Paris (ESA) May 24, 2023
When ESA's Gaia spacecraft scanned the Scorpius constellation and its ancient globular star cluster Messier 4, it captured something strange: a huge dark blob at the cluster's centre, 800 times more massive than our Sun. It is normal for globular clusters to have dark centres made up of many dead stars. But the mass at the centre of Messier 4 looks different - despite being especially larg

Leeds UK (SPX) May 24, 2023
Academics at the University of Leeds believe they could have found the answer to a long-running mystery behind Jupiter's famous "stripes". Pictures of the planet are characterised by bands of colour, as well as the famous Great Red Spot, but these bands are often seen to move and change - something which scientists have until now not been able to explain. Now thanks to a new discover

Washington DC (SPX) May 24, 2023
For the first time, NASA scientists have strong evidence of a polar cyclone on Uranus. By examining radio waves emitted from the ice giant, they detected the phenomenon at the planet's north pole. The findings confirm a broad truth about all planets with substantial atmospheres in our solar system: Whether the planets are composed mainly of rock or gas, their atmospheres show signs of a swirling

Denver CO (SPX) May 24, 2023
In anticipation of NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample delivery this fall, the team held our first round of rehearsals April 17 to April 27. Our goal was to practice retrieving the spacecraft's sample capsule from a simulated landing site at Lockheed Martin's campus near Denver. I am the Lockheed Martin-based ground recovery lead for sample recovery operations and will help guide the team th

Mountain View CA (SPX) May 24, 2023
What would happen if we received a message from an extraterrestrial civilization? Daniela de Paulis, an established interdisciplinary artist and licensed radio operator who currently serves as Artist in Residence at the SETI Institute and the Green Bank Observatory, has brought together a team of international experts, including SETI researchers, space scientists, and artists, to stage her lates

Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 24, 2023
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has been selected as a successful bidder and is finalizing an asset purchase agreement for the purchase of certain Long Beach California aerospace production and manufacturing assets from Virgin Orbit Holdings, Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries ("Virgin Orbit") in Virgin Orbit's Chapter 11 bankruptcy auction. Rocket Lab's successful bid of approximately $16.1 millio

Beijing (XNA) May 24, 2023
China's next manned mission, the Shenzhou XVI, is scheduled to be launched in the coming days to transport three astronauts to the Tiangong space station, according to the China Manned Space Agency. The Shenzhou XVI crewed spacecraft and its carrier, a Long March 2F rocket, were moved to the service tower on Monday at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert,

Seoul (AFP) May 24, 2023
South Korea on Wednesday postponed the launch of its homegrown Nuri rocket after a technical glitch was detected just hours before lift-off, officials said. It was the third planned launch of Nuri, following a failed first attempt and a successful second mission last year. A communication error between the launch control computer and another computer managing the launch pad was detected

The Arctic, once again at the forefront of climate change, is experiencing disproportionately higher temperature increases compared to the rest of the planet, triggering a series of cascading effects known as Arctic amplification. As concerns continue to grow, satellites developed by ESA have become indispensable tools in understanding and addressing the complex dynamics at play and the far-reaching consequences for the environment and human societies.