Exolaunch to facilitate launch of Lunasonde's Gossamer Satellite Constellation
Friday, 24 September 2021 08:37
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Berlin, Germany (SPX) Sep 24, 2021
Lunasonde, a startup that focuses on subsurface imaging from space, and Exolaunch, a global leader in rideshare launch, deployment and integration services for small satellites, announce the launch agreements to fly a portion of the Gossamer satellite constellation to a sun-synchronous orbit aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 Transporter missions in 2022. Though resources such as water and minerals
Lunasonde, a startup that focuses on subsurface imaging from space, and Exolaunch, a global leader in rideshare launch, deployment and integration services for small satellites, announce the launch agreements to fly a portion of the Gossamer satellite constellation to a sun-synchronous orbit aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 Transporter missions in 2022. Though resources such as water and minerals
How to weigh a quasar
Friday, 24 September 2021 08:37
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Heidelberg, Germany (SPX) Sep 24, 2021
Astronomers of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy have, for the first time, successfully tested a new method for determining the masses of extreme black holes in quasars. This method is called spectroastrometry and is based on the measurement of radiation emitted by gas in the vicinity of supermassive black holes. This measurement simultaneously determines the rotational velocity of th
Astronomers of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy have, for the first time, successfully tested a new method for determining the masses of extreme black holes in quasars. This method is called spectroastrometry and is based on the measurement of radiation emitted by gas in the vicinity of supermassive black holes. This measurement simultaneously determines the rotational velocity of th
Earth from Space: Calabria, Italy
Friday, 24 September 2021 07:00
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Calabria, often referred to as the ‘boot’ of Italy, is featured in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.
DLR is developing a Launch Coordination Center
Friday, 24 September 2021 06:41
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Braunschweig, Germany (SPX) Sep 24, 2021
The increasing commercialisation of space travel - often referred to as 'New Space' - will lead to significantly more spacecraft launches. More than 15,000 new satellites are expected to be launched in the current decade. Many of these satellites will be used for communications, navigation or Earth observation. To ensure continuity of operations, regular replacement of some of these satellites w
The increasing commercialisation of space travel - often referred to as 'New Space' - will lead to significantly more spacecraft launches. More than 15,000 new satellites are expected to be launched in the current decade. Many of these satellites will be used for communications, navigation or Earth observation. To ensure continuity of operations, regular replacement of some of these satellites w
NASA's Perseverance rover cameras capture Mars like never before
Friday, 24 September 2021 06:41
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Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 24, 2021
Scientists tap into an array of imagers aboard the six-wheeled explorer to get a big picture of the Red Planet. NASA's Perseverance rover has been exploring Jezero Crater for more than 217 Earth days (211 Martian days, or sols), and the dusty rocks there are beginning to tell their story - about a volatile young Mars flowing with lava and water. That story, stretching billions of yea
Scientists tap into an array of imagers aboard the six-wheeled explorer to get a big picture of the Red Planet. NASA's Perseverance rover has been exploring Jezero Crater for more than 217 Earth days (211 Martian days, or sols), and the dusty rocks there are beginning to tell their story - about a volatile young Mars flowing with lava and water. That story, stretching billions of yea
NASA's InSight finds three big marsquakes, thanks to solar-panel dusting
Friday, 24 September 2021 06:41
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Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 24, 2021
The lander cleared enough dust from one solar panel to keep its seismometer on through the summer, allowing scientists to study the three biggest quakes they've seen on Mars. On Sept. 18, NASA's InSight lander celebrated its 1,000th Martian day, or sol, by measuring one of the biggest, longest-lasting marsquakes the mission has ever detected. The temblor is estimated to be about a magnitud
The lander cleared enough dust from one solar panel to keep its seismometer on through the summer, allowing scientists to study the three biggest quakes they've seen on Mars. On Sept. 18, NASA's InSight lander celebrated its 1,000th Martian day, or sol, by measuring one of the biggest, longest-lasting marsquakes the mission has ever detected. The temblor is estimated to be about a magnitud
Peering into the Moon's shadows with AI
Friday, 24 September 2021 06:41
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Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany (SPX) Sep 24, 2021
The Moon is a cold, dry desert. Unlike the Earth, it is not surrounded by a protective atmosphere and water which existed during the Moon's formation has long since evaporated under the influence of solar radiation and escaped into space. Nevertheless, craters and depressions in the polar regions give some reason to hope for limited water resources. Scientists from MPS, the University of Oxford
The Moon is a cold, dry desert. Unlike the Earth, it is not surrounded by a protective atmosphere and water which existed during the Moon's formation has long since evaporated under the influence of solar radiation and escaped into space. Nevertheless, craters and depressions in the polar regions give some reason to hope for limited water resources. Scientists from MPS, the University of Oxford
Carbon dioxide reactor makes Martian fuel
Friday, 24 September 2021 06:41
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Cincinnati OH (SPX) Sep 24, 2021
Engineers at the University of Cincinnati are developing new ways to convert greenhouse gases to fuel to address climate change and get astronauts home from Mars. UC College of Engineering and Applied Science assistant professor Jingjie Wu and his students used a carbon catalyst in a reactor to convert carbon dioxide into methane. Known as the "Sabatier reaction" from the late French chemi
