Copernical Team
What we would have learned from NASA's rejected missions to moons of Jupiter and Neptune
It's been 30 years since Nasa last visited Venus, with the Magellan orbiter in 1990. Now, two new missions have been selected to explore the deadly atmosphere, crushing pressures and volcanic landscape.
The process dates back to February 2020, when Nasa announced that four missions were to undergo a nine-month peer-review process for feasibility. They were all part of the Discovery program, started by Nasa in 1992 to bring together scientists and engineers to create exciting, groundbreaking missions. Set aside from the flagship missions—such as Curiosity and Perseverance—the missions operating under Discovery have taken unique and innovative approaches to exploring the solar system.
The two winning Venus missions, Davinci and Veritas, have been awarded US$500 million (£354 million) and will be launched some time between 2028 and 2030. But the competition was tough from the two losing missions, which would have gone to Io and Triton, respectively moons of Jupiter and Neptune.
Artificial intelligence spots coronal holes to automate space weather prediction
Jeff Bezos riding his own rocket in July, joining 1st crew
Experiment and innovate on our spacecraft
We provide the spacecraft, the tools and some funding. Your job? Come up with innovative experiments you want to run on it.
Sourcing space debris and surveying asteroid smash: challenges for AI & space experts
Machine-learning and AI specialists are invited to compete alongside space engineers in a pair of challenges related to ESA’s Space Safety and Security programme, open to teams from across the globe.
ESA investigates cultured meat as novel space food
ESA is seeking proposals to investigate the application of cellular agriculture as a novel technique to produce food, in particular cultured meat, during future long-term space missions.
New study shines light on hazards of Earth's largest volcano
Scientists from the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science analyzed ground movements measured by Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) satellite data and GPS stations to precisely model where magma intruded and how magma influx changed over time, as well as where faults under the flanks moved without generating significant earthquakes. The GPS net Solar geoengineering may be effective in alleviating impacts of global warming on crops
Solar geoengineering - putting aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight and reduce global warming - is not a fix-all for climate change but it could be one of several tools to manage climate risks. A growing body of research has explored the ability of solar geoengineering to reduce physical climate changes. But much less is known about how solar geoengineering could affect the ecosystem Hyperspectral Infrared Radiance data improves local severe storm forecasts using Hybrid OSSE method
Since the era of meteorological satellites began in the 1950s, continuous remote sensing instrument improvements have elevated Earth science and have significantly increased available atmospheric observations. Likewise, scientists have made considerable advancements in understanding Earth's atmosphere, climate, and environment.
Furthering growth of atmospheric science within the last 20 ye US Air Force announces Fourth Vanguard Program
The Department of the Air Force announced June 4 the designation of Rocket Cargo as the fourth Vanguard program as part of its transformational science and technology portfolio identified in the DAF 2030 Science and Technology strategy for the next decade. Additionally, the U.S. Space Force was designated as the lead service for Rocket Cargo Vanguard, marking the service's first such program.