Meteor showers to bookend overnight skywatching opportunities in May
Wednesday, 04 May 2022 07:49
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As the spring season continues, May could prove to be of great interest for stargazers and space enthusiasts - with a pair of potentially active meteor showers opening and closing the month.
"Meteors aren't uncommon," Bill Cooke said, who leads NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. "Earth is bombarded every day by millions of bit Racks in the sand from about a hundred sols ago Sol 3463
Wednesday, 04 May 2022 07:49 Write a comment
On sol 3415 we encountered what we unofficially dubbed 'Gator Back' terrain and decided to not fight the "creature" on the expense of our wheels but rather to turn around and go back. For those of you who like looking back into the events: the first encounter with that terrain that made us turn around was reported here on the blog on sols 3419-3420, blog 3421 showed a beautiful close up of the " NASA Goddard scientists begin studying 50-year-old frozen Apollo 17 samples
Wednesday, 04 May 2022 07:49 Write a comment
Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, recently received samples of the lunar surface that have been curated in a freezer at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston since Apollo 17 astronauts returned them to Earth in December 1972.
This research is part of the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis Program, or ANGSA, an eff SwRI-led team finds younger exoplanets better candidates when looking for other Earths
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As the scientific community searches for worlds orbiting nearby stars that could potentially harbor life, new Southwest Research Institute-led research suggests that younger rocky exoplanets are more likely to support temperate, Earth-like climates.
In the past, scientists have focused on planets situated within a star's habitable zone, where it is neither too hot nor too cold for liquid s NASA visualization rounds up the best-known black hole systems
Wednesday, 04 May 2022 07:49 Write a comment
Nearby black holes and their stellar companions form an astrophysical rogues' gallery in this new NASA visualization.
Stars born with more than about 20 times the Sun's mass end their lives as black holes. As the name implies, black holes don't glow on their own because nothing can escape them, not even light. Until 2015, when astronomers first detected merging black holes through the spac Meet the IT team | Space jobs
Wednesday, 04 May 2022 07:00 Write a comment
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Meet the IT Team, see behind the scenes and find out how it is to work for the IT Department at the European Space Agency.
NaraSpace Technology closes $7.88 million Series A for nanosatellite project
Wednesday, 04 May 2022 03:15 Write a comment
South Korean startup NaraSpace Technology will use the $7.88 million to pursue the development of optical remote-sensing nanosatellites.
The post NaraSpace Technology closes $7.88 million Series A for nanosatellite project appeared first on SpaceNews.
NASA sets mid-May launch for Boeing Starliner spacecraft's initial trip to ISS
Tuesday, 03 May 2022 23:45 Write a comment
Boeing's Starliner spacecraft may finally get off the ground for its second flight following an issue with the craft's propulsion system.
The capsule, designed to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, is set to launch on its second uncrewed test flight on May 19, company officials confirmed during a teleconference on Tuesday.
The mission, Orbital Flight Te Space Force leaders questioned on their plans to invest in technology and workforce
Tuesday, 03 May 2022 23:16 Write a comment
Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee pressed Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Chief of Space Operations Gen. John “Jay” Raymond on the Space Force’s plans to acquire next-generation technologies and develop the future workforce.
ExoMars official says launch unlikely before 2028
Tuesday, 03 May 2022 22:24 Write a comment
A key official for Europe’s ExoMars mission believes that the rover’s launch will be pushed back until at least 2028 to accommodate changes after ending cooperation with Russia.
The post ExoMars official says launch unlikely before 2028 appeared first on SpaceNews.
AST SpaceMobile licensed to connect test satellite to US cellular phones
Tuesday, 03 May 2022 20:28 Write a comment
AST SpaceMobile secured an experimental license May 2 to test services in the United States from BlueWalker 3, the prototype satellite slated to launch this summer for its planned cellphone-compatible broadband constellation.
NASA's SDO sees sun release strong solar flare
Tuesday, 03 May 2022 19:12 Write a comment
The Sun emitted a strong solar flare on May 3, 2022, peaking at 9:25 a.m. EDT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.
Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.
This flare is classified as an X-class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. More info on how flares are classified can be found here.
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NASA, Boeing say Starliner on track for May 19 launch
Tuesday, 03 May 2022 19:10 Write a comment
Boeing's Starliner capsule is finally ready to reattempt a key test launch to the International Space Station on May 19, officials said Tuesday.
The uncrewed flight, named OFT-2, is a vital step towards certifying the spaceship for eventually carrying passengers, giving NASA a second taxi provider alongside SpaceX.
Aerospace giant Boeing, which was awarded a $4.2 billion contract for the purpose in 2014, initially attempted the test in 2019, but failed to rendezvous with the ISS after experiencing software glitches that caused flight anomalies.
The program has since experienced several delays. It was last supposed to fly in August 2021, but the mission was aborted just hours before launch because high humidity led to corrosion within Starliner's valves.
Blood clot expert working with NASA to study blood flow, clot formation in zero gravity
Tuesday, 03 May 2022 17:04 Write a comment
Are astronauts more likely to develop blood clots during space missions due to zero gravity? That's the question NASA is trying to answer with help from UNC School of Medicine's Stephan Moll, MD, professor in the UNC Department of Medicine. A new publication in Vascular Medicine shows the results of an occupational surveillance program spurred by the development of a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the jugular vein of an astronaut, which is described in detail in a New England Journal of Medicine publication from 2020.
Moll was consulted by NASA when the discovery of the blood clot was made during the astronaut's mission on the International Space Station (ISS). This was the first time a blood clot had been found in an astronaut in space, so there was no established method of treatment for DVT in zero gravity. Moll, a member of the UNC Blood Research Center and a clinical hematologist, was called upon for his knowledge and treatment experience of DVT on Earth.
Which parts of Mars are the safest from cosmic radiation?
Tuesday, 03 May 2022 16:28 Write a comment
In the coming decade, NASA and China plan to send the first crewed missions to Mars. This will consist of both agencies sending spacecraft in 2033, 2035, 2037, and every 26 months after that to coincide with Mars opposition (i.e., when Earth and Mars are closest in their orbits). The long-term aim of these programs is to establish a base on Mars that will serve as a hub that accommodates future missions, though the Chinese have stated that they intend for their base to be a permanent one.
The prospect of sending astronauts on the six- to nine-month journey to Mars presents several challenges, to say nothing of the hazards they'll face while conducting scientific operations on the surface. In a recent study, an international team of scientists conducted a survey of the Martian environment—from the peaks of Mount Olympus to its underground recesses—to find where radiation is the lowest.