Grand Forks ND (SPX) Jul 01, 2024
For about 15 minutes on July 21, 1961, American astronaut Gus Grissom felt at the top of the world - and indeed he was. Grissom crewed the Liberty Bell 7 mission, a ballistic test flight that launched him through the atmosphere from a rocket. During the test, he sat inside a small capsule and reached a peak of over 100 miles up before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. A Navy ship

Paris, France (SPX) Jul 01, 2024
The two Proba-3 satellites were positioned facing each other in a cleanroom, with cameras, LEDs, a laser, and shadow sensors activated sequentially to test the systems that will allow the pair to sense their precise positions relative to each other. This precision alignment is critical for their mission, aiming to achieve an alignment accuracy down to a single millimeter. When two satellit

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 01, 2024
As NASA prepares for extended missions to the Moon and Mars, a newly selected concept aims to "grow" habitats using fungi for future explorers. Researchers at NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley have received funding under NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program to advance their habitat research. The Phase III NIAC award provides $2 million over two years to

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 01, 2024
A total of 1,935.3 grams of lunar samples were retrieved by China's Chang'e 6 robotic probe from the moon's far side, the China National Space Administration announced on Friday morning, as the space authority handed over the scientifically invaluable substances to scientists. The weight of the samples, the most asked question by science and space enthusiasts over the past two days, was re

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 01, 2024
NASA's Mars InSight Lander may have completed its mission, but data from the robotic explorer continues to reveal new seismic discoveries. Recent findings suggest that Mars experiences meteoroid impacts more frequently than previously believed. A study led by a researcher from Brown University indicates that Mars is bombarded by space rocks at rates two to ten times higher than earlier est

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jul 01, 2024
An international team of researchers, co-led by ETH Zurich and Imperial College London, has derived the first estimate of global meteorite impacts on Mars using seismic data. Their findings indicate between 280 to 360 meteorites strike the planet each year, forming impact craters greater than 8 meters (about 26 feet) across. Geraldine Zenhaeusern, who co-led the study, commented, "This rate was

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 01, 2024
NASA's 2024 Human Lander Challenge (HuLC) Forum gathered 12 university teams from across the United States in Huntsville, Alabama, near the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center, to present their innovative solutions for managing lunar dust. The 12 finalists, selected in March 2024, showcased their final projects to a panel of NASA and industry experts from the Human Landing Systems Program at t

Washington DC (SPX) Jul 01, 2024
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission marked humanity's first attempt to alter the course of an asteroid, a technique that could one day avert a catastrophic impact and save countless lives. But to fully understand the outcome of the experiment and to determine the impact of the human-caused impact, astronomers need a detailed characterization of their target. A recent study aims t