Space doctors in the virtual house
Thursday, 04 March 2021 13:50
ESA’s first online space physicians training course took place from 21–22 January 2021, attracting over 50 participants from across Europe and the world.
Whitesides steps down from Virgin Galactic
Thursday, 04 March 2021 12:40
Updated 9:45 a.m. Eastern.
WASHINGTON — The longtime chief executive of Virgin Galactic, who moved into a new position at the company last year, has left the company but will continue to be an adviser to it.
Visit ESA virtually with new Discover ESA platform
Thursday, 04 March 2021 10:07
Do you want to visit all ESA establishments and see what we’re doing to explore space and protect our planet? Now you can, by taking virtual tours from your own homes, thanks to the Discover ESA interactive experience.
Earth from Space: Galápagos Islands
Thursday, 04 March 2021 09:00
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Galápagos Islands – a volcanic archipelago situated some 1000 km west of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean.
Biden lauds NASA team for giving US 'dose of confidence'
Thursday, 04 March 2021 08:51
President Joe Biden on Thursday congratulated the NASA team responsible for last month's successful landing of an six-wheeled rover on Mars and for giving the country a "dose of confidence" at a moment when the nation's reputation as a scientific leader has been tattered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden speaking in video conference call with the leadership of space agency's jet propulsion laboratory team expressed awe over the Feb. 18 landing of Perseverance.
Perseverance, the biggest, most advanced rover ever sent by NASA, became the ninth spacecraft since the 1970s to successfully land on Mars, traveling some 300 million miles in nearly seven months, as part of an ongoing quest to study whether there was once life on the planet.
Planet-hunting eye of Plato
Thursday, 04 March 2021 08:22
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Planet-hunting eye of Plato ExoMars goes for a spin
Thursday, 04 March 2021 08:00
- The full ExoMars 2022 mission comprising the carrier module, descent module, Kazachok surface platform and Rosalind Franklin rover have completed essential ‘spin tests’ in preparation for their journey to Mars
- Rosalind Franklin’s rover twin on Earth has executed trial science activities for the first time, including drill sample collection and close-up imaging
- A new parachute strategy has been adopted ahead of the next series of high altitude drop tests
SpaceX successfully launches 20th Starlink mission
Thursday, 04 March 2021 07:27
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket loaded with dozens of additional Starlink communications satellites into space early Thursday after previous launch attempts were delayed.
The rocket lifted off at 3:24 EST from the historic pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with the mission to put 60 more Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit as part of the plan to offer l SpaceX: more risks, better rockets?
Thursday, 04 March 2021 07:27
A prototype of SpaceX's unmanned rocket Starship exploded on Wednesday, the third time a test flight ended in flames.
The mishaps may seem like disasters but experts say these incidents are part of the spaceship's development, and even, in a way, beneficial.
- What is Starship? -
SpaceX is developing the rocket with the goal of sending humans to the Moon on it from 2023, and then t NASA, Japanese astronauts plan spacewalk Friday
Thursday, 04 March 2021 07:27
Astronauts Kate Rubins and Soichi Noguchi are scheduled to conduct the 236th spacewalk in International Space Station history Friday morning.
Rubins, of NASA, and Noguchi, of the Japanese Space Agency, will spend about 6 1/2 hours outside the orbiting space station starting about 7 a.m. EST.
They will perform such maintenance as venting ammonia from an external fixture and instal 'Astounding' Mars rover landing inspired world, Biden says in call to NASA
Thursday, 04 March 2021 07:27
President Joe Biden called NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Thursday to congratulate staff on last month's Mars rover Perseverance landing, which he said inspired the world during a difficult time.
The call included thousands of JPL employees, JPL Director Michael Watkins and Swati Mohan, an operations lead for the Feb. 8 landing.
Biden made the call just after 5 p.m. EST whil Mission Commander Thrives as 'Space Gardener'
Thursday, 04 March 2021 07:27
NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins' enthusiasm for learning to grow plants in space has proven fruitful for the agency's Vegetable Production System (Veggie).
The Expedition 64 crew member, who arrived at the International Space Station in November 2020 aboard NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 for a six-month science mission, has tended to multiple plant experiments on station. Astronaut Kate Rubins had alrea Space Traffic Management
Thursday, 04 March 2021 07:27
Those familiar with air traffic management architectures understand the constraints of aircraft flying in the atmosphere, vehicle dynamics and command and control techniques. Unfortunately, space traffic has many more degrees of freedom and much less control capability. Add to this the completely uncontrolled nature of space debris and the reality that most debris objects cannot be tracked and m NASA and Boeing Evaluating Launch Date for Orbital Flight Test-2
Thursday, 04 March 2021 07:27
NASA and Boeing are evaluating a new target launch date for the CST-100 Starliner's Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) to the International Space Station after winter storms in Houston, and the recent replacement of avionics boxes, set the program back about two weeks. NASA also is weighing the volume of verification and validation analysis required prior to the test flight and the visiting vehicle s NASA Awards Mars Ascent Propulsion System Contract for Sample Return
Thursday, 04 March 2021 07:27
NASA has awarded the Mars Ascent Propulsion System (MAPS) contract to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation of Elkton, Maryland, to provide propulsion support and products for spaceflight missions at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Coupled with the successful touchdown of the Mars Perseverance rover, this award moves NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) one