.
This class was selected following a year-long Europe-wide recruitment process that attracted 8413 valid applications. Following thorough psychological, medical and professional screening ESA’s astronaut class of 2009 became the first new recruits to join the European Astronaut Corps since 1992.
Not pictured here is ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, who was
SpaceX launches Starlink satellites, loses booster in sea
Monday, 15 February 2021 09:32 Write a comment
Elon Musk's SpaceX successfully launched another Falcon 9 rocket carrying dozens of Starlink satellites into space on Monday after delaying liftoff for nearly 24 hours due to weather.
The rocket launched at 10:59 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base Station Launch Complex 40 in Florida, carrying 60 Starlink satellites into orbit.
On returning to Earth, the rocket's first-sta ISS Progress 77 Sets Off From Baikonur Cosmodrome
Monday, 15 February 2021 09:32 Write a comment
Progress 77 is expected to remain docked to the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) until July 2021. Last year, Russia sent two Progress MS resupply spacecraft to the ISS, in April and in July.
The ISS Progress 77 cargo ship is setting off to the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, carried by Russia's Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket. The spacecraft is taking off fro The comet that killed the dinosaurs
Monday, 15 February 2021 09:32 Write a comment
It was tens of miles wide and forever changed history when it crashed into Earth about 66 million years ago.
The Chicxulub impactor, as it's known, left behind a crater off the coast of Mexico that spans 93 miles and goes 12 miles deep. Its devastating impact brought the reign of the dinosaurs to an abrupt and calamitous end by triggering their sudden mass extinction, along with the end of NASA wants to fly a helicopter on Mars for the first time
Monday, 15 February 2021 09:32 Write a comment
More than a century after the first powered flight on Earth, NASA intends to prove it's possible to replicate the feat on another world.
Transported aboard the Mars 2020 spacecraft that arrives at the Red Planet on Thursday, the small Ingenuity helicopter will have several challenges to overcome - the biggest being the rarefied Martian atmosphere, which is just one percent the density of Ea Melting dusty ice may have carved Martian gullies
Monday, 15 February 2021 09:32 Write a comment
By analyzing the occurrences of exposed dusty ice on Mars using data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, ASU planetary scientists Aditya Khuller and Philip Christensen have found the lowest latitude detection of dusty water ice on Mars.
The melting of this dusty water ice could have led to the formation of gullies that have eroded into rock and ice at these locations and may provide p