Copernical Team
Bouncing comets could deliver building blocks for life to exoplanets
How did the molecular building blocks for life end up on Earth? One long-standing theory is that they could have been delivered by comets. Now, researchers from the University of Cambridge have shown how comets could deposit similar building blocks to other planets in the galaxy.
In order to deliver organic material, comets need to be travelling relatively slowly - at speeds below 15 kilom MetOp Second Generation weather satellite pair show off
Having satellites in different types of orbit is essential to delivering data to forecast the weather accurately. With the first Meteosat Third Generation Imager satellite safely in geostationary orbit since December 2022, it’s also time to focus on its polar-orbiting cousin, the MetOp Second Generation mission. And now, for the first time, two MetOp Second Generation satellites have been brought together to stand side-by-side for testing.
Mini mass spectrometer ready for Moon mission
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The Astrobotic Peregrine lunar lander, due to launch to the Moon later this year, carrying the PITMS instrument on the payload deck on its left side.
PITMS stands for Peregrine Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer, and it is a device that will sniff out molecules close to the Moon's surface to chart the composition of the lunar exosphere, the particles buzzing around its surface that don't quite make up an atmosphere.
The Peregrine lander is aiming for a lunar touchdown in Sinus Viscositatis near the Gruithuisen volcanic domes, on the northern lunar hemisphere. It is the first time that a spacecraft will land
Fall into an ice giant’s atmosphere
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Fall into an ice giant’s atmosphere Downloading NASA's dark matter data from above the clouds
Data from a NASA mission to map dark matter around galaxy clusters has been saved by a new recovery system designed by scientists at the University of Sydney. The system allowed the retrieval of gigabytes of information, even after communication failed and the balloon-based telescope was damaged in the landing process.
In April, the Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) was launched from Wānaka Airport, New Zealand, suspended under a helium-filled balloon the size of a sports stadium on top of the Earth's atmosphere, and floated around the world 5.5 times. Unfortunately, it was damaged on landing in southern Argentina the following month.
Separately, two Data Recovery System packages storing more than 200 gigabytes of SuperBIT's information descended by parachute and landed safely, including a map of dark matter around galaxies and stunning photos of space. Dark matter is an invisible substance that has a mass six times greater than regular matter in the universe.
Five ways NASA supercomputing takes missions from concept to reality
Bioengineers send cardiac muscle samples into space to study heart cell biology in microgravity
Mount Sinai's Cardiovascular Research Institute is sending bioengineered human heart muscle cells and micro-tissues into space for the first time on NASA's 29th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission, which launched Thursday, November 9. The "SpaceX CRS-29" mission is sending scientific research to the International Space Station (ISS), where the samples will stay for approximately 30 days before returning to Earth.
Through this experiment, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai researchers aim to gain a better understanding of how cardiac muscle cells, or cardiomyocytes, adapt to extreme biological stresses and how microgravity and other features of space travel impact cardiomyocyte function. The findings will help scientists find better ways to study heart cell biology in future space experiments.
Understanding the capabilities and limitations of such heart cells to survive is not only important for the health of astronauts but also a first step toward future efforts in space-based tissue engineering, organoid fabrication, and bioprinting, which are all important players in the emerging economy of biomanufacturing in the microgravity environment known as low Earth orbit.
Mount Sinai is partnering with Space Tango to run this experiment.
No tricks, just treats
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No tricks, just treats Webb, Hubble combine to create most colourful view of Universe
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Webb, Hubble combine to create most colourful view of Universe Europe’s quantum decade extends into space
Europe – and the world – is in the midst of the ‘quantum decade’: a period in which the peculiar properties of matter that manifest at the very tiniest of scales are being transformed from mere scientific curiosities into the basis of practical technologies and products. The result? Major leaps forward in communications, navigation, computing and environmental sensing.
The same is true in space: ESA is currently sending a quantum-enabled probe to Jupiter, developing communications based on quantum technologies and planning flying a quantum clock to the International Space Station, as part of its quantum technology cross-cutting