Intuitive Machines delays first lunar lander launch to February
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 23:05
ESA Impact 2023 – Quarter 4
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 22:00
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ESA Impact 2023 – Quarter 4
Welcome to this edition of ESA Impact, an interactive publication covering stories and images from the last quarter of 2023.
Blue Origin returns to space after year-long hiatus
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 21:20 Write a comment
Blue Origin launched its first rocket in more than a year on Tuesday, reviving the US company's fortunes with a successful return to space following an uncrewed crash in 2022.
Though mission NS-24 carried a payload of science experiments, not people, it paves the way for Jeff Bezos' aerospace enterprise to resume taking wealthy thrill-seekers to the final frontier.
The New Shepard subor Wallonia brings in Europe’s investment arm to boost space industry
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 20:52
Bolivia's hypergravity blood cell test for astronaut health
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 19:48 Write a comment
Hera's solar wings are cleared for flight
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 18:44 Write a comment
The solar wings that will power ESA's Hera asteroid mission for planetary defense as it ventures out to meet the Dimorphos asteroid have been cleared for flight. As part of its current test campaign at ESA's ESTEC Test Center in the Netherlands, the spacecraft commanded the deployment of the wings one at a time, as it will do in space directly after launch—known as a "hot deployment."
The van-sized spacecraft is equipped with two 5-m long wings, made up of three hinged panels each. This adds up to an overall area of approximately 14 square meters in all, with more than 1,600 solar cells in total. Azur Space in Germany manufactured the solar cells, which were then interconnected and arranged into working arrays by Leonardo in Italy onto panels provided by Beyond Gravity in Switzerland.
Designed and qualified to operate at temperatures between -100°C and +140°C, the panels will continue working even with the sun at its furthest distance, out beyond Mars orbit, where the spacecraft will receive only 17% of sunlight compared to a satellite orbiting Earth. In the phases of the mission in which Hera will be most distant, the solar panels will generate around 800 watts, equal to the energy needed to power a small microwave oven.
Research suggests women lose more muscle than men in spaceflight
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 18:24 Write a comment
New research published ahead of print in the Journal of Applied Physiology suggests women lose more muscle than men in a microgravity environment such as spaceflight. The study "represent[s] the longest bed rest study on a large cohort of women" and underscores the need for more sex-specific studies on physiological responses to microgravity, the research team wrote.
Historically, only about 2 out of every 10 astronauts sent into space have been women. With NASA's decision to diversify crewmembers in future spaceflight missions, including the agency's intention to send the first woman to the moon in 2024, scientists are more interested than ever in discovering how biological sex plays a role in the physiological response to microgravity. However, existing literature on the female response to low-gravity environments is sparse.
The current study explored muscle loss (atrophy) in men and women during two extended bed rest trials. The men spent 90 days, and the women spent 60 days in a 6-degree head-down tilt position, where their head was below their feet.
New Shepard returns to flight with successful suborbital mission
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 17:24
Shining a light on NASA's deep space demo
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 16:36 Write a comment
NASA's Psyche mission launched on 13 October 2023 on a journey to explore what could be the exposed metallic core of an ancient planet.
Riding along on board the Psyche spacecraft is an additional technology demonstration. NASA's Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC) demonstration will test the use of lasers to transmit and receive more data with distant spacecraft than is possible with the radio waves currently in use.
Using a narrow laser beam to communicate with a spacecraft located 300 million km away presents a challenge on both interplanetary and quantum scales. However, if successful, the DSOC demonstration could unlock a world of new possibilities for future deep space missions.
ESA will participate in the DSOC demonstration in 2025 and work has begun to develop the required cutting-edge laser technology and ground infrastructure in Europe.
Blue Origin returns to space after yearlong hiatus
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 16:30 Write a comment
Blue Origin launched its first rocket in more than a year on Tuesday, reviving the US company's fortunes with a successful return to space following an uncrewed crash in 2022.
Though mission NS-24 carried a payload of science experiments, not people, it paves the way for Jeff Bezos' aerospace enterprise to resume taking wealthy thrill-seekers to the final frontier.
The New Shepard suborbital rocket blasted off from the pad at Launch Site One, near Van Horn, Texas, at 10:43 am local time (1643 GMT).
After separating from the booster, the gumdrop-shaped capsule attained a peak altitude of 66.5 miles (107 kilometers) above sea level, well above the internationally-recognized boundary of space known as the Karman line, which is 62 miles high.
The booster then successfully landed vertically on the launchpad, against the majestic backdrop of the Sierra Diablo mountains, followed a few minutes later by the capsule floating serenely to the desert floor on three giant parachutes.
Peregrine lunar lander ready for January launch
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 14:52
SpaceX to just miss goal of 100 Falcon launches in 2023
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 11:49
Bolivia’s hypergravity blood cell test for astronaut health
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 10:58 Write a comment
The latest international group to employ ESA’s hypergravity-generating Large Diameter Centrifuge is an all-female team from Bolivia, with access sponsored by the United Nations and ESA. The researchers are investigating whether the high gravity levels experienced during rocket launches might contribute to the anemia afflicting many astronauts in space.
Accurate snow mapping achieved in Switzerland through innovative AI-satellite technology
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 10:53 Write a comment
Switzerland's majestic mountains, a haven for winter sports enthusiasts and a critical area for hydropower generation, are now subject to a novel method of snow depth measurement. This fresh approach, developed by a collaborative effort between ETH Zurich and the Swiss company ExoLabs, utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) and satellite images, marking a significant advancement in environmental China's civil military dual-use space strategy
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 10:53 Write a comment
China has taken another significant step in enhancing its space-based Earth observation (EO) capabilities with the successful launch of the Yaogan-41 satellite. This latest addition to China's satellite constellation was launched from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan province, marking a continuation of the nation's ambitious foray into space technology.
The mission was execute