A New Method to Detect Exoplanets
Thursday, 21 July 2022 01:53In recent years, a large number of exoplanets have been found around single 'normal' stars. New research shows that there may be exceptions to this trend. Researchers from the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon (UANL), the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and New York University Abu Dhabi suggest a new way of detecting dim bodies, including planets, orbiting exotic binary stars
Webb telescope may have already found most distant known galaxy
Thursday, 21 July 2022 01:53Just a week after its first images were shown to the world, the James Webb Space Telescope may have found a galaxy that existed 13.5 billion years ago, a scientist who analyzed the data said Wednesday. Known as GLASS-z13, the galaxy dates back to 300 million years after the Big Bang, about 100 million years earlier than anything previously identified, Rohan Naidu of the Harvard Center for As
Hey Siri: How Much Does This Galaxy Cluster Weigh
Thursday, 21 July 2022 01:53It's been nearly a century since astronomer Fritz Zwicky first calculated the mass of the Coma Cluster, a dense collection of almost 1,000 galaxies located in the nearby universe. But estimating the mass of something so huge and dense, not to mention 320 million light-years away, has its share of problems - then and now. Zwicky's initial measurements, and the many made since, are plagued by sour
Gemini's GHOST captures exquisite first light observations of chemically rich star
Thursday, 21 July 2022 01:53Gemini South, one of the world's most productive and powerful optical-infrared telescopes, received a major capability boost with the successful installation of a new high-resolution spectrograph called GHOST constructed by an international consortium. This cutting-edge scientific instrument will expand our understanding of the earliest stars, the chemical fingerprints of distant planetary syste
BlueWalker 3 test satellite fully assembled and shipped
Thursday, 21 July 2022 01:53AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTS) reports that its BlueWalker 3 test satellite has been fully assembled and left its Midland, TX headquarters and manufacturing facility. Over the next few weeks, BlueWalker 3 will be undergoing final environmental testing at an off-site facility in California, which will provide flight data to be used during the launch at Cape Canaveral. Following this a
NASA authorization included in CHIPS Act
Wednesday, 20 July 2022 22:22The Senate is moving forward with a revised version of a NASA authorization bill that formally authorizes the agency’s Artemis lunar exploration effort and extends operations of the International Space Station.
The post NASA authorization included in CHIPS Act appeared first on SpaceNews.
Spire adding microwave sounders to improve weather forecasts
Wednesday, 20 July 2022 20:44Spire Global said July 20 it plans to improve its weather forecast services by fitting future smallsats in its fleet with microwave sounders from RAL Space, the British government’s national laboratory.
NASA sets late August and early September launch dates for Artemis 1
Wednesday, 20 July 2022 19:23NASA has reserved three days in late August and early September for the first launch of its Space Launch System rocket to send the Orion spacecraft to orbit around the moon and back.
Assembling the first global map of lunar hydrogen
Wednesday, 20 July 2022 18:27Using data collected over two decades ago, scientists from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, have compiled the first complete map of hydrogen abundances on the Moon's surface. The map identifies two types of lunar materials containing enhanced hydrogen and corroborates previous ideas about lunar hydrogen and water, including findings that water likely played a role in the Moon's original magma-ocean formation and solidification.
APL's David Lawrence, Patrick Peplowski and Jack Wilson, along with Rick Elphic from NASA Ames Research Center, used orbital neutron data from the Lunar Prospector mission to build their map. The probe, which was deployed by NASA in 1998, orbited the Moon for a year and a half and sent back the first direct evidence of enhanced hydrogen at the lunar poles, before impacting the lunar surface.
NASA's new Moon rocket to launch as soon as August 29
Wednesday, 20 July 2022 17:10Mark your calendars: NASA's Artemis program to return to the Moon could launch its first uncrewed test flight as soon as August 29, the agency said Wednesday.
Artemis-1 is the first in a series of missions as the United States seeks to return humans to the Moon, build a sustained presence there, and use the lessons gained to plan a trip to Mars sometime in the 2030s.
Millennium Space reveals results of DARPA’s ‘Red-Eye’ smallsat experiment
Wednesday, 20 July 2022 14:49The DARPA-funded Red-Eye experiment demonstrated capabilities such as on-board data processing, inter-satellite communications and software-defined radios.
The post Millennium Space reveals results of DARPA’s ‘Red-Eye’ smallsat experiment appeared first on SpaceNews.
Engineer uses ancient art of origami to solve a very modern aerospace problem
Wednesday, 20 July 2022 14:39If you've ever made an origami paper crane, using folds and creases to transform a square piece of craft paper into the delicate long-necked bird, it may seem odd that those same folding techniques are being used to develop structures used in one of the most advanced areas of modern technology: space missions.
Yet aerospace engineers have turned to the millenary art of origami to solve a serious conundrum: How do you fit massive structures, like shields that can block starlight and sails that can help propel spacecraft, into the significantly smaller rockets that carry these structures into space? While the sizes of each of these structures vary, picture yourself trying to fit a beach umbrella with a 28-meter diameter (about the length of a basketball court) into a minivan.
OneWeb and Hanwha partner to tap Australia’s military broadband market
Wednesday, 20 July 2022 13:50OneWeb and two subsidiaries of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group have partnered to explore the joint provision of connectivity services to the Australian defense market.
The post OneWeb and Hanwha partner to tap Australia’s military broadband market appeared first on SpaceNews.
China prepares to launch Wentian lab module
Wednesday, 20 July 2022 11:22The combination of China's space station lab module Wentian and a Long March-5B Y3 carrier rocket has been transferred to the launch area, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said Monday. The CMSA added that the Wentian lab module will be launched in the near future at an appropriate time. Various launch function checks and joint tests will be carried out as planned before the launc
China's newest research lab prepares launch to space
Wednesday, 20 July 2022 11:22China's Wentian space laboratory and its carrier-a Long March 5B rocket-were moved to a service tower on Monday morning to undergo final tests before their planned flight in the coming days, according to the China Manned Space Agency. The agency said in a brief statement that prelaunch preparations will begin at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southernmost island province of Hainan