Distant planet may be on its second atmosphere
Thursday, 11 March 2021 05:11
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Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence that a planet orbiting a distant star may have lost its atmosphere but gained a second one through volcanic activity.
The planet, GJ 1132 b, is hypothesized to have begun as a gaseous world with a thick hydrogen blanket of atmosphere. Starting out at several times the diameter of Earth, this so-called "sub-Neptune" is belie Hubble set to resume science operations
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NASA is working to return the Hubble Space Telescope to science operations after resolving a problem with a safeguard aboard. Hubble entered safe mode on Sunday, March 7, shortly after 4 a.m. EST, following detection of a software error within the spacecraft's main computer.
The spacecraft has been moved out of safe mode into a pre-science state with the plan of returning to normal operati The five most expensive works by living artists
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As a digital collage by US artist Beeple sells for $69.3 million, we look at the five works by living artists that have fetched the most at auction.
- 'Rabbit', Jeff Koons -
The stainless steel casting of an inflatable rabbit fetched a record price for a living artist of $91.1 million at Christie's in May 2019.
Just over a metre tall (41 inches), the 1986 work is one of 66-year-old From better sunglasses to a better way of looking at asteroid surfaces
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Using the same principles that make polarized sunglasses possible, a team of researchers at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico have developed a technique that will help better defend against asteroids on a collision course with Earth.
A new study recently published in The Planetary Science Journal found a better way to interpret radar signals bounced off asteroids' surfaces. The data c Pioneering UK space technology gets government cash boost
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Five UK organisations have been awarded a total of 300,000 pounds from the UK Space Agency to speed up the development of innovative space technology.
Recipients include the University of Leeds, which will develop 3D printing methods and liquid-crystal technology, similar to that in our television screens at home, to develop far-infrared sensors for studying climate change and star formati Umbra hits regulatory "jackpot" for its satellite constellation able to see a soda can from space
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Umbra, a geospatial intelligence data provider, was granted a license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate its Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite with 1,200 MHz of bandwidth. This bandwidth allocation will allow them to generate images with as low as 15-centimeter (6 inch) ground sampling distance (GSD). At this resolution, Umbra's satellites will be able to detect i SpaceX launches 21st Starlink communications satellite cluster
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SpaceX successfully launched 60 Starlink satellites early Thursday from Florida on a first-stage booster rocket that previously carried two astronauts into space.
Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket occurred as scheduled at 3:13 a.m. EST from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The launch was planned as SpaceX seeks permission from the Federal Communications Commission to beam St Canadian firm builds satellites to track space trash
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A Canadian startup plans to launch the first-ever commercial fleet of satellites designed to track dangerous space trash in 2022.
Montreal-based NorthStar Earth and Space has three of its Skylark satellites under construction for the new network, which eventually will number about 52 spacecraft.
The fleet would be the first of its kind to track space trash from space, rather than from gro Satellogic expanding U.S. footprint with eye on national security market
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 23:02 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Earth observation company Satellogic is expanding its presence in the United States to compete in the government market. It is standing up a U.S. subsidiary specifically to work with national security agencies, Matthew Tirman, head of Satellogic North America, told SpaceNews.
China successfully launches new Long March 7A on second attempt
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 19:03 Write a comment
HELSINKI — China launched a new-generation Long March 7A rocket Thursday, sending a classified, experimental payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit.
Liftoff from the coastal Wenchang Satellite Launch Center occurred at 12:51 p.m.
Speedcast emerges from bankruptcy with clean balance sheet
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 18:10 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — Satellite communications provider Speedcast emerged Thursday from nearly a year in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under private equity ownership.
Centerbridge Partners, which manages about $28 billion of assets, has officially taken ownership of the company after completing all necessary regulatory and administrative requirements.
From the pandemic to going public: Space startups face hiring challenges
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 16:29 Write a comment
For many companies in the industry, filling job openings can seem as difficult as rocket science. For others, it simply involves rockets.
SpaceX often uses its launch webcasts as recruiting tools, taking advantage of an audience of thousands who will tune in at all hours to see a rocket launch and landing.
How the habitability of exoplanets is influenced by their rocks
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 15:28 Write a comment
The weathering of silicate rocks plays an important role to keep the climate on Earth clement. Scientists led by the University of Bern and the Swiss national center of competence in research (NCCR) PlanetS, investigated the general principles of this process. Their results could influence how we interpret the signals from distant worlds—including such that may hint towards life.
The conditions on Earth are ideal for life. Most places on our planet are neither too hot nor too cold and offer liquid water. These and other requirements for life, however, delicately depend on the right composition of the atmosphere.
A dose of Moonlight: A mission to to provide telecommunications and navigation services for the Moon
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 15:20 Write a comment
An orange pouch and a yellow cable are paving the way for missions to the moon. By monitoring space radiation and enabling faster communications, the Dosis-3D experiment and the Columbus Ka-band or ColKa terminal, respectively, are providing the insights needed to enable safer missions father out in space.
Orange Dosis-3D pouches are everywhere in the Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station. A series of active and passive dosimeters, they measure space radiation inside the module as well as how it penetrates the Space Station's walls.
Radiation levels in space are up to 15 times higher than on Earth. As soon as humans leave the protective shield that is Earth's atmosphere, space radiation becomes a serious concern.
The Columbus module is monitored by 11 passive dosimeters. The dosimeters are about the size of a pack of playing cards and attach to the walls of Columbus with Velcro. The detectors record how much radiation has been absorbed in total during the period they are in space.
This experiment has been monitoring radiation levels for a number of years and after each six-month crew rotation, the detectors are replaced to record changes in radiation.
The solar wind, explained
Wednesday, 10 March 2021 14:42 Write a comment
The solar wind is a flow of particles that comes off the sun at about one million miles per hour and travels throughout the entire solar system. First proposed in the 1950s by University of Chicago physicist Eugene Parker, the solar wind is visible in the halo around the sun during an eclipse and sometimes when the particles hit the Earth's atmosphere—as the aurora borealis, or northern lights.
While the solar wind protects Earth from other harmful particles coming from space, storms can also threaten our satellite and communications networks.
What is the solar wind?
The surface of the sun is blisteringly hot at 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit—but its atmosphere, called the corona, is more than a thousand times hotter. It is also incredibly active; those flares and loops are the halo you see around the sun when there's an eclipse.
The corona is so hot that the sun's gravity can't hold it, so particles are flung off into space and travel throughout the solar system in every direction. As the sun spins, burns and burps, it creates complex swirls and eddies of particles. These particles, mostly protons and electrons, are traveling about a million miles per hour as they pass Earth.