New galaxy images reveal a fitful start to the Universe
Wednesday, 27 October 2021 06:16New images have revealed detailed clues about how the first stars and structures were formed in the Universe and suggest the formation of the Galaxy got off to a fitful start. An international team of astronomers from the University of Nottingham and Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB, CSIC-INTA) used data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), the so-called Fron
Hubble gives unprecedented, early view of a doomed star's destruction
Wednesday, 27 October 2021 06:16Like a witness to a violent death, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope recently gave astronomers an unprecedented, comprehensive view of the first moments of a star's cataclysmic demise. Hubble's data, combined with other observations of the doomed star from space- and ground-based telescopes, may give astronomers an early warning system for other stars on the verge of blowing up. "We used to ta
When spacecraft explode, this engineer looks for answers in the debris left behind
Wednesday, 27 October 2021 03:39Much of the space junk orbiting Earth won't clean up itself - or tell you how it got there. Purdue University's Carolin Frueh and her team are investigating what causes spacecraft to become space junk. Their findings are revealing ways to prevent spacecraft from breaking apart into thousands of pieces of debris that pose a threat to space stations and satellites. Since 1957, there have bee
Verizon to use Amazon satellites for broadband Internet in rural areas
Wednesday, 27 October 2021 03:39Verizon announced on Tuesday that it will use a satellite communications system that's being put together by Amazon to expand broadband Internet access to rural areas of the United States. In announcing the partnership, the companies said the plan is intended to bring access to unserved and underserved U.S. communities. Amazon is planning to send more than 3,200 satellites into orbit
NASA's S-MODE mission kicks off 1st deployment
Wednesday, 27 October 2021 03:39After a successful test run in May, a NASA campaign is deploying aircraft, a research vessel and several kinds of autonomous ocean robots to study small ocean whirlpools, eddies and currents. Using instruments at sea and in the sky, the Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE) team aims to understand the role these ocean processes play in vertical transport, the movement of heat, nutrien
NASA seeks input to position mega-rocket for long-term exploration
Wednesday, 27 October 2021 03:39NASA is preparing for the first flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, along with other flight hardware for the next several Artemis missions in production around the country. The agency also is looking forward to future missions and working to transition SLS from design and development to production and operatio
Crew-3 astronauts launch to Space Station alongside microgravity research
Wednesday, 27 October 2021 03:39NASA's SpaceX Crew-3 mission is set to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon on Sunday, Oct. 31. The mission includes three NASA astronauts - mission Commander Raja Chari, Pilot Tom Marshburn, and Mission Specialist Kayla Barron - as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer, who will also serve as a mission specialist. Ab
Airbus, Air Liquide and ispace Europe launch EURO2MOON
Wednesday, 27 October 2021 03:39In a contex of increased momentum around space exploration, Airbus Defence and Space, Air Liquide and ispace Europe have announced the joint creation of EURO2MOON. This non-profit organisation will be dedicated to promoting a better use of lunar natural resources, while accelerating the cis-lunar economy and federating industrial efforts across Europe. Bringing in complementary exper
Upgrading the Space Station's Cold Atom Lab with mixed reality
Wednesday, 27 October 2021 03:39NASA's Cold Atom Lab is a first-of-its-kind physics laboratory operating in Earth orbit. About the size of a mini-fridge, it hosts multiple experiments that explore the fundamental nature of atoms by cooling them down to nearly absolute zero (the coldest temperature matter can reach). The ultracold atoms provide a window into the quantum realm, where matter exhibits strange behaviors that underp
SpaceX modernises Crew Dragon toilet after 2 faulty missions
Wednesday, 27 October 2021 03:39Elon Musk's SpaceX company has upgraded the toilet system on the Crew Dragon spacecraft after running into several problems during previous launches, media reported. "For Crew-3, we've fixed this problem in the tank by essentially making it an all-welded structure with no longer a joint in there that can come unglued and become disconnected", the Spaceflight.now portal quoted Gerstenmaier
Need for Larger Space Telescope inspires lightweight flexible holographic lens
Wednesday, 27 October 2021 03:39Inspired by a concept for discovering exoplanets with a giant space telescope, a team of researchers is developing holographic lenses that render visible and infrared starlight into either a focused image or a spectrum. The experimental method, detailed in an article appearing in Nature Scientific Reports, could be used to create a lightweight flexible lens, many meters in diameter, that could b
China launches Shijian-21 satellite
Wednesday, 27 October 2021 03:39China successfully launched a new satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province Sunday. The satellite, Shijian-21, was launched at 9:27 a.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-3B carrier rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully. The satellite will be mainly used to test and verify space debris mitigation technologies. This launch
UK working with global partners to clear up dangerous space debris
Wednesday, 27 October 2021 03:39From developing our space tracking capabilities and promoting international efforts in space sustainability, to finding novel ways of removing space debris - the UK is leading the way to ensure the Earth's orbit can continue to be used now and in the future. Orbital congestion and space debris remains one of the biggest global challenges facing the space sector. There are currently an esti
Searching for Earth 2.0? Zoom in on a star
Tuesday, 26 October 2021 21:02Astronomers searching for Earth-like planets in other solar systems have made a breakthrough by taking a closer look at the surface of stars.
A new technique developed by an international team of researchers—led by Yale astronomers Rachael Roettenbacher, Sam Cabot, and Debra Fischer—uses a combination of data from ground-based and orbiting telescopes to distinguish between light signals coming from stars and signals coming from planets orbiting those stars.
A study detailing the discovery has been accepted by The Astronomical Journal.
"Our techniques pull together three different types of contemporaneous observations to focus on understanding the star and what its surface looks like," said Roettenbacher, a 51 Pegasi b postdoctoral fellow at Yale and lead author of the paper.
Verizon announces intent to use Amazon’s planned Project Kuiper constellation
Tuesday, 26 October 2021 20:19Verizon Communications is working with Amazon to develop solutions for its proposed Project Kuiper megaconstellation, with the aim of using the satellites to extend connectivity services to more rural and remote communities across the United States.