Webb reveals links between galaxies near and far
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 05:17
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A new analysis of distant galaxies imaged by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope shows that they are extremely young and share some remarkable similarities to "green peas," a rare class of small galaxies in our cosmic backyard.
"With detailed chemical fingerprints of these early galaxies, we see that they include what might be the most primitive galaxy identified so far. At the same time, we China's first private sector 2023 rocket launch up, up and away
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 05:17 Write a comment
Galactic Energy, a private aerospace manufacturer in Beijing, launched its fifth Ceres 1 rocket on Monday afternoon, deploying five small satellites into orbit.
The Ceres 1 Y5 rocket blasted off at 1:04 pm from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert and placed the satellites into a preset orbit shortly after, the company announced in a news release.
It was China's fir Commercial innovation for NOAA ground enterprise architecture
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 04:24 Write a comment
NOAA would “far exceed the funds available” if the agency carries out plans to expand its constellation through 2042 without changing its ground architecture, said Michael Morgan, Commerce Department assistant secretary for environmental observation and prediction.
The post Commercial innovation for NOAA ground enterprise architecture appeared first on SpaceNews.
Historic UK rocket mission ends in failure
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 01:07 Write a comment
An attempt to launch the first rocket into orbit from UK soil ended in failure on Tuesday, with scientists reporting an "anomaly" as it neared its goal.
A Virgin Orbit Boeing 747 carrying the 70-foot (21-metre) rocket took off from a spaceport in Cornwall, southwest England, at 2202 GMT.
The rocket then detached from the aircraft and ignited as planned at a height of 35,000 feet over the First Virgin Orbit U.K. launch fails
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 00:39 Write a comment
Virgin Orbit’s first launch from the United Kingdom failed to reach orbit Jan. 9, dealing a high-profile setback to a company that has been struggling financially.
The post First Virgin Orbit U.K.
European firms partner for LEO collision avoidance demo
Monday, 09 January 2023 21:23 Write a comment
Three young European space companies said Jan. 9 they have teamed up to test a collision avoidance system on a small satellite this year in low Earth orbit.
The post European firms partner for LEO collision avoidance demo appeared first on SpaceNews.
Observing lightning with a cubesat constellation
Monday, 09 January 2023 21:17 Write a comment
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center is working with Los Alamos National Laboratories and the University of Alabama, Huntsville, on Cubespark, a proposed constellation of six cubesats to map lightning.
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Full moon rising: The first lunar spectacle of 2023 is this weekend's wolf moon
Monday, 09 January 2023 20:50 Write a comment
If you lift your eyes to the sky Friday night, you can catch the first full moon of 2023—the wolf moon.
The full moon can best be seen at 6:08 p.m. EST on Friday and will appear full through Sunday morning, according to NASA.
"Look for the moon to rise from the northeastern horizon around sunset that evening," according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.
This is the first of 13 full moons in 2023, the Old Farmer's Almanac said.
The moon is also known as a micromoon, because the moon, which circles the Earth in an elliptical orbit, is farther from the Earth, said Space.com.
Why is it called the wolf moon?
The first full moon of the year is known as the wolf moon because historically it was believed during the winter wolves howled more at night because they were hungry, the Old Farmer's Almanac said.
The name has stuck even though there are doubts about the accuracy of the wolf moon moniker.
Why is it also called a micromoon?
For this full moon, the moon will be about 250,000 miles from Earth.
Orion back at Kennedy Space Center so NASA can dissect Artemis I mission
Monday, 09 January 2023 20:03 Write a comment
The Orion space capsule from Artemis I has come full circle, having launched from Kennedy Space Center, traveled 1.4 million miles in space and around the moon, splashed back down to Earth in the Pacific Ocean, and now journeyed 2,500 miles over land for its return to Florida.
After Orion was recovered at sea on Dec. 11, it made its way to Naval Base San Diego before heading by truck to arrive at KSC on Dec. 30. It now sits at NASA's Multi Payload Processing Facility, still sealed tight from its celestial journey.
The passengers have been waiting patiently to get out of the capsule. Since they're just mannequins, though, they can wait a little longer.
The most human-looking of the three, named Commander Moonikin Campos in deference to the late Arturo Campos who helped NASA bring the Apollo 13 crew safely back to Earth, was joined by two partial-body mannequins named Zohar and Helga. Their presence will help NASA determine just what sort of radiation levels and other flight stresses humans will face during the first crewed flight of Orion on Artemis II.
Space Force looking to extend laser communications to satellites in higher orbits
Monday, 09 January 2023 19:10 Write a comment
The U.S. Space Force is requesting information on laser communications systems to connect satellites in medium and high orbits.
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NOAA declares GOES-18 operational ahead of schedule
Monday, 09 January 2023 17:51 Write a comment
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared the newest satellite in its geostationary fleet, GOES-18, operational Jan. 4 and designated it GOES West.
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Are chemical rockets or solar sails better to return resources from asteroids?
Monday, 09 January 2023 17:47 Write a comment
If and when we ever get an asteroid mining industry off the ground, one of the most important decisions to be made in the structure of any asteroid mining mission would be how to get the resources back to where all of our other infrastructure is—somewhere around the Earth.
That decision typically will focus on one of two propulsion methodologies—chemical rockets, such as those we already use to get us into space in the first place, or solar sails, which, while slower and unable to get us into orbit, don't require any fuel. So which propulsion methodology is better for these future missions? A study by researchers at the University of Glasgow looked at those two scenarios and came out with a clear-cut answer—solar sails.
When answering these types of theoretical questions, it is essential to impose limits on the answers. For example, billions of asteroids exist in the solar system, so it's more realistic to only look at those known as near-Earth asteroids (NEAs).
Old NASA satellite falls harmlessly from sky off Alaska
Monday, 09 January 2023 14:33 Write a comment
Sentinel-1 and AI uncover glacier crevasses
Monday, 09 January 2023 13:32 Write a comment
Scientists have developed a new Artificial Intelligence, or AI, technique using radar images from Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite mission, to reveal how the Thwaites Glacier Ice Tongue in West Antarctica is being damaged by squeezing and stretching as it flows from the middle of the continent to the coast. Being able to track fractures and crevasses in the ice beneath the overlying snow is key to better predicting the fate of floating ice tongues under climate change.
Rogue Space hires sustainability expert to advocate for startup-friendly policies
Monday, 09 January 2023 12:34 Write a comment
Daniel Porras, a former executive at the Secure World Foundation, has joined Rogue Space, a startup developing small satellites for in-orbit services.
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