NASA begins recruitment for long-duration Mars Mission Analog Study
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
As NASA ventures farther into the cosmos, the astronaut experience will change. In preparation for the real-life challenges of future missions to Mars, NASA will study how highly motivated individuals respond under the rigor of a long-duration, ground-based simulation.
NASA is now accepting applications for participation as a crew member during the first one-year analog mission in a habita Astronomers find evidence of possible life-sustaining planet
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
Astronomers have found signs of a planet that may have a life-supporting atmosphere, according to a study published Thursday.
The study, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, focuses on a planetary system named after the star it orbits, L 98-59, according to a press release. Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, the team of astronomers found a roc Scientists Have New Data on the Nearest Planet to the Sun
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
An international team of planetary scientists from Russia, Finland, and the United States has analyzed for the first time the factors that determine the number of boulders on the surface of the nearest planet to the Sun, Mercury. Boulders are fragments of rock that form as a result of meteorite impacts on the planet's surface and are located in areas of fresh impact craters hundreds of meters in New ESO observations show rocky exoplanet has just half the mass of Venus
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
A team of astronomers have used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) in Chile to shed new light on planets around a nearby star, L 98-59, that resemble those in the inner Solar System. Amongst the findings are a planet with half the mass of Venus - the lightest exoplanet ever to be measured using the radial velocity technique - an ocean world, and a possible plane Want to pretend to live on Mars? For a whole year? Apply now
Saturday, 07 August 2021 18:21
Perseverance first sampling attempt comes up empty
Saturday, 07 August 2021 13:19
NASA scientists and engineers are working to understand why the first sampling attempt by the Mars rover Perseverance failed to collect any material.
On National Security | How Space Force learned to worry about its culture of secrecy
Saturday, 07 August 2021 13:00
A famous line from the movie "Dr. Strangelove" nicely sums up the challenge the U.S. military faces trying to deter China and Russia from initiating attacks against U.S. satellites.
Rocket Lab shifts CAPSTONE launch to New Zealand
Friday, 06 August 2021 22:00
A NASA smallsat mission to test the orbit that will be used by the lunar Gateway will launch from New Zealand and not Virginia as originally planned.
TESS considering companion smallsat mission
Friday, 06 August 2021 19:08
The leaders of a NASA exoplanet mission are considering using a spare camera for a companion mission that would enable them to confirm existing discoveries and make new ones.
Ontario’s government invests in Lightspeed constellation
Friday, 06 August 2021 17:55
Telesat has struck a deal with Ontario’s government to partly fund its Lightspeed constellation, which will dedicate some of its satellite capacity to improving connectivity in the Canadian province.
Europe’s meteorological satellite agency makes first commercial data acquisition
Friday, 06 August 2021 16:01
Europe’s meteorological satellite agency is buying commercial data for the first time, raising hopes that it will open up more agency and government contracts to the private sector.
Op-ed | The Last Shuttle Flight — A 10-Year Lesson
Friday, 06 August 2021 15:38
July not only saw the successful launch of two private industry human spaceflight operations. It also marked the 10th anniversary of the last space shuttle flight.
Maritime connectivity specialist Marlink finds another private equity buyer
Friday, 06 August 2021 14:07
U.S. private equity giant Providence Equity Partners is in exclusive talks to buy a majority stake in Marlink, the maritime connectivity provider.
NASA's Juno celebrates 10 years with new infrared view of moon Ganymede
Friday, 06 August 2021 12:49
The spacecraft used its infrared instrument during recent flybys of Jupiter's mammoth moon to create this latest map, which comes out a decade after Juno's launch.
The science team for NASA's Juno spacecraft has produced a new infrared map of the mammoth Jovian moon Ganymede, combining data from three flybys, including its latest approach on July 20. These observations by the spacecraft's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument, which "sees" in infrared light not visible to the human eye, provide new information on Ganymede's icy shell and the composition of the ocean of liquid water beneath.
JIRAM was designed to capture the infrared light emerging from deep inside Jupiter, probing the weather layer down to 30 to 45 miles (50 to 70 kilometers) below Jupiter's cloud tops.
A few steps closer to Europa: Spacecraft hardware makes headway
Friday, 06 August 2021 12:49
Take a closer look at the complex choreography involved in building NASA's Europa Clipper as the mission to explore Jupiter's moon Europa approaches its 2024 launch date.
The hardware that makes up NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft is rapidly taking shape, as engineering components and instruments are prepared for delivery to the main clean room at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. In workshops and labs across the country and in Europe, teams are crafting the complex pieces that make up the whole as mission leaders direct the elaborate choreography of building a flagship mission.
The massive 10-foot-tall (3-meter-tall) propulsion module recently moved from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, where engineers will install electronics, radios, antennas, and cabling. The spacecraft's thick aluminum vault, which will protect Europa Clipper's electronics from Jupiter's intense radiation, is nearing completion at JPL. The building and testing of the science instruments at universities and partner institutions across the country continue as well.