Computer simulations show that the miniature solar flares nicknamed ‘campfires’, discovered last year by ESA’s Solar Orbiter, are likely driven by a process that may contribute significantly to the heating of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona. If confirmed by further observations this adds a key piece to the puzzle of what heats the solar corona – one of the biggest mysteries in solar physics.

WASHINGTON — NASA and SpaceX are postponing the return of a Crew Dragon spacecraft by three days because of poor weather forecast in the splashdown location off the Florida coast.

NASA announced late April 26 that, in cooperation with SpaceX, it is postponing the return of the Crew-1 mission, which was scheduled to undock from the International Space Station April 28 and splash down in the Gulf of Mexico south of Tallahassee, Florida, later that day.

• ESA’s second Test-Bed Telescope has seen ‘first light’.
• It will help spot asteroids in space that could pose a risk to Earth.
• This telescope is the latest step towards ESA’s planned Flyeye telescope network.
• It is hosted at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.

• ESA’s second Test-Bed Telescope has seen ‘first light’.
• It will help spot asteroids in space that could pose a risk to Earth.
• This telescope is the latest step towards ESA’s planned Flyeye telescope network.
• It is hosted at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Washington DC (UPI) Apr 23, 2021
North Korean satellites launched into orbit are either unstable or not fully operational, and a reconnaissance satellite launched in February 2016 is not relaying data, a South Korean analyst said. Song Geun-ho, a professor at Korea Defense Language Institute at South Korea's Joint Forces Military University, said in a new report on North Korea's space program that Pyongyang's claims of vi

Whitney Wetsig, Air Force Research Laboratory
Wright-Patterson AFB OH (SPX) Apr 23, 2021 AFRL Inspire, a two-hour special event with eight TEDx-style talks, will be livestreamed from the Air Force Institute of Technology's Kenney Hall Auditorium April 28 beginning at 2 p.m. EDT. Inspire showcases the innovative ideas and passionate people AFRL has to offer as they provide entertaining and thought-provoking talks, share personal stories and

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Apr 23, 2021
Using the Atacama ALMA array, astronomers found a rotating baby galaxy 1/100th the size of the Milky Way at a time when the Universe was only seven percent of its present age. Thanks to assistance by the gravitational lens effect, the team was able to explore for the first time the nature of small and dark "normal galaxies" in the early Universe, representative of the main population of the firs

Washington (AFP) April 27, 2021
Blue Origin, the US space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, on Monday filed a protest against NASA's choice of rival SpaceX to build the module that will land the next US astronauts on the Moon. "NASA has executed a flawed acquisition for the Human Landing System program and moved the goalposts at the last minute," Blue Origin said in a statement sent to AFP. The decision "elimi

Beijing (XNA) Apr 27, 2021
China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, a major defense contractor, plans to produce a reusable aerospace plane and put it into commercial flight by 2030. The plane will take off from and land on a conventional runway like a jetliner and will be capable of flying in near space or even into outer space. The low-cost aircraft will have high-quality safety features and will be used to fulf

Chicago IL (SPX) Apr 27, 2021
One of the great mysteries of modern space science is neatly summed up by the view from NASA's Perseverance, which just landed on Mars: Today it's a desert planet, and yet the rover is sitting right next to an ancient river delta. The apparent contradiction has puzzled scientists for decades, especially because at the same time that Mars had flowing rivers, it was getting less than a third