Arecibo Observatory reopens visitor center after telescope collapse
Sunday, 13 March 2022 01:24
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The famous Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, once home to the world's most powerful radio telescope, has reopened to visitors more than a year after the giant facility collapsed.
The visitor center and observation deck are now open to visitors who make reservations in advance. From the outdoor deck, visitors can see the valley and remaining reflective dish - 1,000 feet in diameter. / From the archives | An untethered Ukraine seeks new orbits for its space industry
Saturday, 12 March 2022 20:35 Write a comment
Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 meant Ukraine lost access to a major satellite ground station located there. That annexation, and ongoing unrest in eastern Ukraine, have also cut off most business Ukraine's space industry had with Russia.
From the archives | How Crimea’s annexation hurt Ukraine’s space program
Saturday, 12 March 2022 20:02 Write a comment
Ukraine's space agency, and the country's small but highly specialized space industry, have been hit harder than Russia by the conflict over Crimea. The real problem was the political impact on Ukraine's industrial ties with Russia, the main customer for the two flagship enterprises of Ukraine's space industry.
Ingenuity still “as good as new” after nearly a year on Mars
Saturday, 12 March 2022 13:24 Write a comment
After nearly a year of operations, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is still “as good as new” as it serves as a scout for the Perseverance rover.
The post Ingenuity still “as good as new” after nearly a year on Mars appeared first on SpaceNews.
Bahrain joins Artemis Accords
Saturday, 12 March 2022 11:32 Write a comment
Bahrain became the latest country to join the Artemis Accords as the agreement regarding principles for cooperation in space exploration continues to expand beyond traditional spacefaring nations.
The post Bahrain joins Artemis Accords appeared first on SpaceNews.
'We want to be the UPS or FedEx of the moon': A startup's big moonshot
Saturday, 12 March 2022 08:30 Write a comment
A California startup is joining much bigger players in the drive to explore settlement on the moon, as plans by NASA to send astronauts back there heats up the commercial lunar market.
Aerospace firm Venturi Astrolab Inc., better known as Astrolab, based in Hawthorn, California, is building an all-purpose truck that is intended to construct lunar infrastructure and also ferry astronauts around, enabling work that would make long-term settlement on the moon possible.
Companies are betting that NASA's drive to return to the moon in several years, along with technological and business advancements that have lowered launch costs, could be lucrative for businesses that get in there early and succeed.
"We are transitioning now from just the earliest phase of exploration to the early stage of settlement," said Chris Hadfield, a retired Canadian astronaut and advisory board member for Astrolab. "This is going to become part of human commerce and human geography," he said of early moon settlement.
NASA is aiming to launch astronauts to the moon no earlier than 2025 as part of its Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon.
AST SpaceMobile books more SpaceX rides months after canceling Soyuz reservation
Friday, 11 March 2022 21:46 Write a comment
AST SpaceMobile is expanding a launch deal with SpaceX for its cellphone-compatible broadband constellation following a 2021 decision to move its upcoming BlueWalker-3 prototype mission from Russia’s now-embargoed Soyuz to a Falcon 9.
Op-ed | Ukrainian space companies are united in defending the country
Friday, 11 March 2022 14:21 Write a comment
As the world watches Ukraine fighting against Russian aggression, Ukrainian companies must ensure the safety of their employees. To do this, most companies have switched to remote work formats and flexible schedules.
Week in images: 7 - 11 March 2022
Friday, 11 March 2022 13:10 Write a comment
Week in images: 7 - 11 March 2022
Discover our week through the lens
China to open space station to commercial activity
Friday, 11 March 2022 11:10 Write a comment
China is planning to open its space station to commercial missions and activities, according to a senior human spaceflight program official.
Spectra detectives
Friday, 11 March 2022 10:00 Write a comment
Video:
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Spectroscopy is a tool that astronomers use to better understand the physics of objects in space.
The spectrographs on board the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) provide scientists with the data needed to analyse the materials that make up stars, nebulae, galaxies and the atmospheres of planets.
Light that enters the telescope is split into its different wavelengths by a grating or a prism, forming a spectrum. This spectrum is then focused onto a detector. Light from each chemical element has a unique spectrum, like a fingerprint. The spectrum’s pattern is analysed by astronomers to decipher which atoms
Earth from Space: Lofoten, Norway
Friday, 11 March 2022 08:00 Write a comment
The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission takes us over the archipelago of Lofoten in northern Norway.
NASA opens sample taken from the Moon 50 years on
Friday, 11 March 2022 07:26 Write a comment
The Apollo missions to the Moon brought a total of 2,196 rock samples to Earth. But NASA has only just started opening one of the last ones, collected 50 years ago.
For all that time, some tubes were kept sealed so that they could be studied years later, with the help of the latest technical breakthroughs.
NASA knew "science and technology would evolve and allow scientists to study the Giant impact crater in Greenland occurred a few million years after dinosaurs went extinct
Friday, 11 March 2022 07:26 Write a comment
Danish and Swedish researchers have dated the enormous Hiawatha impact crater, a 31 km-wide meteorite crater buried under a kilometer of Greenlandic ice. The dating ends speculation that the meteorite impacted after the appearance of humans and opens up a new understanding of Earth's evolution in the post-dinosaur era.
Ever since 2015, when researchers at the University of Copenhagen's GLO