Catch comet R4 ATLAS as it nears Earth
Thursday, 22 April 2021 12:43
Looking to do some springtime astronomy? With temperatures warming up in the northern hemisphere in April through May, galaxy season is upon us. At dusk, the area in the Bowl of Virgo asterism rising in the east is rife with clusters of galaxies that spill over into the adjacent constellations of Coma Berenices and Boötes…
But this May, keep an eye out for a fuzzball interloper that is not a galaxy: Comet C/2020 R4 ATLAS.
Discovered on the night of September 12, 2020, by the prolific automated Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) sky survey based in Haleakala (ALTAS-HKO) and Mauna Loa (ATLAS-MLO) Hawaii, R4 ATLAS has proven to be an over-achiever. In fact, it was never initially predicted to top +10th magnitude… until a surprise outburst in late December 2020 shot it up 100-fold in brightness, from +18th to +13th magnitude. As of writing this, it sits at about +8th magnitude "with a bullet," and may top out +7th magnitude this week.
OQ Technology secures launches for propriety satellites as connected device market ramps up
Thursday, 22 April 2021 11:47
TAMPA, Fla. — OQ Technology, a Luxembourg space startup created to connect internet of things (IoT) devices to 5G technology, has signed a multi-launch deal with rideshare specialist Spaceflight to loft its own small satellites.
NASA's Webb Telescope to study young exoplanets on the edge
Thursday, 22 April 2021 11:25
Op-ed | Space is Vital for Earth Day
Thursday, 22 April 2021 11:00
Space is vital to the mission and spirit of Earth Day. One might even say that Space is really all about Earth. From Space, we monitor forests, deserts and regions under stress in order to better protect them.
ESA astronaut André Kuipers on sheltering from space debris
Thursday, 22 April 2021 10:35
André Kuipers is one of a handful of astronauts who has had to 'shelter-in-place' from a piece of marauding space debris.
NASA emphasizes good relationship with Roscosmos as Russia mulls exiting ISS
Thursday, 22 April 2021 10:27
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — NASA’s acting head says the agency’s relationship with Russia remains good despite comments by Russian officials in recent days that the country could abandon the International Space Station as soon as 2025.
Yuri Borisov, Russian deputy prime minister, said on Russian television April 18 that Russia could withdraw from the ISS partnership in 2025.
China Orbiting 400 Satellites, Heading for 1,000 by 2030, US Space Command Chief Says
Thursday, 22 April 2021 07:03
China now has 400 satellites in orbit, second only in number to the United States and it is projected to have at least one thousand of them deployed by the end of this decade, Space Command chief Army General James Dickinson said in congressional testimony on Tuesday.
"Back in 2010 they had 70 satellites in orbit: Today they have 400," Dickinson told the US Senate Armed Services Committee. The End of Space Access
Thursday, 22 April 2021 07:03
Many recent articles have expressed concern about the growing amount of junk floating around Earth in low orbits. Ultimately, the mass and distribution of junk and active satellites will exceed the capacity of space to safely contain the debris generated by the addition of more than an estimated 50,000 new satellites planned for deployment in the next few years. If and when this limit is reached Can a new type of glacier on Mars aid future astronauts
Thursday, 22 April 2021 07:03
On April 21, 1908, near Earth's North Pole, the Arctic explorer Frederick Albert Cook scrawled in his diary a memorable phrase: "We were the only pulsating creatures in a dead world of ice." These words may soon take on new significance for humankind in another dead world of hidden ice, submerged beneath the red sand of its frigid deserts. This dead world is Mars, and the desert is the planet's Hide and Seek - How NASA's Lucy Mission Team Discovered Eurybates' Satellite
Thursday, 22 April 2021 07:03
On Jan. 9, 2020, NASA's Lucy mission officially announced that it would be visiting not seven, but eight asteroids. As it turns out, Eurybates, one of the asteroids along Lucy's path, has a small satellite.
Though searching for satellites is one of the mission's central goals, finding these tiny worlds before Lucy is launched gives the team the opportunity to investigate their orbits and p SolAero Technologies' Ingenuity on Mars
Thursday, 22 April 2021 07:03
SolAero Technologies, a leading provider of high efficiency solar cells composite structural products for satellite and aerospace applications, congratulates the team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL) on the successful maiden flight of the Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity. SolAero is proud to have supplied the solar panel that has enabled the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. Dodging debris to keep satellites safe
Thursday, 22 April 2021 07:00
Video:
00:01:31
Our planet is surrounded by spacecraft helping us study our changing climate, save lives following disasters, deliver global communication and navigation services and help us answer important scientific questions.
But these satellites are at risk. Accidental collisions between objects in space can produce huge clouds of fast-moving debris that can spread and damage additional satellites with cascading effect.
In this animation, find out how teams at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, take action to keep satellites safe after receiving an alert warning of a possible collision between an active satellite and a piece of
MOXIE creates oxygen on Mars
Thursday, 22 April 2021 03:38
NASA's Perseverance rover has been marking milestones on Mars since landing on the Red Planet in February. Its latest historic accomplishment is the first creation of oxygen from carbon dioxide in the thin Mars atmosphere. Mission time is measured in sols, or Martian days. Oxygen production was achieved early in the evening of April 20, or early morning on Sol 60 in Jezero Crater.
MOXIE (M NASA to participate in tabletop exercise simulating asteroid impact
Thursday, 22 April 2021 03:38
JPL's Center for Near Earth Object Studies will lead the hypothetical impact scenario to see how international agencies respond to an actual impact prediction. During the week of April 26, members of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) will participate in a "tabletop exercise" to simulate an asteroid impact scenario.
The exercise depicting this fictional event is being led Perseverance extracts first oxygen from Mars surface materials
Thursday, 22 April 2021 03:38
The growing list of "firsts" for Perseverance, NASA's newest six-wheeled robot on the Martian surface, includes converting some of the Red Planet's thin, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere into oxygen. A toaster-size, experimental instrument aboard Perseverance called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) accomplished the task. The test took place April 20, the 60th Martian