Research to boost astronaut health for future space missions
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52New research backed by the UK Space Agency will look to solve challenges such as muscle loss and isolation stress that astronauts face during long missions The research, which uses the low gravity (microgravity) environment of the International Space Station and other facilities that provide similar conditions to space, could also potentially benefit people who suffer from conditions such
Using the Moon to address digital inequality
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52Most Americans take access to reliable, fast wireless internet (Wi-Fi) for granted. Yet, in underserved communities, reliable internet access can be as elusive as it is on the Moon. NASA is working to solve both challenges. Digital inequality or inadequate internet access is a socioeconomic concern across the United States, and the pandemic has worsened the divide. In Cleveland, home of NA
Dwarf planet Vesta a window to the early solar system
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52The dwarf planet Vesta is helping scientists better understand the earliest era in the formation of our solar system. Two recent papers involving scientists from the University of California, Davis, use data from meteorites derived from Vesta to resolve the "missing mantle problem" and push back our knowledge of the solar system to just a couple of million years after it began to form. The paper
NASA launches Lucy probe to explore Jupiter asteroids
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52NASA launched a spacecraft called Lucy on a 12-year mission to explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids for the first time on Saturday, gathering new insights into the solar system's formation. The Atlas V rocket responsible for propelling the probe took off at 5:34 am local time (0934 GMT) from Cape Canaveral. Named after an ancient fossil of a pre-human ancestor, Lucy will become the first s
Study demonstrates Lunar composition mapping capabilities of SwRI-created space instrument
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52A new study by a recent graduate of Southwest Research Institute's joint graduate program in physics with The University of Texas at San Antonio demonstrates the ability of the Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) to determine the composition of areas on the lunar surface by measuring the reflectance of far-ultraviolet (far-UV) light. LAMP is an SwRI-created, far-UV spectrograph instrument a
Late-time small-body disruptions can protect the Earth
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52If an asteroid is determined to be on an Earth-impacting trajectory, scientists typically want to stage a deflection, where the asteroid is gently nudged by a relatively small change in velocity, while keeping the bulk of the asteroid together. A kinetic impactor or a standoff nuclear explosion can achieve a deflection. However, if the warning time is too short to stage a successful deflec
Is Planetary Defense PI in the Sky?
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52In February of 2013, skywatchers around the world turned their attention toward asteroid 2012 DA14, a cosmic rock about 150 feet (50 meters) in diameter that was going to fly closer to Earth than the spacecraft that bring us satellite TV. Little did they realize as they prepared for the once-in-several-decades event that another bit of celestial debris was hurtling toward Earth, with a mor
How the Sun affects asteroids in our neighborhood
Monday, 18 October 2021 07:37Asteroids embody the story of our solar system's beginning. Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, which orbit the Sun on the same path as the gas giant, are no exception. The Trojans are thought to be left over from the objects that eventually formed our planets, and studying them might offer clues about how the solar system came to be.
Over the next 12 years, NASA's Lucy mission will visit eight asteroids—including seven Trojans—to help answer big questions about planet formation and the origins of our solar system. It will take the spacecraft about three and a half years to reach its first destination. What might Lucy find?
Like all the planets, asteroids exist in the heliosphere, the vast bubble of space defined by the reaches of our Sun's wind. Directly and indirectly, the Sun affects many aspects of existence within this pocket of the universe. Here are a few of the ways the Sun influences asteroids like the Trojans in our solar system.
Place in Space
The Sun makes up 99.8% of the solar system's mass and exerts a strong gravitational force as a result.
NASA investigating issue with Lucy solar array
Sunday, 17 October 2021 22:41Engineers are investigating why one of the two solar arrays on NASA’s Lucy spacecraft may have failed to lock into place when deployed after launch Oct. 16.
Aurora under technology
Sunday, 17 October 2021 17:30Timelapse video made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s second mission to the International Space Station, “Alpha”. The camera is setup to take pictures at intervals of two a second, and the pictures are then edited into this video that plays at 25 pictures a second. The video is around 12 times faster than real speed.
Thomas shared this video on social media with the caption:
“Sometimes aurora seem to creep over the horizon and envelop our globe. Under the technological powerhouse of Canadarm, the Station's solar panels and one of our radio antennas, this timelapse passes the aurora so
Folding clothes in space
Sunday, 17 October 2021 16:00ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet is sharing scenes from life on board the International Space Station during his second mission “Alpha”. Some things are easier without gravity getting in the way, some things are more difficult in weightlessness. Folding clothes is one of the more difficult things to do! Luckily astronauts in space do not have to do any washing or ironing, they use their t-shirts until dirty (generally after two weeks) and then wear new ones. Thomas shared this video on social media with the caption:
“Folding clothes in space is... hard! Luckily we don't need to most
Soyuz returns cosmonauts and film crew to Earth
Sunday, 17 October 2021 11:16A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a cosmonaut and two spaceflight participants landed in Kazakhstan Oct. 17, nearly two days after that spacecraft caused the station to briefly lose attitude control.
Russian crew return to Earth after filming first movie in space
Sunday, 17 October 2021 08:16A Russian actress and a film director returned to Earth Sunday after spending 12 days on the International Space Station (ISS) shooting scenes for the first movie in orbit.
Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko landed as scheduled on Kazakhstan's steppe at 0436 GMT, according to footage broadcast live by the Russian space agency.
They were ferried back to terra firma by cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, who had been on the space station for the past six months.
"The descent vehicle of the crewed spacecraft Soyuz MS-18 is standing upright and is secure. The crew are feeling good!" Russian space agency Roscosmos tweeted.
The filmmakers had blasted off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan earlier this month, travelling to the ISS with veteran cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov to film scenes for "The Challenge".
Russians return to Earth after filming first movie in space
Sunday, 17 October 2021 08:16A Russian actress and a film director returned to Earth Sunday after spending 12 days on the International Space Station (ISS) shooting scenes for the first movie in orbit.
Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko landed as scheduled on Kazakhstan's steppe at 0436 GMT, according to footage broadcast live by the Russian space agency.
They were ferried back to terra firma by cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, who had been on the space station for the past six months.
"The descent vehicle of the crewed spacecraft Soyuz MS-18 is standing upright and is secure. The crew are feeling good!" Russian space agency Roscosmos tweeted.
The filmmakers had blasted off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan earlier this month, travelling to the ISS with veteran cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov to film scenes for "The Challenge".
Atlas 5 launches NASA’s Lucy asteroid mission
Saturday, 16 October 2021 10:46An Atlas 5 successfully launched a NASA spacecraft Oct. 16 on a mission to study distant asteroids that may hold clues to the early history of the solar system.