Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 11, 2024
An interplay of light and shadows cast the docking ports for Gateway, humanity's first space station around the Moon, into sharp relief. Constructed by NASA's commercial partner Northrop Grumman, the HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) is one of four modules designed for international astronaut teams to live, conduct research, and prepare for missions to the lunar South Pole region. Th

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jul 11, 2024
The Moon's recent discovery of resources like water ice has renewed interest in its potential as a sustainable hub for space exploration. NASA's Artemis mission, aiming for long-term human presence on the lunar surface, highlights the need for infrastructure such as lunar bases. However, the high cost of transporting construction materials from Earth, at about 1.2 million USD per kilogram, makes

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 11, 2024
The question of whether Mars ever supported life has fascinated scientists and the public for decades. Central to this inquiry is understanding the planet's past climate: was it warm and wet, akin to Earth's climate, or was it cold and icy, making it less likely to support life as we know it? A recent study points to the latter, drawing parallels between Martian soils and those found in the suba

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 11, 2024
Up to 60% of near-Earth objects (NEOs) might be dark comets, according to new research from the University of Michigan. These dark comets, which likely contain or once contained ice, may have played a role in delivering water to Earth. The study, led by Aster Taylor, a graduate student in astronomy at the University of Michigan, suggests that asteroids in the asteroid belt-located between

Paris, France (SPX) Jul 11, 2024
An international team of astronomers has analyzed over 500 images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, spanning two decades, to identify seven rapidly moving stars in the core of Omega Centauri, the largest and brightest globular cluster visible in the sky. These stars offer significant evidence suggesting the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). Intermediate-mass black

London, UK (SPX) Jul 11, 2024
The maritime satellite communication market saw substantial growth in 2023, largely due to Starlink's entry into the market with its maritime service, which has quickly gained popularity and increased the number of VSAT-equipped vessels. The latest report from Novaspace, a merger of Euroconsult and SpaceTec Partners, titled Prospects for Maritime Satellite Communications, indicates a signi

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 11, 2024
NextNav (Nasdaq: NN), a leader in advanced positioning, navigation, timing (PNT), and 3D geolocation, has announced receiving a new award from the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT). This award will support real-world field tests of NextNav's 3D PNT technologies, designed to provide critical infrastructure with reliable PNT information when GPS is unavailable or compromised due to envi

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 11, 2024
NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick photographed red sprites in Earth's upper atmosphere from the International Space Station on June 3, 2024. The bright red flashes (more easily seen by clicking on the photo to see a larger version) are a less understood phenomena associated with powerful lightning events and appear high above the clouds in the mesosphere. Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), includin

If there had been an astronaut aboard the historic first launch of Europe’s Ariane 6 launcher, this is what they would have seen: images and videos from key phases of the flight were captured by the YPSat payload, a project led and undertaken by ESA Young Professionals in their own time.

Image: Freezing boiling water in Concordia against the sunset