Washington DC (SPX) Nov 03, 2023
Crew time is a valuable resource on the International Space Station and its value only increases for future space missions. One way to make the most of crew time is using robotic technology either to assist crew members with various tasks and or to completely automate others. A current investigation on the space station, JEM Internal Ball Camera 2, is part of ongoing efforts to develop thi

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Nov 03, 2023
In a groundbreaking study conducted by Zhongjie Meng and his team at Northwestern Polytechnical University, a new deployment strategy for tethered satellite systems (TSS) has been developed, addressing the complexity of operating a three-body chain in space. The detailed research has been published in the peer-reviewed journal Space: Science and Technology. The research focuses on a tomogr

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Nov 03, 2023
In a recent comprehensive review published in Space: Science and Technology, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beihang University have synthesized the current understanding and prevailing mysteries surrounding the interaction between the solar wind and the Moon's surface. The Moon, our nearest celestial neighbor, presents a unique environment for study, lacking a signifi

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Nov 03, 2023
New observations down to light-year scale of the gas flows around a supermassive black hole have successfully detected dense gas inflows and shown that only a small portion (about 3 percent) of the gas flowing towards the black hole is eaten by the black hole. The remainder is ejected and recycled back into the host galaxy. Not all of the matter which falls towards a black hole is absorbed

Moffett Field CA (SPX) Nov 03, 2023
A system of seven sweltering planets has been revealed by continued study of data from NASA's retired Kepler space telescope: Each one is bathed in more radiant heat from their host star per area than any planet in our solar system. Also unlike any of our immediate neighbors, all seven planets in this system, named Kepler-385, are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. It is one of only a f

Ithaca NY (SPX) Nov 03, 2023
Might a tyrannosaur roam on Trappist-1e, a protoceratops on Proxima Centauri b, or a quetzalcoatlus on Kepler 1047c? Things may not have ended well for dinosaurs on Earth, but Cornell astronomers say the "light fingerprint" of the conditions that enabled them to emerge here - including abundant atmospheric oxygen - provides a crucial missing piece in our search for signs of life on planets orbit

Washington DC (SPX) Nov 03, 2023
During a ceremony at the Dutch Ambassador's Residence in Washington on Wednesday, the Netherlands became the 31st country to sign the Artemis Accords. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson participated in the signing ceremony for the agency, and Netherlands Space Office (NSO) director Harm van de Wetering signed on behalf of the Netherlands. NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and the following

Washington DC (SPX) Nov 03, 2023
NASA leadership, including Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, will participate in a workshop on space mobility and in-space servicing on Tuesday, Nov. 7, at the University of Maryland in College Park. Beginning at 8:30 a.m. EST, the Consortium for Space Mobility and ISAM Capabilities (COSMIC) workshop runs through Wednesday, Nov. 8. NASA announced the consortium in April, aiming to create a

San Antonio TX (SPX) Nov 02, 2023
Dr. Alan Stern, a planetary scientist and associate vice president of Southwest Research Institute's Space Science Division, today flew aboard the Virgin Galactic commercial spaceship Unity on a suborbital space mission. During the roughly 60-minute mission, first mated to its carrier aircraft VMS Eve, and then horizontally launched into space, Stern tested equipment and trained for a future sub

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 03, 2023
NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland recently witnessed the vibrant blue glow of the Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) within its vacuum chamber during a critical phase of thruster qualification testing. This significant advancement in space technology reflects the culmination of efforts to create the most robust electric propulsion thruster to date. With a 12-kilowatt Hall thruste