Copernical Team
Solving the RIME deployment mystery on ESA's Juice mission
When the RIME antenna on ESA's Juice mission failed to deploy a few days after launch, the engineering teams faced the mighty challenge of understanding the fault and rectifying it. At stake was a chance to see inside Jupiter's mysterious icy moons.
The stakes were already high before the spacecraft ever left the ground. ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) was designed by Airbus to conduct an unprecedented investigation of the Jupiter system and its family of icy moons.
A key to that investigation is the Radar for Icy Moon Exploration (RIME) antenna, which is part of Juice's comprehensive suite of ten science instruments. Once in the Jupiter system, RIME will be used to remotely probe the subsurface of Jupiter's icy moons. Its radar signals will penetrate the moons to a depth of 9 km, and reveal details of between 50 and 140 m across. This will give insight into their geology and provide unique data to understand the habitability of these remote, icy moons.
Helicopter underwater escape training for ESA's astronaut support team
Researchers propose new method to measure cosmic expansion
In 1929, astronomers discovered that galaxies are streaming away from us and each other. They interpreted this observation that the universe is expanding. However, when they measured how fast it is expanding, they got different answers using different methods. The difference continues to be a thorn in their description of the expanding universe.
A team of researchers led by Souvik Jana at Astronomers witness energetic switch on of black hole
A team of astronomers led by researchers from the University of Birmingham, University College London and Queen's University Belfast have discovered one of the most dramatic 'switches on' of a black hole ever seen. They will present their findings, Tuesday 4 July, at the 2023 National Astronomy Meeting in Cardiff. The work will also be published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Socie Solving the RIME deployment mystery
When the RIME antenna on ESA’s Juice mission failed to deploy a few days after launch, the engineering teams faced the mighty challenge to understand the fault and rectify it. At stake was a chance to see inside Jupiter’s mysterious icy moons.
Secrets of pearl harnessed for stronger space structures
Pearls and seashells are made from the same basic stuff as easily crushed chalk – humble calcium carbonate – so why are they so much tougher? Researchers are taking design tips from the micro-structure of these naturally formed materials to produce stronger, more fracture-resistant ceramics for future space missions.
Radio telescope observations confirm unintended radiation from large satellite constellations
Scientists use the LOFAR telescope to observe low-frequency radio waves from satellites in large constellations for the first time. "Unintended electromagnetic radiation" emanating from onboard electronics in Starlink satellites was detected which could impact astronomical research. Further study is now ongoing.
For a study published in the Astronomy and Astrophysics journal, scientists fr Webb locates dust reservoirs in two supernovae
Researchers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have made major strides in confirming the source of dust in early galaxies. Observations of two Type II supernovae, Supernova 2004et (SN 2004et) and Supernova 2017eaw (SN 2017eaw), have revealed large amounts of dust within the ejecta of each of these objects. The mass found by researchers supports the theory that supernovae played a key role i Earth's day was a constant 19.5 hours for over a billion years
A team of astrophysicists at the University of Toronto (U of T) has revealed how the slow and steady lengthening of Earth's day caused by the tidal pull of the moon was halted for over a billion years.
They show that from approximately two billion years ago until 600 million years ago, an atmospheric tide driven by the sun countered the effect of the moon, keeping Earth's rotational rate s iQPS initiates a full-scale study to leverage SkyCompass-1 optical data relay service
Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (iQPS) and Space Compass Corporation (Space Compass) announced that iQPS will initiate a full-scale study to leverage "SkyCompass-1" high-capacity Optical Data Relay Service provided by Space Compass and Skyloom Global Corporation (Skyloom) for iQPS's SAR satellites.
iQPS has successfully accomplished the development of a compact, high-resolution