Precise FAST observations reveal circular polarization in active repeating fast radio bursts
Thursday, 29 December 2022 09:33
A research team led by Prof. LI Di from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) has revealed circular polarization in active repeating fast radio bursts based on precise observations of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST).
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are the most luminous radio flashes in the universe. The estimated equivalent e Op-ed | Promoting, protecting and defending freedom’s expansion in space
Wednesday, 28 December 2022 21:19
It is imperative for the U.S. government and commercial space ventures to enhance collaboration and coordination to secure the high frontier for freedom’s sake.
The post Op-ed | Promoting, protecting and defending freedom’s expansion in space appeared first on SpaceNews.
Thales Alenia Space studying reusable spacecraft for in-orbit manufacturing
Wednesday, 28 December 2022 13:29
Uncrewed rather than crewed spacecraft will be key to realizing an emerging in-orbit manufacturing industry, according to a European venture that has tasked Thales Alenia Space to develop a vehicle called REV1 for missions starting in late 2025.
NASA made sole-source award for space station spacesuit
Wednesday, 28 December 2022 12:30
A task order Collins Aerospace received to develop a new spacesuit for the International Space Station was awarded on a sole-source basis, a move NASA says was intended to preserve competition for later phases of the program.
Space junk bill passes Senate unanimously
Wednesday, 28 December 2022 10:22
U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper applauded Senate passage of his Orbital Sustainability (ORBITS) Act, a bipartisan bill to establish a first-of-its-kind demonstration program to reduce the amount of space junk in orbit. The bill passed the Senate unanimously.
"From satellite communications to rockets carrying humans into deep space, space debris is a massive threat to space operations," said Musk says nearly 100 Starlinks 'active' in Iran
Wednesday, 28 December 2022 10:22
Nearly 100 Starlink internet terminals are currently operating in Iran, SpaceX chief Elon Musk said Monday.
The tycoon had promised to bring the satellite internet network to the country in September as Iranian authorities imposed increasingly severe access restrictions, in a move activists called a campaign to limit information about protests that had broken out nationwide.
"Approachi NASA, Russian space agency evaluate need for space station rescue mission
Wednesday, 28 December 2022 10:22
NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos are evaluating if they will need to mount a rescue mission to the International Space Station after discovering a coolant leak from the Russian Soyuz spacecraft currently docked at the station.
The leaking spacecraft, designated Soyuz MS-22, carried U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio, along with cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev to the In NASA, Alaska researchers to scan asteroid with radio waves
Wednesday, 28 December 2022 10:22
Researchers are preparing for a potentially "catastrophic" close encounter with an asteroid in 2029 by scanning an asteroid with radio waves on Tuesday.
NASA is teaming with scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute to send about 9.6 million radio waves to 2010 XC15, an asteroid that will pass by about twice the distance from Earth to the Moon.
The The world's largest turbulence simulation unmasks the flow of energy in astrophysical plasmas
Wednesday, 28 December 2022 10:22
Researchers have uncovered a previously hidden heating process that helps explain how the atmosphere that surrounds the Sun called the "solar corona" can be vastly hotter than the solar surface that emits it.
The discovery at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) could improve tackling a range of astrophysical puzzles such as star formation, the o NASA makes asteroid defense a priority, moving its NEO surveyor mission into the development phase
Tuesday, 27 December 2022 16:35
There's an old adage in the engineering field—what gets funded gets built. So it's sure to be a happy time over at the Planetary Society, as NEO Surveyor, the project the organization has primarily supported over the past few years, has made it through NASA's grueling budgetary process to reach the "development" stage, with an eye for a launch of the system in 2028.
NEO Surveyor is, as the name implies, a satellite specifically designed to survey for objects near the Earth (NEO). One of its primary contributions will be to look for asteroids and other small bodies that are potentially on an eventual collision course with Earth but are invisible to typical NEO survey missions because of their location in the solar system.
Typically, their signals are just background noise against the overwhelming signal from the sun. But NEO Surveyor will be able to detect individual asteroid heat signatures, allowing it to isolate potentially dangerous asteroids using this novel technique.
Is mining in space socially acceptable?
Tuesday, 27 December 2022 16:31
Traditional mining has been subject to a negative stigma for some time. People, especially in developed countries, have a relatively negative view of this necessary economic activity. Primarily that is due to its environmental impacts—greenhouse gas emissions and habitat destruction are some of the effects that give the industry its negative image.
Mining in space is an entirely different proposition—any greenhouse gases emitted on the moon or asteroids are inconsequential, and there is no habitat to speak of on these barren rocks. So what is the general public's opinion on mining in space? A paper published in Sustainability by a group of researchers in Australia, one of the countries most impacted by the effects of terrestrial mining, now gives us an answer.
Strangely, as the paper points out, no one had previously studied this particular aspect of space resources. Despite the general media interest in ventures such as Planetary Resources and the success of missions such as Hayabusa-2, no one had attempted to understand how the general public felt about space mining.
Five space exploration missions to look out for in 2023
Tuesday, 27 December 2022 14:32
It's been an eventful year for space exploration, with successes including the completion of Nasa's Artemis 1 mission (finally), the inauguration of the James Webb Space Telescope, and the completion of China's Tiangong space station.
2023 is set to be another busy year. Here are five of the most exciting missions to watch out for.
1. Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer
In April, the European Space Agency (ESA) is set to launch the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice), in what will be Europe's first dedicated robotic mission to Jupiter. Juice is due to reach the planet in July 2031 after performing an incredible flight path through the solar system. The mission will enter into orbit around Jupiter and perform numerous flybys of its large icy moons: Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
After four years of moon flybys, Juice will then enter into orbit around Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system—becoming the first spacecraft ever to reach orbit around the moon of another planet.
Magnestar creates platform to predict RF interference
Tuesday, 27 December 2022 12:00
Canadian startup Magnestar is establishing a platform to predict radio frequency interference among satellite operators.
The post Magnestar creates platform to predict RF interference appeared first on SpaceNews.
MOXIE sets consecutive personal bests and Mars records for oxygen production
Tuesday, 27 December 2022 10:08
Perseverance has a unique device near its heart that inhales Mars' atmosphere and exhales pure oxygen. This device is named MOXIE, the Mars Oxygen In Situ Resource Utilization Experiment.
The toaster-sized MOXIE uses a high-temperature, electrochemical process called solid oxide electrolysis to strip oxygen ions from the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mars. There are two little gas ex IXPE quickly observes aftermath of exceptional cosmic blast
Tuesday, 27 December 2022 10:08
On Oct. 9, 2022, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory detected a high-energy blast of light from deep space. The light came from a powerful explosion called a gamma-ray burst dubbed GRB 221009A that ranks among the most luminous known. Scientists around the world trained their telescopes on the aftermath.
Michela Negro, a postdoctoral research assistant