Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 06, 2024
Planet formation has traditionally been described as a "bottom-up" process, where dust grains gradually clump together over millions of years, forming larger structures step by step. However, a competing theory suggests that planets can form much faster via a "top-down" process, where material in a protoplanetary disk fragments due to gravitational instability. An international team of ast

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Sep 05, 2024
The shoebox-sized BurstCube satellite has observed its first gamma-ray burst, the most powerful kind of explosion in the universe, according to a recent analysis of observations collected over the last several months. "We're excited to collect science data," said Sean Semper, BurstCube's lead engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "It's an important mileston

The first satellite in ESA’s Cluster quartet safely came back down to Earth last night in a world-first ‘targeted reentry’, marking a brilliant end to this remarkable mission.

The spacecraft, dubbed ‘Salsa’ (Cluster 2), reentered Earth’s atmosphere at 20:47 CEST on 8 September 2024 over the South Pacific Ocean. In this region, any risk of fragments reaching land are absolutely minimised.

During the last two decades Cluster has spent in space, it has provided invaluable data on how the Sun interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, helping us better understand and forecast space weather. With this first-ever targeted reentry,

Video: 00:06:50

The first of four satellites that make up ESA’s Cluster mission is coming safely back down to Earth, marking a brilliant end to this remarkable mission.

The satellite’s orbit was tweaked back in January to target a region as far as possible from populated regions. This ensures that any spacecraft parts that survive the reentry will fall over open ocean.

During 24 years in space, Cluster has sent back precious data on how the Sun interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, helping us better understand and forecast potentially dangerous space weather. 

With this first ever targeted reentry, Cluster goes down in history

Washington (AFP) Sept 7, 2024
Boeing's beleaguered Starliner made its long-awaited return to Earth on Saturday without the astronauts who rode it up to the International Space Station, after NASA ruled the trip back too risky. After years of delays, Starliner launched in June for what was meant to be a roughly weeklong test mission - a final shakedown before it could be certified to rotate crew to and from the orbital l