Copernical Team
Where should we impact an asteroid to effectively deflect its orbit?
Recently, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft crashed into a 170 m asteroid Dimorphos at 6.6 km/s, as the first on-orbit demonstration of deflecting an asteroid by kinetic impact. The DART spacecraft was set to impact the center of Dimorphos nearly head-on. Earth-based telescopes have now confirmed that impact successfully changed Dimorphos' orbit period by 32 minutes, much more than expected.
But, where should we impact an asteroid to most effectively deflect its orbit? Simply towards the center of the asteroid? These questions have yet to be well investigated.
In a new paper published in the Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, researchers of Tsinghua University proposed an optimal kinetic-impact geometry to improve the effective magnitude of kinetic-impact deflection, which should promote our understanding of how to make full use of a kinetic impactor and get best results.
Fired SpaceX employees accuse company of violating labor law
Webb draws back curtain on Universe’s early galaxies
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The powerful NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has found an unexpectedly rich ‘undiscovered country’ of early galaxies that has been largely hidden until now.
A few days after officially starting science operations, Webb propelled astronomers into a realm of early galaxies, previously hidden beyond the grasp of all other telescopes. Webb is now unveiling a very rich Universe where the first forming galaxies look remarkably different from the mature galaxies seen around us today.
Researchers have found two exceptionally bright galaxies that existed approximately 300 and 400 million years after the Big Bang. Their extreme brightness is puzzling to astronomers.
Strengthening InCubed’s role in commercial Earth observation
Commercialisation is universally recognised as essential for the future prosperity of all aspects of the European space sector, and Earth observation is no exception. The ESA InCubed programme, a co-funding initiative that helps entrepreneurs bring their innovative ideas to market, has enjoyed enormous success since the launch of its first activity in 2018 and continues to make a prodigious contribution to commercial Earth observation. The InCubed portfolio includes around 60 activities, with an impressive €63 million invested so far.
At the upcoming ESA Council at Ministerial Level, Member States will have the possibility to further empower InCubed in its far-reaching efforts to
A new look for the ESA astronaut patch
In October 2022, an updated ESA astronaut patch celebrated the joining of ESA’s newest Associate Member, Slovakia. The new patch adds the Slovakian flag to a design that has evolved over the decades to represent ESA’s growing space family.
NOAA adopts Finland’s CubeSat-proven space weather monitor
An advanced X-ray monitoring instrument tested for space aboard an ESA CubeSat will serve as an operational space weather payload on the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Next Lagrange 1 Series satellite, currently planned for launch in 2028, which will operate 1.5 million km from Earth, keeping watch for eruptions from our Sun.
Einstein Industries Ventures joins ESA Investor Network
ESA’s Investor Network continues to grow, with Einstein Industries Ventures as its latest member via the signature of a collaboration agreement.
Over the next ten years, Einstein Industries Ventures’ management team targets a fund worth €300 million to invest in Europe's leading growth-stage New Space downstream technologies, Earth observation and sensor technology.
Space exploration goes underground
Is there life in Martian caves? It's a good question, but it's not the right question-yet. An international collaboration of scientists led by NAU researcher Jut Wynne has dozens of questions we need asked and answered. Once we figure out how to study caves on the Moon, Mars and other planetary bodies, then we can return to that question.
Wynne, an assistant research professor of cave ecol Try, Try Again: Sols 3655-3656
Yesterday we weren't able to use the arm and thus weren't able to do contact science, but a short drive got us into a better position. Unfortunately, the dust removal tool still wasn't safe to use at our location, so the team decided to make another drive to try again for contact science on the weekend. Even though the plan wasn't what we expected coming in to today, we were still able to make t Rocket Factory Augsburg to use test infrastructure at DLR Lampoldshausen
Space start-ups with micro-launcher projects will be important players in European space transport in the future. So-called micro-launchers are smaller rockets that can carry payloads of up to one tonne into low Earth orbit. They complement the capabilities of the established Ariane European launcher and will accelerate the development of new business areas and technologies in the launcher marke