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A timelapse of Launchpad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, where the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endurance sits atop a Falcon 9 rocket, ready to carry Crew-3 to the International Space Station.

Initially scheduled for launch on 31 October 2021, this Dragon will wait a bit longer due to weather along the flight path and a minor medical issue affecting a member of its crew. The next launch attempt is now no earlier than 03:36 GMT/04:36 CET, Sunday, 7 November.

When it does fly, it will transport ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, as a member of Crew-3

As world leaders and decision-makers join forces at COP26 to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, new research, again, highlights the value of satellite data in understanding and monitoring climate change. This particular new research, which is based on measurements from ESA’s CryoSat mission, shows that extreme ice melting events in Greenland have become more frequent and more intense over the past 40 years, raising sea levels and the risk of flooding worldwide.

In the first 20 years of reaching the atmosphere, methane has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide. Reducing emissions of this extremely potent gas is, therefore, one of the fastest ways of slowing the rate of global warming, at least in the short term – and at COP26, more than 100 countries have just signed up to the Global Methane Pledge, which aims to limit emissions by 30% compared with 2020 levels.

With both public and commercial satellite data playing key roles in assessing progress on climate action, ESA and GHGSat are supporting the United Nations Environment

Los Alamos NM (SPX) Nov 03, 2021
A team of researchers used 3D particle simulations to model the acceleration of ions and electrons in a physical process called magnetic reconnection. The results could contribute to the understanding and forecasting of energetic particles released during magnetic reconnection, which could help protect space assets and advance space exploration. "For the first time ever, we can use 3D simu

Boulder CO (SPX) Nov 03, 2021
When two galaxies collide, the supermassive black holes at their cores release a devastating gravitational "kick," similar to the recoil from a shotgun. New research led by CU Boulder suggests that this kick may be so powerful it can knock millions of stars into wonky orbits. The research, published Oct. 29 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, helps solve a decades-old mystery surrounding

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Nov 03, 2021
Now that NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has safely arrived at its launch site in French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of South America, technical teams have begun making progress on the final checklist of preparations before liftoff later this year. These preparations are expected to last 55 days from the observatory's arrival by ship to the day of launch. After Webb arrived a

Kamuela HI (SPX) Nov 03, 2021
Astronomers have discovered thousands of planets orbiting stars in our galaxy - known as exoplanets. However, it's difficult to know what exactly these planets are made of, or whether any resemble Earth. To try to find out, astronomer Siyi Xu of NSF's NOIRLab partnered with geologist Keith Putirka of California State University, Fresno, to study the atmospheres of what are known as polluted whit

Manchester UK (SPX) Nov 03, 2021
Advanced manufacturing experts from Manchester have revealed what human life in space could look like - with a graphene-enhanced space habitat developed to meet anticipated demand for human settlements beyond Earth. A community of specialists at The University of Manchester have teamed up with global architect firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) to research the design and manufacturing

Washington DC (UPI) Nov 2, 2021
NASA is in the final stages of preparation to launch the nearly $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, an engineering marvel that may reveal secrets of time and the universe, from South America on Dec. 18. Technicians are preparing to load the space observatory with fuel that will power it for up to 13 years as it orbits the sun about one million miles from Earth, NASA officials said T

Providence RI (SPX) Nov 03, 2021
Around 12,000 years ago, something scorched a vast swath of the Atacama Desert in Chile with heat so intense that it turned the sandy soil into widespread slabs of silicate glass. Now, a research team studying the distribution and composition of those glasses has come to a conclusion about what caused the inferno. In a study published in the journal Geology, researchers show that samples o