No threat to Earth as huge asteroid zooms past
Sunday, 21 March 2021 08:47
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The largest asteroid to pass by Earth this year has made its closest approach, posing no threat of a cataclysmic collision but giving astronomers a rare chance to study a rock formed during the beginning of our solar system.
The asteroid was two million kilometres (1.25 million miles) away at its nearest, according to NASA—more than five times the distance between the Earth and the Moon but still close enough to be classified as a "potentially hazardous asteroid".
NASA tracks and catalogues such objects that could potentially slam into Earth and unleash enormous destruction, like the massive asteroid hit that wiped out 75 percent of life on the planet 66 million years ago.
Asteroid 2001 FO32, discovered 20 years ago, was too far to be that dangerous even as it reached its nearest point to Earth at around 1400 GMT Sunday, according to the Paris Observatory.
How ESA technology contributes to worldwide water security
Sunday, 21 March 2021 07:44 Write a comment
Whilst demand for fresh water is increasing, water sources are becoming depleted and polluted. With the Global Water Partnership believing that sustainable development will not be achieved without a water secure world, can we look to space to solve our water security problems on Earth?
Mars findings cataloged in Navajo language
Sunday, 21 March 2021 07:40 Write a comment
Native people have had ties to land in North America since time immemorial, and now that connection is expanding to the cosmos.
The Perseverance rover has been on Mars for a month, collecting data and making discoveries with each passing day.
A number of the findings, through a collaboration with NASA, have been catalogued in Diné Bizaad, the Navajo language.
The Perseverance team started with a list of 50 words and will expand the list as needed. According to a tweet from the rover itself, some terms have already been used, such as tsé łichíí (red rock), yéigo (diligence) and séítah (amongst the sand).
Before landing in the Jezero Crater on Máaz, Navajo for Mars, the Perseverance team divided the crater into a grid of "quadrangles" that were 1 square mile (2.6 square kilometers) in size and named the "quads" after national parks on Earth with similar geology.
The rover touched down in an area named after Arizona's Canyon de Chelly National Monument, which is in the Navajo Nation.
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, along with Vice President Myron Lizer and other advisers, came up with words from things they saw at the landing site, Indian Country Today reported.
Boston company plans satellites for global weather radar
Sunday, 21 March 2021 01:56 Write a comment
A Boston weather services company, ClimaCell, plans to launch dozens of miniaturized weather satellites to provide more accurate predictions in remote areas.
The company, which already sells weather data services to such firms as Uber and Delta, won't say how many satellites it plans. ClimaCell claims to have new technology that will allow relatively inexpensive construction of the spac Capturing all of light's data in one snapshot
Sunday, 21 March 2021 01:56 Write a comment
Engineers at Duke University are leading a nationwide effort to develop a camera that takes pictures worth not just a thousand words, but an entire encyclopedia.
Funded by a five-year, $7.5 million grant through the Department of Defense's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) competition, the team will develop a "super camera" that captures just about every type of infor When volcanoes go metal
Sunday, 21 March 2021 01:56 Write a comment
What would a volcano - and its lava flows - look like on a planetary body made primarily of metal? A pilot study from North Carolina State University offers insights into ferrovolcanism that could help scientists interpret landscape features on other worlds.
Volcanoes form when magma, which consists of the partially molten solids beneath a planet's surface, erupts. On Earth, that magma is Arianespace signs with Avio for 10 additional Vega C launchers
Saturday, 20 March 2021 12:35 Write a comment
During the recent meeting in Rome between Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery, and Giancarlo Giorgetti, Italian Minister of Economic Development, Arianespace announced the signature of an agreement with Avio to start production of 10 new Vega C launch vehicles.
This agreement kicks off the procurement of long lead-time items and the initial activities for t NASA mega moon rocket passes key test, readies for launch
Saturday, 20 March 2021 12:35 Write a comment
The largest rocket element NASA has ever built, the core stage of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, fired its four RS-25 engines for 8 minutes and 19 seconds Thursday at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
The successful test, known as a hot fire, is a critical milestone ahead of the agency's Artemis I mission, which will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on Biden nominates former Democratic senator as NASA chief
Saturday, 20 March 2021 12:35 Write a comment
The White House announced Friday that President Joe Biden was tapping Bill Nelson, a former Democratic senator for Florida who once flew on a Space Shuttle and helped craft key space legislation as his NASA chief.
The nomination appears to confirm Biden's interest in maintaining US leadership in space as NASA prepares to return to the Moon under the Artemis program, while pivoting towards co Russia's Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft re-docks on ISS
Saturday, 20 March 2021 12:35 Write a comment
The spacecraft is due to be relocated by the crew to another port of the International Space Station as part of preparatory work for the crew's next mission.
Sputnik is live from the International Space Station (ISS) as the Soyuz MS-17 space vehicle is being relocated from the station's Rassvet module to its Poisk module port. The operation is being conducted by an international crew, name Trinity researchers tackle the spiders from Mars
Saturday, 20 March 2021 12:35 Write a comment
Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have been shedding light on the enigmatic "spiders from Mars", providing the first physical evidence that these unique features on the planet's surface can be formed by the sublimation of CO2 ice.
Spiders, more formally referred to as araneiforms, are strange-looking negative topography radial systems of dendritic troughs; patterns that resemble branch Swiss kids suit up for 'Mission to Mars'
Saturday, 20 March 2021 12:35 Write a comment
Leo pulls on a shiny, silver suit and places the helmet gingerly over his head before marching with the other budding astronauts towards their spaceship.
"Going to Mars is really my dream," the eight-year-old said, jumping excitedly from foot to foot.
While the world has been riveted by the escapades of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, a group of Swiss primary school children has been eag Large asteroid to (safely) zip past Earth
Saturday, 20 March 2021 12:35 Write a comment
The largest asteroid to pass by Earth this year will swing closest on Sunday, giving astronomers a rare chance for a good look at a space rock that formed at the dawn of our solar system.
While in astronomical terms this marks a close encounter with the asteroid - called 2001 FO32 - NASA says there is no threat of a collision with our planet "now or for centuries to come".
The nearest Starlink reportedly courted by UK for rural broadband to get 'Gigafit'
Saturday, 20 March 2021 12:35 Write a comment
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's Starlink, technically a division within SpaceX, has already launched over 1,300 small, low orbit satellites to deliver high-speed broadband internet to consumers, with service currently limited to the northwest US, adjacent parts of Canada, parts of the UK and other areas.
The British Government has reportedly been in talks with Elon Musk's satellite ne Arianespace to hit its stride with next OneWeb launch
Saturday, 20 March 2021 12:35 Write a comment
By operating this fifth flight on behalf of OneWeb, Arianespace will bring the total fleet to 146 satellites in Low Earth Orbit. Arianespace is proud to share in the fulfilment of its customer's ultimate ambition: providing internet access for everyone, everywhere.
Flight ST30, the second commercial mission performed by Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, w