NASA's Webb reveals an exoplanet atmosphere as never seen before
Thursday, 24 November 2022 09:33NASA's James Webb Space Telescope just scored another first: a molecular and chemical profile of a distant world's skies. While Webb and other space telescopes, including NASA's Hubble and Spitzer, previously have revealed isolated ingredients of this broiling planet's atmosphere, the new readings from Webb provide a full menu of atoms, molecules, and even signs of active chemistry and clo
Reading the ripples at observation mountain
Thursday, 24 November 2022 09:33After spending over 600 sols (days on Mars) exploring the diverse geologic environment of Jezero Crater, collecting drilled rock cores (and one atmospheric sample) along the way, Perseverance recently spent some time parked near a large sand ripple named "Observation Mountain," with sights set on something widespread yet unique. Regolith is the sandy, dusty, loose material covering much of the M
Cutting-edge experiments ride SpaceX's 26th CRS mission to space station
Thursday, 24 November 2022 07:49SpaceX's 26th commercial resupply mission (CRS) is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in late November. The Dragon spacecraft carries scientific experiments and technology demonstrations that explore growing plants in space, creating nutrients on-demand, in-space construction, and more.
Here are details on some of the research launching to the space station:
Big hopes for small tomatoes
A continuous source of nutritious food is essential for long-duration exploration missions, and the typical pre-packaged astronaut diet may need to be supplemented by fresh foods produced in space. Researchers have been testing a plant growth unit on station known as Veggie and have successfully grown a variety of leafy greens.
Webb reveals an exoplanet atmosphere as never seen before
Thursday, 24 November 2022 06:49The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope just scored another first: a molecular and chemical portrait of a distant world’s skies. While Webb and other space telescopes, including the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, have previously revealed isolated ingredients of this heated planet’s atmosphere, the new readings provide a full menu of atoms, molecules, and even signs of active chemistry and clouds. The latest data also give a hint of how these clouds might look up close: broken up rather than as a single, uniform blanket over the planet.
NASA temporarily loses communication with Orion spacecraft
Thursday, 24 November 2022 03:39Communication between NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston and the Artemis I moon mission spacecraft was lost for 47 minutes Wednesday morning. It was resolved by a reconfiguration on the ground side, according to NASA. NASA said in a blog statement that communication was lost temporarily while reconfiguring the communication link between the Orion spacecraft and Deep Space Network
British medic set to train to become first 'parastronaut'
Thursday, 24 November 2022 03:39John McFall, who has become the first astronaut recruit with a disability, is a British doctor and former Paralympian who lost a leg in a motorbike accident. The 41-year-old has been selected by the European Space Agency for a special "parastronaut" programme and is set begin training early next year. Born in Frimley in southern England, McFall had his right leg amputated aged 19, which
SpaceX Falcon 9 carries Eutelsat communications satellite in final launch
Thursday, 24 November 2022 03:39A SpaceX rocket carrying a communications satellite blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Tuesday night on a mission that will allow improved internet connectivity for passengers aboard ships and planes. The Eutelsat-10B satellite lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 atop the Falcon 9 rocket at 9:57 p.m. before assuming a super synchronous geostationary transfer orbit around the Ear
NASA selects Rocket Lab to launch TROPICS Mission
Thursday, 24 November 2022 03:39Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has been selected by NASA to launch the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission, as part of the agency's Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract. Rocket Lab will launch the TROPICS mission, which is part of NASA's Earth Syste
European Service Module powering Orion to the Moon and back
Thursday, 24 November 2022 03:39The European Service Module is powering Orion around the Moon and back, providing propulsion, temperature control, electricity as well as storage and delivery for essential supplies such as fuel, water and air. This first Artemis mission is an uncrewed test mission, putting the spacecraft through its paces preparing to send astronauts forward to the Moon. After liftoff at 07:47 CET (06:47
A picture is worth a thousand words
Thursday, 24 November 2022 03:39From the image Perseverance recently took at Yori Pass, we can see that there are gray rocks scattered on top of a tan colored rock surface below. What do these different colors tell us? As planetary geologists, our job is to figure out through physical and chemical observations the story that these rocks tell us about Yori Pass and its place within the delta in Jezero Crater. Color is one of th
New research reveals space debris, invisible meteors and near-Earth asteroids
Thursday, 24 November 2022 03:39In a new thesis from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and Umea University, unique methods for the analysis of radar data and simulations of meteoroids in the solar system are presented. The methods have been applied to confirm the existence of rare high-altitude meteors as well as to measure space debris from the Kosmos-1408 satellite. On November 25, Daniel Kastinen defends his doctoral t
Orion Exits the Lunar Sphere Of Influence
Thursday, 24 November 2022 03:39On the eighth day of its mission, Orion continues to travel farther away from the Moon as it prepares to enter a distant retrograde orbit. The orbit is "distant" in the sense that it's at a high altitude from the surface of the Moon, and it's "retrograde" because Orion will travel around the Moon opposite the direction the Moon travels around Earth. Orion exited the gravitational sphere of
Many planets could have atmospheres rich in helium, study finds
Thursday, 24 November 2022 03:39For centuries, no one knew if we were alone in the universe-or if there were even other planets like ours. But thanks to new telescopes and methods in the past decades, we now know there are thousands and thousands of planets out there circling faraway stars, and they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes-large and small, rocky and gaseous, cloudy or icy or wet. A study by scientists
Astronomers observe intra-group light - the elusive glow between distant galaxies
Thursday, 24 November 2022 03:39An international team of astronomers have turned a new technique onto a group of galaxies and the faint light between them - known as 'intra-group light' - to characterise the stars that dwell there. Lead author of the study published in MNRAS, Dr Cristina Martinez-Lombilla from the School of Physics at UNSW Science, said "We know almost nothing about intra-group light. "The brightes
The new astronauts selected by the European Space Agency
Thursday, 24 November 2022 03:39The European Space Agency named five new career astronauts Wednesday, as well as the world's first recruit with a disability and 11 other reserve astronauts who will have to wait for their chance to go to space. - Sophie Adenot - The 40-year-old French engineer has flown 3,000 flight hours as a helicopter test pilot. Her masters at MIT in the United States included work on how to des