Supply chain, Artemis program limits SLS use for science missions
Thursday, 08 July 2021 10:30
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WASHINGTON — A limited supply chain and the demands of the Artemis program will prevent the use of the Space Launch System for alternative roles, such as launching science missions, until at least late this decade.
In a briefing about the SLS to the steering committee of the planetary science decadal survey July 7, Robert Stough of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center said that if scientists are contemplating missions that require the use of the SLS, they should be talking with NASA now to secure manifest slots no earlier than the late 2020s or early 2030s.
Supply chain, Artemis program limit SLS use for science missions
Thursday, 08 July 2021 10:30 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — A limited supply chain and the demands of the Artemis program will prevent the use of the Space Launch System for alternative roles, such as launching science missions, until at least late this decade.
In a briefing about the SLS to the steering committee of the planetary science decadal survey July 7, Robert Stough of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center said that if scientists are contemplating missions that require the use of the SLS, they should be talking with NASA now to secure manifest slots no earlier than the late 2020s or early 2030s.
How does satellite communication work? ROBert explains all!
Thursday, 08 July 2021 08:00 Write a comment
Trying to explain satellite communication to children is no easy task, so why not let robot host ROBert help? In the third of the ROBert Knows videos created by ESA and PLAYMOBIL, ROBert examines how satellite communication works with a little help from our own expert Director of TIA, Elodie Viau.
Link to Webb launch kit
Thursday, 08 July 2021 06:01 Write a comment
Webb launch kit
Interactive infographics and background information to prepare for Webb's launch
Sea to stars: first Arab woman astronaut in training
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 16:14 Write a comment
The UAE's Nora al-Matrooshi is the first Arab woman to start training to be an astronaut, one of two Emiratis picked from thousands of applicants as the Gulf nation looks to the stars.
The 28-year-old mechanical engineer from Sharjah—one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE—has dreamt about space since she was a girl, learning about planets and stars at school.
And while there are no space missions scheduled, she hopes to have the opportunity to one day visit space, continuing the tradition of exploration begun by her sailor ancestors.
Planet valued at $2.8 billion in SPAC deal
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 14:46 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Planet announced July 7 it will go public in a $2.8 billion deal with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), the second SPAC deal in the Earth observation sector in as many days.
Small amount of lithium production in classical nova
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 12:42 Write a comment
A new study of lithium production in a classical nova found a production rate of only a couple of percent that seen in other examples. This shows that there is a large diversity within classical novae and implies that nova explosions alone cannot explain the amount of lithium seen in the current universe.
Image: The heart of a lunar sensor
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 12:00 Write a comment
The heart of the Exospheric Mass Spectrometer (EMS) is visible in this image of the key sensor that will study the abundance of lunar water and water ice for upcoming missions to the Moon.
This spectrometer is being delivered to NASA today as part of the PITMS instrument for its launch to the Moon later this year.
EMS is based on an 'ion trap', an ingenious detector device that allows researchers to identify and quantify sample atoms and molecules in a gas and allows to establish a corresponding mass spectrum. Scientists at The Open University and RAL Space are developing EMS under an ESA contract.
Lunar molecules entering the sensor are bombarded by electrons emitted by a heated wire to create ions. The resulting ions are stored within an electric field formed by a set of precisely-shaped electrodes. The ions are then released from this 'trap' in order of increasing mass/charge ratio into the detector that identifies and quantifies their chemical makeup.
This will allow the instrument to measure water and other molecules in the very thin atmosphere of the Moon throughout the lunar day to study a lunar 'water cycle' concept.
Image:
A touch of sun New satellite data techniques reveal coastal sea-level rise
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 09:15 Write a comment
For the hundreds of millions of people living in coastal regions around the world, rising seas driven by climate change pose a direct threat. In order for authorities to plan appropriate protection strategies, accurate information on sea-level rise close to the coast is imperative. For various reasons, these measurements are difficult to get from satellites. However, new ESA-funded research demonstrates how a specific way of processing satellite altimetry data now makes it possible to determine sea-level change in coastal areas with millimetre per year accuracy, and even if the sea is covered by ice.
NOAA to take first step toward a small satellite constellation
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 08:00 Write a comment
It’s a good thing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has plenty of time to prepare for its next generation of polar-orbiting weather satellites — because the changes the agency is contemplating are dramatic.
Instead of flying satellites the size of pickup trucks like the current Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), NOAA is exploring the benefits of feeding data supplied by a constellation of small satellites in low Earth orbit into weather forecast models.
The Making of JUICE - Episode 5
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 08:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:05:08
The ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) team has been working very hard to prepare the spacecraft for the first test in the one-year long environmental test campaign. This is the so-called Thermal Balance Thermal Vacuum (TBTV) test.
Juice is in the Large Space Simulator (LSS), a unique facility in Europe (run by the European Test Center, at ESA/ESTEC in the Netherlands) that can simulate the vacuum and cold and hot temperature conditions in space, and also the Sun itself!
The TBTV started on 17 June with the closure of the LSS and the "pumping-down", meaning the removal of
International Space Station update: June in orbit
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 05:35 Write a comment
Just over two months into his Alpha mission, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet has performed three spacewalks and supported numerous European and international experiments in microgravity. As the International Space Station crew embark on another busy month in low-Earth orbit, we reflect on some highlights from June.
Methane in the plumes of Saturn's moon Enceladus: Possible signs of life?
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 04:32 Write a comment
An unknown methane-producing process is likely at work in the hidden ocean beneath the icy shell of Saturn's moon Enceladus, suggests a new study published in Nature Astronomy by scientists at the University of Arizona and Paris Sciences and Lettres University.
Giant water plumes erupting from Enceladus have long fascinated scientists and the public alike, inspiring research and speculatio What does it take to do a spacewalk
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 04:32 Write a comment
On June 25, astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet successfully completed an almost seven-hour EVA (extravehicular activity, or spacewalk) to install solar panels on the International Space Station. What does it take to don a spacesuit and venture out on such a technical and dangerous mission? Surprisingly, one of the main criteria (besides the years of astronaut training) is body size.