Copernical Team
Thursday, 28 January 2021 06:43
Dalian coherent light source reveals the origin of interstellar medium S2 fragments
Dalian, China (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
Studying the creation and evolution of sulfur-containing compounds in outer space is essential for understanding interstellar chemistry. CS2 is believed to be the most important molecule in comet nuclei, interstellar dust, or ice cores. CS and S2 are the photodissociation fragments of CS2.
Forty years ago, the emission spectra of only CS and S2 species, and not those of CS2 species, were o
Studying the creation and evolution of sulfur-containing compounds in outer space is essential for understanding interstellar chemistry. CS2 is believed to be the most important molecule in comet nuclei, interstellar dust, or ice cores. CS and S2 are the photodissociation fragments of CS2.
Forty years ago, the emission spectra of only CS and S2 species, and not those of CS2 species, were o
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Thursday, 28 January 2021 06:43
TESS discovers four exoplanets orbiting a nearby sun-like star
Boston MA (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
MIT researchers have discovered four new exoplanets orbiting a sun-like star just over 200 light-years from Earth. Because of the diversity of these planets and brightness of their star, this system could be an ideal target for atmospheric characterization with NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope. Tansu Daylan, a postdoc at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, led
MIT researchers have discovered four new exoplanets orbiting a sun-like star just over 200 light-years from Earth. Because of the diversity of these planets and brightness of their star, this system could be an ideal target for atmospheric characterization with NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope. Tansu Daylan, a postdoc at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, led
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Thursday, 28 January 2021 06:43
Peering inside the birthplaces of planets orbiting the smallest stars
Heidelberg, Germany (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
Scientists have been finding ring-like structures indicating planet formation in the disks surrounding young Sun-like stars for several years. Astronomers led by Nicolas Kurtovic from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, have now detected similar signals in disks of young very low-mass stars that are considerably smaller and less massive than their counterparts.
A
Scientists have been finding ring-like structures indicating planet formation in the disks surrounding young Sun-like stars for several years. Astronomers led by Nicolas Kurtovic from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, have now detected similar signals in disks of young very low-mass stars that are considerably smaller and less massive than their counterparts.
A
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Thursday, 28 January 2021 06:43
Airbus studies "Moon Cruiser" concept for ESA's cis-lunar transfer vehicle
Toulouse, France (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
Airbus has been awarded a CLTV (Cis-Lunar Transfer Vehicle) study for a "Moon Cruiser" by the European Space Agency (ESA). According to the study concept (two parallel Phase A/B1), the CLTV is a versatile, autonomous logistics vehicle that could, for example, provide timely and efficient support to NASA and ESA in the implementation of the future Artemis Moon missions. The spacecraft will be bas
Airbus has been awarded a CLTV (Cis-Lunar Transfer Vehicle) study for a "Moon Cruiser" by the European Space Agency (ESA). According to the study concept (two parallel Phase A/B1), the CLTV is a versatile, autonomous logistics vehicle that could, for example, provide timely and efficient support to NASA and ESA in the implementation of the future Artemis Moon missions. The spacecraft will be bas
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Thursday, 28 January 2021 06:43
MAVEN continues to advance Mars science and telecommunications relay efforts
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
With a suite of new national and international spacecraft primed to explore the Red Planet after their arrival next month, NASA's MAVEN mission is ready to provide support and continue its study of the Martian atmosphere.
MAVEN launched in November 2013 and entered the Martian atmosphere roughly a year later. Since that time, MAVEN has made fundamental contributions to understanding the hi
With a suite of new national and international spacecraft primed to explore the Red Planet after their arrival next month, NASA's MAVEN mission is ready to provide support and continue its study of the Martian atmosphere.
MAVEN launched in November 2013 and entered the Martian atmosphere roughly a year later. Since that time, MAVEN has made fundamental contributions to understanding the hi
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Thursday, 28 January 2021 06:43
Remembering Challenger and Her Crew
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
The year 1986 was shaping up to be the most ambitious one yet for NASA's Space Shuttle Program. The agency's plans called for up to 15 missions, including the first flight from the West Coast launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Other important missions included the launch of two planetary spacecraft with very tight launch windows, an astronomy mission to study Halley's Comet,
The year 1986 was shaping up to be the most ambitious one yet for NASA's Space Shuttle Program. The agency's plans called for up to 15 missions, including the first flight from the West Coast launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Other important missions included the launch of two planetary spacecraft with very tight launch windows, an astronomy mission to study Halley's Comet,
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Thursday, 28 January 2021 06:43
Exposing unmentionable human functions in space
Bethesda, MD (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
America's first astronaut, Alan Shepard, took that first suborbital flight of 15 minutes on May 15, 1961. The expected flight time was so short that NASA assumed no toilet facilities would be needed. However, Shepard had to endure several hours in his Mercury capsule before lift-off due to launch delays. You can imagine the results, but it wasn't pretty.
By the time NASA began launching Ge
America's first astronaut, Alan Shepard, took that first suborbital flight of 15 minutes on May 15, 1961. The expected flight time was so short that NASA assumed no toilet facilities would be needed. However, Shepard had to endure several hours in his Mercury capsule before lift-off due to launch delays. You can imagine the results, but it wasn't pretty.
By the time NASA began launching Ge
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Thursday, 28 January 2021 06:43
ISS crew member reveals difficulties of filming virtual reality documentary in space
Washington (Sputnik) Jan 29, 2021
The crew on the International Space Station (ISS) has faced unique challenges while producing a new virtual reality documentary although factors such as weightlessness have also provided an advantage, Russian cosmonaut and ISS engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov told Sputnik.
In December, Russia's Space Agency Roscosmos announced it is producing a documentary series - together with Canada's Feli
The crew on the International Space Station (ISS) has faced unique challenges while producing a new virtual reality documentary although factors such as weightlessness have also provided an advantage, Russian cosmonaut and ISS engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov told Sputnik.
In December, Russia's Space Agency Roscosmos announced it is producing a documentary series - together with Canada's Feli
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Wednesday, 27 January 2021 19:40
Thick lithosphere casts doubt on plate tectonics in Venus's geologically recent past
At some point between 300 million and 1 billion years ago, a large cosmic object smashed into the planet Venus, leaving a crater more than 170 miles in diameter. A team of Brown University researchers has used that ancient impact scar to explore the possibility that Venus once had Earth-like plate tectonics.
For a study published in Nature Astronomy, the researchers used computer models to recreate the impact that carved out Mead crater, Venus's largest impact basin. Mead is surrounded by two clifflike faults—rocky ripples frozen in time after the basin-forming impact. The models showed that for those rings to be where they are in relation to the central crater, Venus's lithosphere—its rocky outer shell—must have been quite thick, far thicker than that of Earth.
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Wednesday, 27 January 2021 20:32
35 years since Challenger launch disaster: 'Never forgotten'
NASA leaders, retired launch directors, families of fallen astronauts and space fans marked the 35th anniversary of the Challenger disaster on Thursday, vowing never to forget the seven who died during liftoff.
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