Engineers at the University of Cincinnati are developing new ways to convert greenhouse gases to fuel to address climate change and get astronauts home from Mars. UC College of Engineering and Applied Science assistant professor Jingjie Wu and his students used a carbon catalyst in a reactor to convert carbon dioxide into methane. Known as the "Sabatier reaction" from the late French chemi
Come on in, the water is superionic
Friday, 24 September 2021 06:41
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Livermore CA (SPX) Sep 24, 2021
The interiors of Uranus and Neptune each contain about 50,000 times the amount of water in Earth's oceans, and a form of water known as superionic water is believed to be stable at depths greater than approximately one-third of the radius of these ice giants. Superionic water is a phase of H2O where hydrogen atoms become liquid-like while oxygen atoms remain solid-like on a crystalline lat
The interiors of Uranus and Neptune each contain about 50,000 times the amount of water in Earth's oceans, and a form of water known as superionic water is believed to be stable at depths greater than approximately one-third of the radius of these ice giants. Superionic water is a phase of H2O where hydrogen atoms become liquid-like while oxygen atoms remain solid-like on a crystalline lat
Cloud-spotting on a distant exoplanet
Friday, 24 September 2021 06:41
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Paris, France (SPX) Sep 24, 2021
An international team of astronomers has not only detected clouds on the distant exoplanet WASP-127b, but also measured their altitude with unprecedented precision. A presentation by Dr Romain Allart at the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2021 shows how, by combining data from a space- and a ground-based telescope, the team has been able to reveal the upper structure of the planet's atmospher
An international team of astronomers has not only detected clouds on the distant exoplanet WASP-127b, but also measured their altitude with unprecedented precision. A presentation by Dr Romain Allart at the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2021 shows how, by combining data from a space- and a ground-based telescope, the team has been able to reveal the upper structure of the planet's atmospher
Cloudy days on exoplanets may hide atmospheric water
Friday, 24 September 2021 06:41
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Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 24, 2021
Water is a hot topic in the study of exoplanets, including "hot Jupiters," whose masses are similar to that of Jupiter, but which are much closer to their parent star than Jupiter is to the sun. They can reach a scorching 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,100 degrees Celsius), meaning any water they host would take the form of water vapor. Astronomers have found many hot Jupiters with water in t
Water is a hot topic in the study of exoplanets, including "hot Jupiters," whose masses are similar to that of Jupiter, but which are much closer to their parent star than Jupiter is to the sun. They can reach a scorching 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,100 degrees Celsius), meaning any water they host would take the form of water vapor. Astronomers have found many hot Jupiters with water in t
Hubble finds early, massive galaxies running on empty
Friday, 24 September 2021 06:41
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Baltimore MD (SPX) Sep 24, 2021
When the universe was about 3 billion years old, just 20% of its current age, it experienced the most prolific period of star birth in its history. But when NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in northern Chile gazed toward cosmic objects in this period, they found something odd: six early, massive, "dead" galaxies that had run out of the col
When the universe was about 3 billion years old, just 20% of its current age, it experienced the most prolific period of star birth in its history. But when NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in northern Chile gazed toward cosmic objects in this period, they found something odd: six early, massive, "dead" galaxies that had run out of the col
Gigantic cavity in space sheds new light on how stars form
Friday, 24 September 2021 06:41
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Boston MA (SPX) Sep 24, 2021
Astronomers analyzing 3D maps of the shapes and sizes of nearby molecular clouds have discovered a gigantic cavity in space. The sphere-shaped void, described in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, spans about 150 parsecs - nearly 500 light years - and is located on the sky among the constellations Perseus and Taurus. The research team, which is based at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard and
Astronomers analyzing 3D maps of the shapes and sizes of nearby molecular clouds have discovered a gigantic cavity in space. The sphere-shaped void, described in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, spans about 150 parsecs - nearly 500 light years - and is located on the sky among the constellations Perseus and Taurus. The research team, which is based at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard and
Hubble snapshot of "molten ring" galaxy prompts new research
Friday, 24 September 2021 06:41
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Baltimore MD (SPX) Sep 24, 2021
This Hubble picture exemplifies the fact that the universe is a vast stage for grand illusions. Albert Einstein realized this a century ago as he formulated his law of general relativity. Gravity, he said, warped space like stretching and twisting a rubber sheet. The consequences would be that images of distant objects would be magnified, brightened, and distorted into funhouse mirror view
This Hubble picture exemplifies the fact that the universe is a vast stage for grand illusions. Albert Einstein realized this a century ago as he formulated his law of general relativity. Gravity, he said, warped space like stretching and twisting a rubber sheet. The consequences would be that images of distant objects would be magnified, brightened, and distorted into funhouse mirror view
NASA urged to avoid space station gap
Thursday, 23 September 2021 23:02
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NASA needs to ensure that commercial space stations are ready before the International Space Station is retired to avoid a “space station gap” with geopolitical consequences, industry officials and other advisers warn.