Chinese astronauts send Spring Festival greetings from space station
Sunday, 22 January 2023 02:08
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The Shenzhou-15 astronauts Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu sent their Spring Festival greetings from China's Tiangong space station in a video released by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on New Year's Eve.
The trio, dressed in blue jumpsuits with dark red patterns, each held a sticker showing their own calligraphy. Two of the stickers were written with the Chinese character "f Astronauts conduct first ISS spacewalk of 2023
Sunday, 22 January 2023 02:08 Write a comment
Two astronauts embarked on the first spacewalk of 2023 on Friday as they worked toward upgrading the International Space Station's power generation system.
NASA astronaut Nicole Mann teamed up with Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for the morning spacewalk, which NASA officials said lasted seven hours and 21 minutes. They installed a modification kit at the far en Sols 3718-3720: Go For Drilling at Encanto
Sunday, 22 January 2023 02:08 Write a comment
In the previous plan, Curiosity conducted a preliminary assessment of the potential drill target "Encanto" (as seen in the above MAHLI image) and today we received the data. The drill preload test and contact science data look good, so we are GO for our third attempt to get a sample of this marker band.
Today's 3-sol plan includes the full drill on the first sol, followed by portion charac Airbus finalises JUICE ready for its mission to Jupiter
Sunday, 22 January 2023 02:08 Write a comment
The Airbus-built JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission) spacecraft will shortly leave Toulouse, France, for Kourou, French Guiana, for lift-off on an Ariane 5 in April 2023. Shipment is expected in early February.
The spacecraft has been at Airbus in Toulouse since August 2021 for final assembly and test. This included integration of the final instrument units and the largest solar arr From Europe to Jupiter via Kourou
Sunday, 22 January 2023 02:08 Write a comment
"Trois, deux, un - et decollage!" This is how the last three seconds will be counted down in the control centre in Kourou, French Guiana, this April before one of the last Ariane 5 launch vehicles lifts off from Europe's Spaceport. The target of the European Space Agency's (ESA) largest planetary mission to date is Jupiter and its large icy moons Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. The Jupiter Icy Mo Exotic water ice contributes to understanding of magnetic anomalies on Neptune and Uranus
Sunday, 22 January 2023 02:08 Write a comment
Ordinary everyday ice, like the ice produced by a fridge, is known to scientists as hexagonal ice (ice Ih), and is not the only crystalline phase of water. More than 20 different phases are possible. One of them, called "superionic ice" or "ice XVIII", is of particular interest, among other reasons, because it is thought to make up a large part of Neptune and Uranus, planets frequently referred NASA suspends efforts to fully deploy Lucy solar array
Saturday, 21 January 2023 23:07 Write a comment
NASA is suspending efforts, at least until late next year, to try to fully deploy a solar array on its Lucy spacecraft, citing diminishing returns as the spacecraft heads away from the sun.
The post NASA suspends efforts to fully deploy Lucy solar array appeared first on SpaceNews.
Buzz Aldrin, second man on the Moon, marries on 93rd birthday
Saturday, 21 January 2023 11:41 Write a comment
Legendary Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second person to set foot on the Moon, said he had married his longtime girlfriend on Friday, his 93rd birthday.
Aldrin and Anca Faur, executive vice president of Buzz Aldrin Ventures, were wed in a private ceremony.
"On my 93rd birthday... I am pleased to announce that my longtime love Dr. Anca Faur & I have tied the knot," Aldrin tweeted along with pictures of himself and Faur, who is reportedly 63.
"We were joined in holy matrimony in a small private ceremony in Los Angeles & are as excited as eloping teenagers."
According to her LinkedIn profile, Faur earned a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 1996 and had previously worked for Union Carbide and Johnson Matthey before joining Buzz Aldrin Ventures. She had also served as treasurer for the California Hydrogen Business Council.
Aldrin's three previous marriages ended in divorce.
The US astronaut is the last surviving member of the Apollo 11 mission, during which he and Neil Armstrong become the first people to set foot on the Moon, on July 20, 1969.
Europe’s Jupiter-bound JUICE spacecraft is ready for April launch
Friday, 20 January 2023 22:40 Write a comment
The satellite behind Europe’s next flagship space mission is ready to be sent to French Guiana for an April launch to explore three of Jupiter’s largest icy moons, manufacturer Airbus announced Jan.
Canadian government to establish commercial launch licensing regulations
Friday, 20 January 2023 19:17 Write a comment
The Canadian government announced plans Jan. 20 to set up a regulatory framework to allow commercial launches from the country as part of an effort to expand Canada’s space industry.
The post Canadian government to establish commercial launch licensing regulations appeared first on SpaceNews.
Exploring the outer solar system takes power: Here's a way to miniaturize nuclear batteries for deep space
Friday, 20 January 2023 16:07 Write a comment
As science and technology advance, we're asking our space missions to deliver more and more results. NASA's MSL Curiosity and Perseverance rovers illustrate this fact. Perseverance is an exceptionally exquisite assemblage of technologies. These cutting-edge rovers need a lot of power to fulfill their tasks, and that means bulky and expensive power sources.
Connecting the Dots | Space insurers toast another profitable year
Friday, 20 January 2023 15:38 Write a comment
The space insurance market made a profit for 2022 despite a devastating rocket failure at the end of the year. However, the shift toward constellations of satellites in LEO poses questions about the shape of the market in the years ahead.
First Native American woman in space steps out on spacewalk
Friday, 20 January 2023 13:57 Write a comment
The first Native American woman in space ventured out on a spacewalk Friday to prep the International Space Station for more solar panels.
NASA astronaut Nicole Mann emerged alongside Japan's Koichi Wakata, lugging an equipment bag. Their job was to install support struts and brackets for new solar panels launching this summer, part of a continuing effort by NASA to expand the space station's power grid.
Mann, a Marine colonel and test pilot, rocketed into orbit last fall with SpaceX, becoming the first Native American woman in space. She is a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in Northern California.
Wakata, Japan's spaceflight leader with five missions, also flew up on SpaceX. He helped build the station during the shuttle era.
Friday was the first spacewalk for both.
The pair will depart the space station in another month or so.
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Hubble captures minor asteroid crossing image of background galaxies
Friday, 20 January 2023 13:55 Write a comment
A host of astronomical objects throng this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Background galaxies ranging from stately spirals to fuzzy ellipticals are strewn across the image, and bright foreground stars much closer to home are also present, surrounded by diffraction spikes. In the center of the image, the vague shape of the small galaxy UGC 7983 appears as a hazy cloud of light. UGC 7983 is around 30 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo, and is a dwarf irregular galaxy—a type thought to be similar to the very earliest galaxies in the universe.
This image also conceals an astronomical interloper. A minor asteroid, only a handful of kilometers across, can be seen streaking across the upper left-hand side of this image. The trail of the asteroid is visible as four streaks of light separated by small gaps. These streaks of light represent the four separate exposures that were combined to create this image, the small gaps between each observation being necessary to change the filters inside Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Watch ESA Director General annual press briefing 2023
Friday, 20 January 2023 13:49 Write a comment
Join our start-of-the-year press briefing looking ahead at 2023, with ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Directors. They’ll present the next steps of Agenda 2025, looking at new missions, science, space safety and commercialisation of space.
Tune in to #ESAwebTV on 23 January, from 08:00 GMT/09:00 CET, to watch live.
More on ESA’s Vision and Agenda25.