NASA responds to Independent Review of Earth System Observatory
Friday, 02 December 2022 05:55NASA shared a response Wednesday on an independent review board established to assess plans and goals for the next generation of Earth-observing satellites: NASA's Earth System Observatory, a cutting edge suite of spacecraft that will forward understanding of our changing planet. The independent review board report examined the technical concepts developed so far for robustness as well as
The PI's Perspective: Extended Mission 2 Begins!
Friday, 02 December 2022 05:55New Horizons remains healthy from its position deep in the Kuiper Belt, even as it speeds farther from the Earth and Sun by about 300 million miles per year! The spacecraft, which began its second extended mission on Oct. 1, also continues its record-length hibernation that began June 1 and ends March 1. Hibernation, which takes place in spacecraft "spin mode," saves fuel and wear and tear
HFES releases Policy Statement on Human Space Flight
Friday, 02 December 2022 05:55The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) has issued a new Policy Statement on Human Space Flight and Exploration Programs. As both government and commercial space operations continue to evolve and expand, this statement highlights the urgency and fundamental necessity to focus more attention on human factors engineering and human performance in the design of the technologies, training and
New minerals discovered in massive meteorite may reveal clues to asteroid formation
Friday, 02 December 2022 05:55A team of researchers has discovered at least two new minerals that have never before been seen on Earth in a 15 tonne meteorite found in Somalia - the ninth largest meteorite ever found. "Whenever you find a new mineral, it means that the actual geological conditions, the chemistry of the rock, was different than what's been found before," says Chris Herd, a professor in the Department of
Back to the Marker Band - Sols 3667-3668
Friday, 02 December 2022 05:55Still stuffed and feeling thankful our weekend plans were successful! This morning's downlink showed we had more power to play with than was modeled last week, this time due to the SAM activities running conservatively on Sols 3662 and 3663 (Thanksgiving and the day after). From this "power gift" we were able to add a whole hour to our remote science time and use our DRT for a full sol of scienc
Tiangong space station open to world
Friday, 02 December 2022 05:55Over the past 19 years, from China's first manned space mission Shenzhou V to the latest Shenzhou XV launch, the nation's space endeavors have progressed from a single-astronaut mission to the long-term stay of several astronauts in space. The number of astronauts one spaceship can carry has increased from one to three, and the length of time the astronauts stay in space has expanded from just 2
Extraterrestrial signal search is underway using the southern hemisphere's biggest radio telescope
Friday, 02 December 2022 05:09Breakthrough Listen has begun observations using a powerful new instrument deployed to the MeerKAT radio telescope in the remote Karoo region of South Africa. The new search for technosignatures - indicators of technology developed by extraterrestrial intelligence - expands the number of targets searched by a factor of 1,000. The astronomers and engineers on the Breakthrough Listen team ha
NASA's Orion capsule performs burn to leave distant retrograde orbit
Friday, 02 December 2022 05:09NASA's Orion space capsule, which is in day 16 of its Artemis I test flight, completed a burn Thursday to take it out of distant retrograde orbit. The burn, which was livestreamed by NASA, began about 4:53 p.m. EST and lasted for 1 minute, 45 seconds, and was successful. The procedure involved firing engines on the European service module which commits the spacecraft to leaving t
Analyzing the rhythmically layered bedrock above the marker band: Sols 3669-3670
Friday, 02 December 2022 05:09Curiosity drove ~25 meters back toward the Marker Band from our detour to the Gediz Vallis Ridge and has returned to the rhythmically layered bedrock we observed on Sols 3648-3649. The first time Curiosity encountered these rocks we were unable to analyze them because one of the rover's wheels was perched on a rock. Now that we are parked safely, we will use a "Touch and Go" approach where
NASA May Have Landed on a Martian Megatsunami Deposit Nearly 50 Years Ago
Friday, 02 December 2022 05:09When NASA's Viking 1 lander touched down on the surface of Mars nearly 50 years ago, its cameras imaged a boulder-strewn surface of elusive origin. New research led by Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Alexis Rodriguez shows the landing site may be on the margins of a megatsunami deposit, formed when a 3-kilometer asteroid impacted a northern Martian ocean about 3.4 billion years ago.
Webb Space Telescope, Keck team up to study Saturn's moon Titan
Friday, 02 December 2022 05:09The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has turned its infrared cameras on Saturn's moon Titan, giving astronomers another eye on the largest and one of the most unusual moons in the solar system. The only satellite with a dense atmosphere, it's also the only world besides Earth that has standing bodies of liquid on its surface, including rivers, lakes and seas - though the liquid is thought
Kleos partners with UP42
Friday, 02 December 2022 05:09Kleos Space has partnered with leading geospatial developer platform and marketplace, UP42, to offer Kleos' RF geolocation data to their platform users. Under the partnership, Kleos' geospatial data product, Guardian LOCATE, will be available on UP42's marketplace. Guardian LOCATE provides processed geolocated radio frequency transmissions collected over key areas of interest by Kleos' sat
Rocket Lab launches subsidiary focused on national security market
Thursday, 01 December 2022 22:46Rocket Lab USA is creating a separate entity to focus on U.S. defense and intelligence agency customers.
The post Rocket Lab launches subsidiary focused on national security market appeared first on SpaceNews.
Eutelsat orders GEO broadband satellite with LEO in mind
Thursday, 01 December 2022 21:07Eutelsat said Dec. 1 it has ordered a geostationary broadband satellite to support multi-orbit services in the Americas from 2026.
The post Eutelsat orders GEO broadband satellite with LEO in mind appeared first on SpaceNews.
With a small network of satellites around Mars, rovers could navigate autonomously
Thursday, 01 December 2022 17:21When it comes to "on the ground" exploration of Mars, rovers make pretty good advance scouts. From Pathfinder to Perseverance, we've watched as these semi-autonomous robots do what human explorers want to do in the future. Now, engineers are studying ways to expand rover exploration on Mars. One thing they're thinking about: communication satellite constellations for Mars surface navigation.
The current generation of Mars rovers landed in easily accessible places. Other Martian regions, such as the poles, or Valles Marineris, remain pretty much untouched. That's partly because they're difficult to reach and their weather conditions present challenges. The poles hold a lot of clues to the Martian climate system. Although one cap is known to be mostly water ice, both caps could contain (or be hiding) additional water either in underground lakes or frozen beneath the caps.