To new worlds with quantitative spectroscopy
Wednesday, 01 March 2023 10:17Astronomers from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) and the Vatican Observatory (VO) teamed up to spectroscopically survey more than 1000 bright stars that potentially host exoplanets. The team presents precise values of 54 spectroscopic parameters per star in the first of a series of papers in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics and releases all its data to the scientific c
Removing traces of life in lab helps NASA scientists study its origins
Wednesday, 01 March 2023 10:17A specialized laboratory setup at JPL removes the chemical influence of modern organisms so scientists can study the chemistry that may have led to life's emergence. In the Origins and Habitability Lab at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, you can find a world in a test tube - specifically, a simplified simulation of early Earth. By re-creating the conditions that would have been found on o
IXPE unlocks mysteries of Tycho Supernova
Wednesday, 01 March 2023 10:17An international team of scientists has uncovered new information about the remains of a star whose explosion was discovered 450 years ago. The results provided new clues about how the conditions in the shock waves created by titanic stellar explosions, called supernovae, accelerate particles to near the speed of light. The supernova remnant is called Tycho, named for Danish astronomer Tyc
Baby star near the black hole in the middle of our Milky Way: It exists after all
Wednesday, 01 March 2023 10:17An - international team of researchers under the leadership of Dr Florian Peissker at the University of Cologne's Institute of Astrophysics has discovered a very young star in its formation phase near the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) at the centre of our Milky Way. The star is only several tens of thousands of years old, making it younger than humanity. The special thing
Arralis Technologies acquired by ReliaSat
Wednesday, 01 March 2023 10:17ReliaSat Limited, a UK-based employee-owned enterprise, has acquired Arralis Technologies, a leading manufacturer of millimetre wave communications technology. The acquisition includes all of Arralis Technologies' European intellectual property and manufacturing facilities, which will be rebranded under the ReliaSat name. ReliaSat was founded by former Arralis Technologies CEO Mike Gleaves
World View names Ian Thomas as Chief Revenue Officer
Wednesday, 01 March 2023 10:17World View, a global leader in stratospheric exploration and flight, has appointmented Ian Thomas as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Thomas brings more than 30 years of experience scaling global businesses, including 15 years with The Boeing Company, where he served in a variety of senior leadership roles in the United States (U.S.) and Europe, and then led the company's operations, successively, i
NASA's autonomous aircraft decision tech gets simulated urban test
Wednesday, 01 March 2023 10:17Cities are complicated places to fly. Tall buildings, local microclimates, high winds, and other factors present challenges - both known and unpredictable - for current and future air vehicles. But creating new air mobility solutions to move people and cargo will require addressing those challenges. And that's where NASA's Data and Reasoning Fabric (DRF) project can help. DRF designs techn
Meet Carole Mundell, new Director of Science
Wednesday, 01 March 2023 08:00Carole Mundell is the new Director of Science, succeeding the current director Günther Hasinger.
Professor Mundell is an internationally renowned scientist with extensive experience in inclusive leadership, operational management, strategy and international science policy development.
She joined ESA from the University of Bath where she held the Hiroko Sherwin Chair in Extragalactic Astronomy, was founding Head of Astrophysics, and served as Head of the Department of Physics until becoming the first woman Chief Scientific Adviser at the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2018 and first Chief International Science Envoy in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office until 2021.
Apple lends Globalstar $252 million for satellite-enabled iPhones
Tuesday, 28 February 2023 22:46Globalstar said Feb. 28 that Apple is lending the company $252 million to help cover upfront costs for replenishing its low Earth orbit constellation.
Industry group to examine potential security threats in cislunar space
Tuesday, 28 February 2023 17:42The Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or Space ISAC, is forming a group to focus on the security threats the United States could face in cislunar space outside Earth orbit.
Blue Origin continues investigation into New Shepard anomaly
Tuesday, 28 February 2023 17:24Nearly six months after an in-flight anomaly on a New Shepard suborbital mission, Blue Origin says it is still investigating the mishap and has no firm schedule for resuming launches.
Lux Semiconductors raises $2.3 million for microelectronics packaging technology
Tuesday, 28 February 2023 16:15SAN FRANCISCO – Lux Semiconductors, a microelectronics startup with U.S. Air Force and Space Force awards, raised $2.3 million in seed funding.
Liquid nitrogen spray could clean up stubborn moon dust
Tuesday, 28 February 2023 15:24A liquid nitrogen spray developed by Washington State University researchers can remove almost all of the simulated moon dust from a space suit, potentially solving what is a significant challenge for future moon-landing astronauts.
The sprayer removed more than 98% of moon dust simulant in a vacuum environment with minimal damage to spacesuits, performing better than any techniques that have been investigated previously. The researchers report on their work in the journal, Acta Astronautica.
While people have managed to put men on the moon, they haven't figured out how to keep them clean there. Similar to the clingiest packaging peanuts, moon dust sticks to everything that it touches. Worse than the packing peanuts, the dust is composed of very fine particles that are the consistency of ground fiberglass.
"Moon dust is electrostatically charged, abrasive and gets everywhere, making it a very difficult substance to deal with," said Ian Wells, first author on the paper and a senior in WSU's School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering.
China to expand its space station, international astronaut selection underway
Tuesday, 28 February 2023 13:59China is planning to expand its Tiangong space station with a multi-functional module to enhance its capabilities.
Japan selects first new astronauts in 14 years to support Artemis program
Tuesday, 28 February 2023 13:24Japan’s space agency JAXA said Feb.