What is the best radiation shielding for the surface of Mars?
Monday, 06 June 2022 14:34
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The planet Mars is calling to us. At least, that is the impression one gets when examining all the planned and proposed missions to the red planet in the coming decade. With so many space agencies currently sending missions there to characterize its environment, atmosphere, and geological history, it seems likely that crewed missions are right around the corner. In fact, both NASA and China have made it clear that they intend to send missions to Mars by the early 2030s that will culminate in the creation of surface habitats.
To ensure astronaut health and safety, both in transit and on the surface of Mars, scientists are investigating several means of radiation protection. In a recent study, a team from the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science (BMSIS) studied how various materials could be used to fashion radiation-protective structures. This included materials brought from Earth and those that can be harvested directly from the Martian environment.
Starlink regains permission to operate in France
Monday, 06 June 2022 14:23 Write a comment
SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network reclaimed permission to operate in France June 2 following a month-long public consultation in the country.
The post Starlink regains permission to operate in France appeared first on SpaceNews.
India’s Bellatrix Aerospace raises $8 million Series A for in-space propulsion project
Monday, 06 June 2022 13:43 Write a comment
Indian space startup Bellatrix Aerospace said June 1 that it had raised $8 million in a Series A funding round to pursue the development of in-space propulsion systems.
The post India’s Bellatrix Aerospace raises $8 million Series A for in-space propulsion project appeared first on SpaceNews.
Mars is all shook up
Monday, 06 June 2022 09:30 Write a comment
Recently, 47 new 'marsquakes' (that is, quakes on Mars) have been detected by Professor Hrvoje Tkalcic from the Australian National University and Professor Weijia Sun from the Chinese Academy of Science. The discovery suggests Mars to be more seismically active than previously thought.
The findings also provide clues about the composition of Mars and how other rocky planets in our Solar S Subscale booster motor for future Artemis missions fires up at Marshall
Monday, 06 June 2022 09:30 Write a comment
Engineers successfully fired a 2-foot-diameter, subscale solid rocket booster June 1, 2022, at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The test, conducted in Marshall's East Test Area, produced 92,000 pounds of thrust and was done as part of the booster obsolescence and life extension (BOLE) program, providing an upgraded booster design for the evolved configuration of China discloses tasks of Shenzhou-14 crewed space mission
Monday, 06 June 2022 09:30 Write a comment
The upcoming Shenzhou-14 crewed space mission will complete the construction of the Tiangong space station, with a basic three-module structure consisting of the core module Tianhe and the lab modules Wentian and Mengtian, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Saturday.
The mission will build the space station into a national space laboratory, said Lin Xiqiang, deputy direct Aegis Aerospace and Intuitive Machines team up for lunar science services
Monday, 06 June 2022 09:30 Write a comment
Officials of space and defense technology company Aegis Aerospace Inc. and pioneering space company Intuitive Machines yesterday formally announced they have entered into the first Texas-based business-to-business contract to deliver a commercial science payload to the Moon.
This unique agreement extends Aegis Aerospace's Space Testing as a Service (STaaS) business model from Earth orbit t Another 6 SFL built microsatellites now in orbit
Monday, 06 June 2022 09:30 Write a comment
Six microsatellites developed by Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) were successfully launched by the SpaceX Transporter-5 rideshare mission on May 25. The three GHGSat greenhouse gas monitoring and three HawkEye 360 radio frequency (RF) geolocation microsatellites bring to 36 the total number of SFL-built satellites placed into orbit since 2020.
"SFL congratulates GHGSat and HawkEye 360 for th The Modes of Webb's NIRISS
Monday, 06 June 2022 09:30 Write a comment
The Webb team continues to commission the 17 science instrument modes. This week we asked Nathalie Ouellette of the Universite de Montreal to give more detail about the modes of the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS), Canada's scientific instrument on Webb.
"NIRISS will be able to capture both images and spectra from different types of celestial objects in near-infrare Putting the theory of special relativity into practice, by counting galaxies
Monday, 06 June 2022 09:30 Write a comment
Scientists who study the cosmos have a favorite philosophy known as the "mediocrity principle," which, in essence, suggests that there's really nothing special about Earth, the Sun or the Milky Way galaxy compared to the rest of the universe.
Now, new research from CU Boulder adds yet another piece of evidence to the case for mediocrity: Galaxies are, on average, at rest with respect to th Time crystals "impossible" but obey quantum physics
Monday, 06 June 2022 09:30 Write a comment
Scientists have created the first "time-crystal" two-body system in an experiment that seems to bend the laws of physics.
It comes after the same team recently witnessed the first interaction of the new phase of matter.
Time crystals were long believed to be impossible because they are made from atoms in never-ending motion. The discovery, published in Nature Communications, shows th Seen from space, the snow-capped Alps are going green
Monday, 06 June 2022 09:30 Write a comment
The famous snow-capped peaks of the Alps are fading fast and being replaced by vegetation cover - a process called "greening" that is expected to accelerate climate change, a study said Thursday.
The research, published in Science, was based on 38 years of satellite imagery across the entirety of the iconic European mountain range.
"We were very surprised, honestly, to find such a huge Commercial providers of satellite services face a trust gap with military buyers
Sunday, 05 June 2022 16:53 Write a comment
Despite growing enthusiasm for new space internet services, some military buyers remain distrustful of commercial solutions, Space Force procurement official Clare Grason said.
The post Commercial providers of satellite services face a trust gap with military buyers appeared first on SpaceNews.
Three Chinese astronauts arrive at space station
Sunday, 05 June 2022 13:55 Write a comment
Three Chinese astronauts arrived at the country's space station on Sunday, the Chinese space agency for human flights said, the latest stride in Beijing's aim to become a major space power.
The trio blasted off in a Long March-2F rocket at 0244 GMT from the Jiuquan launch center in northwestern China's Gobi desert, reported state broadcaster CCTV.
The team is tasked with "completing in-orbit assembly and construction of the space station", as well as "commissioning of equipment" and conducting scientific experiments, state-run CGTN said Saturday.
The astronauts entered the central module of the Tiangong station at around 1250 GMT, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said. The journey took about "seven hours of flight", CCTV reported.
Tiangong, which means "heavenly palace", is expected to become fully operational by the end of the year.
Blue Canyon looks to demonstrate small-satellite performance at very low altitude
Sunday, 05 June 2022 13:35 Write a comment
Blue Canyon president Brad Tously said there is growing interest from national security agencies in space missions in very low Earth orbit
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