Zhurong rover detects extremely weak magnetic fields on surface of Mars' Utopia Basin
Wednesday, 28 June 2023 09:49A joint research team led by Prof. DU Aimin from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS) has found extremely weak magnetic fields during the Zhurong rover's first 1-km traverse on Mars. This indicates no detectable magnetization anomalies below Zhurong's landing site. The researchers utilized two fluxgate magnetometers aboard the Zhurong rover to
Back on Track: Sols 3871-3872
Wednesday, 28 June 2023 09:49We started planning today with the great news that our drive was successful! This put us in a perfect position for our split touch-and-go plan - lots to see, and no need to worry that we might be on unsteady footing, like we were on Friday. Our two nearby targets are bedrock blocks: the nodular bedrock 'Lousoi,' which we'll be investigating up close (the 'touching' in the touch-and-go) wit
Gravity and dark matter, a bond beyond distances
Wednesday, 28 June 2023 09:49Isaac Newton formulated his theory of gravity as an action at a distance: a planet instantly feels the influence of another celestial body, no matter the distance between them. This characteristic motivated Einstein to develop the famous theory of general relativity, where gravity becomes a local deformation of spacetime. The principle of locality states that an object is directly influenced onl
'Smiling cat' nebula captured in new ESO image
Wednesday, 28 June 2023 09:49This cloud of orange and red, part of the Sh2-284 nebula, is shown here in spectacular detail using data from the VLT Survey Telescope, hosted by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). This nebula is teeming with young stars, as gas and dust within it clumps together to form new suns. If you take a look at the cloud as a whole, you might be able to make out the face of a cat, smiling down from
SES wins $134 million DoD contract for X-band satellite communications
Wednesday, 28 June 2023 07:17SES Space & Defense announced June 28 it won a five-year contract worth up to $134 million to provide X-band satellite communications services to DoD.
Spacesuit design: João Montenegro
Wednesday, 28 June 2023 06:12British startup powers up sensor for monitoring tiny orbital debris
Tuesday, 27 June 2023 21:03Odin Space is preparing to start detecting tiny but potentially dangerous pieces of orbital debris in the coming weeks from a sensor on a recently launched space tug, according to the British startup’s cofounder and CEO James New.
Chinese company plans to launch rocket comparable to Falcon 9 in 2024
Tuesday, 27 June 2023 20:21Chinese rocket firm Space Pioneer is planning to launch a rocket comparable to the SpaceX Falcon 9 next year.
Fixes needed before first Vulcan Centaur launch
Tuesday, 27 June 2023 20:00There's still work to be done, but United Launch Alliance has announced a path forward to finally get its new Vulcan Centaur rocket to its first launch.
The company sent an update Saturday announcing it had figured out what went wrong, and what needs fixing at its Alabama test facility that resulted in a fireball that damaged a test article of the Centaur V upper stage this spring.
"Centaur's thin-walled pressure stabilized tanks require minor reinforcement at the top of the forward dome prior to flight," the company stated in a press release.
That means the Centaur currently mated to the Vulcan first stage at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station that is tapped to fly on that rocket's first mission has to head back to Alabama to get that reinforcement.
The first and second stages recently completed a Flight Readiness Firing test at Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 41, and ULA said results of that hot fire hit all of the test objectives.
But now teams will de-stack the combined rocket and send Centaur V to ULA's Decatur, Alabama facility for the fix while the first-stage booster will be stored at ULA's Horizontal Integration Facility at Canaveral waiting for its return.
NASA's Roman and ESA's Euclid will team up to investigate dark energy
Tuesday, 27 June 2023 19:15A new space telescope named Euclid, an ESA (European Space Agency) mission with important contributions from NASA, is set to launch in July to explore why the universe's expansion is speeding up. Scientists call the unknown cause of this cosmic acceleration "dark energy." By May 2027, NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will join Euclid to explore this puzzle in ways that have never been possible before.
"Twenty-five years after its discovery, the universe's accelerated expansion remains one of the most pressing mysteries in astrophysics," said Jason Rhodes, a senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Rhodes is a deputy project scientist for Roman and the U.S. science lead for Euclid. "With these upcoming telescopes, we will measure dark energy in different ways and with far more precision than previously achievable, opening up a new era of exploration into this mystery.
Germany is building a tiny rover that will roam the surface of Phobos
Tuesday, 27 June 2023 19:02At this very moment, eleven robotic missions are operating in orbit or on the surface of Mars, more than at any point during the past 60 years. These include the many orbiters surveying the red planet from orbit, the handful of landers and rovers, and one helicopter (Ingenuity) studying the surface.
In the coming years, many more are expected, reflecting the growing number of nations participating in the exploration process. Once there, they will join in the ongoing search for clues about the planet's formation, evolution, and possible evidence that life once existed there.
However, there's also the mystery concerning the origin of Phobos and Deimos, Mars' two satellites. While scientists have long suspected that these two moons began as asteroids kicked from the Main Belt that were captured by Mars' gravity, there is no scientific consensus on this point.
PLD Space postpones first launch to September
Tuesday, 27 June 2023 18:12Spanish launch vehicle startup PLD Space has postponed a suborbital test flight to September after weather and a technical glitch scrubbed earlier launch attempts.
House appropriators target Space Force programs
Tuesday, 27 June 2023 18:03The House Appropriations Committee recommends nearly $1 billion in cuts from the U.S.
Airmo raises 5.2 million euros for climate-monitoring constellation
Tuesday, 27 June 2023 15:47German startup Airmo has raised 5.2 million euros in pre-seed funding, including investment and a European Space Agency contract.
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