Copernical Team
Mars reveals liquid core as scientists measure first seismic waves
Scientists have confirmed that Mars' core is liquid as seismic wave measurements have given valuable first-time clues about how the Red Planet was formed.
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show Mars' core is a completely liquid iron-alloy core with high percentages of sulfur and oxygen, unlike Earth's core, which is a combination of a liquid Fleet Space Technologies secures Australian defence space command contract
Fleet Space Technologies, an Australian space technology company, has signed a AUD$6.4 million contract with Australia's Defence Space Command. The agreement marks the company's first foray into the defence sector and will see Fleet's next-generation Centauri satellites used to develop and demonstrate a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications system.
The program, named ASCEND2LEO, w Moon shot: Japan firm to attempt historic lunar landing
A Japanese space start-up will attempt Tuesday to become the first private company to put a lander on the Moon.
If all goes to plan, ispace's Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander will start its descent towards the lunar surface at around 1540 GMT.
It will slow its orbit some 100 kilometres above the Moon, then adjust its speed and altitude to make a "soft landing" around an hour later.
Success L3Harris awarded $145M to modernize US Space Domain Awareness capabilities
L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) announced the award of option year four of the Maintenance Of Space Situational Awareness Integrated Capabilities (MOSSAIC) program. The $145 million contract from the U.S. Space Force continues the modernization and sustainment of critical space infrastructure enabling the Space Force core competency of Space Domain Awareness (SDA).
In support of the U.S. UAE probe offers unprecedented view of Mars moon
The United Arab Emirates' Hope space probe on Monday revealed Mars' smaller moon Deimos in unprecedented detail, shedding new light on the origin of the mysterious lumpy satellite.
The probe, the Arab world's first interplanetary mission, has been orbiting Mars for two years, regularly flying past Deimos and its big sibling moon Phobos.
It came within 110 kilometres (68 miles) from Deimo UAE spacecraft takes close-up photos of Mars' little moon
A spacecraft around Mars has sent back the most detailed photos yet of the red planet's little moon.
The United Arab Emirates' Amal spacecraft flew within 62 miles (100 kilometers) of Deimos last month and the close-up shots were released Monday. Amal—Arabic for Hope—got a two-for-one when Mars photobombed some of the images.
Cultivating salad plants that can be grown on the Moon
NASA has finished its planning and is ready to go. Humans will soon be returning to the Moon—this time in a manned base. But, if this project is to succeed, astronauts must be able to grow their own food. Norwegian researchers are in the process of making this possible.
The lunar "soil," or regolith as geologists call it, is essentially a powder in which it is difficult to grow plants. As if this wasn't enough, the moon is characterized by temperatures that can reach 200 degrees during the day and fall to as low as minus 183 degrees at night.
So says SINTEF researcher Galina Simonsen. However, in spite of this, Simonsen and her colleagues working as part of the international project LunarPlant, which is being headed by NTNU Social Research and the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Space (CIRiS), believe that it will be possible to grow food plants on the moon.
Is sex in space being taken seriously by the emerging space tourism sector?
What would a human conception in space mean for the sector? That's the situation posed by an international group of scientists, clinicians and other interested parties, who have authored a consultative green paper led by David Cullen, Professor of Astrobiology & Space Biotechnology at Cranfield University.
It highlights that the emerging space tourism sector has not openly considered or discussed the risks of sex in space or prepared suitable mitigation approaches. It argues it is unrealistic to assume all future space tourists will abstain from sexual activities—opening the possibility of human conception and the early stages of human reproduction occurring in space.
This appears to pose several risks, those of a biological nature such as embryo developmental risks and those of a commercial nature such as liability, litigation, and reputational damage. The authors recommend that an open discussion is now needed within the space tourism industry to consider the risks.
Open discussion on human conception in space tourism is lacking
Professor Cullen from Cranfield University led the work. He said, "Our starting point was a throwaway comment about sex in space, but when we checked, we were surprised the sector has not openly considered the risks and this led to the study.
What colour is an asteroid? Hyperspectral imager to find out
What colour is an asteroid? The latest instrument being prepared for ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence will observe its target Dimorphos asteroid in a range of colours far beyond the limits of the human eye. In the process Hera’s HyperScout H hyperspectral imager will help prospect the asteroid’s mineral makeup – in the process helping to deduce how best to deflect future asteroids which might one day endanger Earth.
Defying gravity
Surely it has ever happened to you to shake an open bag of mixed nuts. Have you noticed that after such a procedure, the largest nuts in the mixture - Brazil nuts - float to the top? The phenomenon of large objects rising to the surface of a mixture of small objects, bearing the professional name of granular convection, is popularly referred to "the Brazil nut effect" and occurs commonly in natu