Martian Sausages: Sols 3641-3642
Monday, 07 November 2022 07:42
We are perched just below the "Marker Band," a thin dark band whose origin is unclear. As Michelle noted yesterday, we found some amazing textured float rocks in our workspace but were not in a good position to do contact science here, so we moved back a little in order to get it today.
These float rocks appear to have originated in the Marker Band, which can be seen running from lower lef University of Southern Queensland scientist unveils further proof of salty water on Mars
Monday, 07 November 2022 07:42
It may be known as a rocky, red planet but evidence is mounting that salty water exists at the base of polar deposits on Mars.
University of Southern Queensland's Professor Graziella Caprarelli is part of an international team investigating bright reflection signals below the Martian surface, first spotted in data acquired between 2010 and 2019 by the radar sounder MARSIS on board Mars Exp Perseverance seals up Sample tube 14.
Monday, 07 November 2022 07:42
The team is making progress identifying and implementing a fix that will allow a seal to cap off the rover's latest rock sample, which was collected at the base of Jezero's delta from an outcrop called "Amalik." The anomaly first appeared on Oct. 5 after the successful coring of the mission's 14th sample, called "Mageik," when the seal assigned to cap the rock-core-filled sample tube did not rel Maxar acquires another tech company as it pursues growth in gaming and media
Monday, 07 November 2022 07:00
Maxar is looking to turn its satellite imagery archive into new 3D products for gaming, media and other industries
The post Maxar acquires another tech company as it pursues growth in gaming and media appeared first on SpaceNews.
Iran says it successfully tested satellite launcher
Sunday, 06 November 2022 10:29
Iran announced Saturday the successful test flight of a rocket capable of propelling satellites into space, three months after launching a satellite with the help of Russia.
The United States has repeatedly voiced concern that such launches could boost Iran's ballistic missile technology, extending to the potential delivery of nuclear warheads.
But Iran insists it is not seeking nuclear NASA rolls Artemis I mission rocket back to launch pad ahead of Nov. 14 launch
Sunday, 06 November 2022 10:29
NASA is making another run at launching the Artemis I spacecraft on its maiden voyage to the moon, rolling the $4.1 billion rocket back onto the launch pad Thursday at Kennedy Space Center after months of delays pushed the liftoff to Nov. 14.
The launch is scheduled a week from Monday at 12:07 a.m., but NASA was keeping an eye on a low-pressure system in the Caribbean that threatened to Chinese rocket re-enters Earth atmosphere uncontrolled over the Pacific Ocean
Sunday, 06 November 2022 10:29
Chinese rocket debris weighing 23 tons is crashing to Earth in an uncontrolled descent Friday.
U.S. Space Command tweeted a confirmation that the rocket re-entered the Earth's atmosphere over the south-central Pacific Ocean at 4:01 a.m. Friday.
The rocket was launched on Oct. 31 carrying the third and final module for the Tiangong space station. Much of the debris is expected to Space Force lays out timeline for 2023 rapid-response launch experiment
Sunday, 06 November 2022 09:48
The Space Force's 'Space Safari' office is laying out a timeline for a tactically responsive launch mission projected to launch in 2023
The post Space Force lays out timeline for 2023 rapid-response launch experiment appeared first on SpaceNews.
German team wins $5 million ANA Avatar XPrize in space-themed competition
Saturday, 05 November 2022 22:09
Germany’s Team NimbRo took home the $5 million grand prize in the ANA Avatar XPrize finals Nov. 5, after completing a test course that showed how remote-control robots could contribute to space exploration.
The post German team wins $5 million ANA Avatar XPrize in space-themed competition appeared first on SpaceNews.
Psyche review finds institutional problems at JPL
Saturday, 05 November 2022 20:59
An independent review of problems that delayed the launch of NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission uncovered institutional issues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that led the agency to delay the launch of another mission being developed there.
SLS returns to the pad for next Artemis launch attempt
Saturday, 05 November 2022 02:05
The Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft rolled back out to the launch pad Nov. 4 as the agency prepares for the third attempt to launch the vehicle on Artemis 1 mission later this month.
Rocket Lab launches Swedish satellite, fails to catch booster
Friday, 04 November 2022 18:53
Rocket Lab successfully launched a Swedish atmospheric science satellite on an Electron rocket Nov. 4, but a telemetry problem kept the company from attempting a mid-air recovery of the rocket’s booster.
How do you keep a solar sail stable?
Friday, 04 November 2022 15:08
Solar sailing seems like a simple concept—instead of being pushed along by the wind, as in a typical sailing ship, a spacecraft can use highly reflective said to be pushed along simply by sunlight. But as with almost all engineering challenges, that technique is much easier said than done. Sunlight can head up one side of a sail more than another, causing the ship to rotate unexpectedly. Other unforeseen situations could arise that can also have catastrophic consequences for any mission using this propulsion technology.
Luckily, there is a way to account for those situations, though it involves a lot of math. Control theory is common in system design, and now researchers at Beihang University have devised a control scheme that they think could help minimize the risk to solar sails.
Control systems are relatively easy to understand in concept. A system has a series of inputs; in the case of a solar sail, those inputs might be the solar force pushing on it from the sun and maybe the gravity of any nearby object.
NASA's moon rocket returns to pad for next launch attempt
Friday, 04 November 2022 15:03
NASA's moon rocket is back on the pad for another launch attempt, following more repairs.
The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket departed its hangar in the middle of the night and completed the 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) trip shortly after sunrise Friday.
Video: Testing Galileo for space
Friday, 04 November 2022 14:34
Galileo has grown to become Europe's single largest satellite constellation, and the world's most accurate satellite navigation system, delivering meter-level positioning to more than 3.5 billion users around the globe.
It all began at ESTEC's Test Center, Europe's largest satellite testing facility. This is where the very first positioning fix took place in March 2013, after the launch into orbit of the initial four IOV satellites. Following that, all 34 Galileo Full Operational Capability satellites also passed by ESTEC for their pre-flight testing.
This 3000 sq. m environmentally-controlled complex, operated and managed by European Test Services for ESA, hosts an array of test equipment able to simulate all aspects of spaceflight, from the noise and vibration of launch to the vacuum and temperature extremes of Earth orbit.
The production line at manufacturer OHB in Germany completed one new satellite every six weeks. After integration each satellite was then shipped to the ESTEC Test Center for a three-month test campaign, after which it would be accepted by the Agency and declared ready for flight. Some facilities have had to be adapted specifically for Galileo, and the ESTEC Test Center had to institute new security protocols because this was the first time that satellites with security restrictions were being tested at the site.