Smart earbud will measure how astronauts sleep
Thursday, 30 June 2022 19:18
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Sleep is important for our health and well-being, and bad sleep can negatively impact our attention span, memory, decision-making skills, creativity and judgment.
Astronauts living in zero gravity with an artificial day-night cycle have trouble maintaining a natural circadian rhythm and normal sleep patterns. In fact, sleep is what astronauts complain about the most.
To avoid the negative short- and long-term side effects of poor sleep, Aarhus University's Centre for Ear-EEG has developed a technology that can monitor an astronaut's sleep in a non-invasive and discreet manner via so-called "ear-EEG" (ear-ElectroEncephaloGraphy). The technology, along with Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, will travel to the International Space Station ISS to examine the differences between human sleep patterns on earth and in space.
The project is called "Sleep in Orbit."
"Sleep is a kind of biomarker for our health and well-being. In fact, a great many diseases also impact the way we sleep, including a wide range of psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.
Two Seattle startups racing to transform next-gen space travel
Thursday, 30 June 2022 17:02 Write a comment
The phrase "nuclear energy" conjures images of large steaming towers or Tony Stark's arc reactor from the iconic "Iron Man" movies. But two Seattle-based startups are designing nuclear technologies small enough to pick up and carry that, thanks in part to buy-in from the Defense Department, they hope will fuel a new generation of spaceships.
Seattle's Avalanche Energy and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation received undisclosed amounts of funding from the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit in May to further develop two different approaches to small-scale nuclear power.
Avalanche is pushing the boundaries of nuclear fusion while Ultra Safe aims to revolutionize nuclear radioisotope batteries, like those that power Mars rovers. Both companies are expected to deliver functional prototype spacecraft to the Pentagon by 2027.
"Nuclear is an interesting area because traditionally that's been mainly in the realm of government," said U.S. Air Force Maj. Ryan Weed, the program manager for the Defense Innovation Unit's nuclear propulsion and power program. The unit—the Pentagon's outpost in Silicon Valley—works exclusively with private sector companies to adapt emerging technologies for military use.
After six decades of materials science research, nuclear fuels are relatively safe and are being embraced in the private sector.
The path of most resistance could help limit bone loss during spaceflight
Thursday, 30 June 2022 14:00 Write a comment
Astronauts that have returned after spaceflights over three months may show signs of incomplete bone recovery even after one year on Earth, but adding in more resistance-based exercises during spaceflight may help limit bone loss. The small study, published in Scientific Reports, on 17 international astronauts found that while the shinbone partially recovers, the sustained bone losses after one year are equivalent to ten years of normal age-related bone loss on Earth.
Steven Boyd and colleagues imaged 17 astronauts (14 male, three female) before spaceflight, at return to Earth, and after six and 12 months of recovery. They conducted bone scans on the tibia (shinbone) and radius (forearm) to calculate the resistance of the bone to fracture (failure load), bone mineral in the bone tissue, and tissue thickness. The authors also recorded exercises such as cycling, treadmill running and deadlifting completed by astronauts in-flight and post-flight.
One year after flight the median results for 16 of the astronauts showed incomplete recovery of the shinbone. Median shinbone failure load, measuring bone strength, was reduced by 152.0 newtons from 10,579 newtons at pre-flight to 10,427 newtons after one year.
Copernicus Sentinel-1 maps Bangladesh flood
Thursday, 30 June 2022 14:00 Write a comment
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Copernicus Sentinel-1 maps Bangladesh flood X-Bow Systems to Deliver World's First Rocket Factory In-A-Box to US Air Force Research Laboratory
Thursday, 30 June 2022 10:34 Write a comment
X-Bow Systems Inc. (X-Bow), a new non-traditional small business supplier of Solid Rocket Motors (SRMs) and defense technologies, has announced that its Pathfinder I, a mobile energetics factory demonstration unit (aka Rocket Factory In-A-Box) will be delivered this month to the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in Edwards, California. Pathfinder I is part of X-Bow's groundbreaking, low-co China looks to launch liquid propellant rockets from the seas
Thursday, 30 June 2022 09:43 Write a comment
Chinese state-owned and commercial companies are developing capabilities to launch liquid propellant rockets from sea platforms to boost the country's launch options.
The post China looks to launch liquid propellant rockets from the seas appeared first on SpaceNews.
ESA counts down to Asteroid Day with news on riskiest asteroid
Thursday, 30 June 2022 07:30 Write a comment
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Will we find 2021 QM1 before it finds us? Tenoumer Crater, Mauritania
Thursday, 30 June 2022 07:00 Write a comment
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Deep within the Sahara Desert lies one of the best-preserved craters on Earth. On Asteroid Day, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the almost-perfectly circular Tenoumer Crater in Mauritania. Falling stardust, wobbly jets explain blinking gamma ray bursts
Thursday, 30 June 2022 05:27 Write a comment
A Northwestern University-led team of astrophysicists has developed the first-ever full 3D simulation of an entire evolution of a jet formed by a collapsing star, or a "collapsar."
Because these jets generate gamma ray bursts (GRBs) - the most energetic and luminous events in the universe since the Big Bang - the simulations have shed light on these peculiar, intense bursts of light. Their Bernese researchers simulate defense of the Earth
Thursday, 30 June 2022 05:27 Write a comment
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is the world's first full-scale planetary defense test against potential asteroid impacts on Earth. Researchers of the University of Bern and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS now show that instead of leaving behind a relatively small crater, the impact of the DART spacecraft on its target could leave the asteroid Historic Mars mission completes all preset tasks
Thursday, 30 June 2022 05:27 Write a comment
Tianwen 1, China's historic Mars mission, has accomplished all its preset scientific tasks, according to the China National Space Administration.
The administration said on Wednesday that the Tianwen 1 mission orbiter has obtained medium-definition images of the entire planet, marking the completion of its scientific goals.
The craft has circled Mars 1,344 times to date and will cont Successful high-speed flight experiments with new sounding rocket configuration
Thursday, 30 June 2022 05:27 Write a comment
Reusable launch systems are exposed to high dynamic and thermo-mechanical loads during their return to Earth. The German Aerospace Center has now successfully tested high temperature structures, advanced measurement techniques and design tools for the re-entry phase with the STORT (Schlusseltechnologien fur hochenergetische Ruckkehrfluge von Tragerstufen - key technologies for high-energy return Rocket Lab's Lunar Photon completes 3rd orbit raising maneuver for CAPSTONE Moon mission
Thursday, 30 June 2022 05:27 Write a comment
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) reports that its Lunar Photon spacecraft has successfully completed the third of seven planned orbit raising maneuvers, bringing the CAPSTONE spacecraft closer to the Moon.
Owned and operated by Advanced Space on behalf of NASA, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) CubeSat will be the first SES's C-band satellite launched onboard SpaceX Falcon 9
Thursday, 30 June 2022 05:27 Write a comment
SES has announced that the SES-22 satellite was successfully launched into space onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX's Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, United States, at 5:04 pm local time.
The first of SES's C-band satellites dedicated to freeing up the lower 300 MHz of C-band spectrum is built by Thales Alenia Space, and will operate in t My Favorite Martian Image: 'Enchanted' Rocks at Jezero Crater
Thursday, 30 June 2022 05:27 Write a comment
Not even Obi-Wan Kenobi could convince Perseverance's Katie Stack Morgan that these are not the rocks she's looking for.
Ask any space explorer, and they'll have a favorite photograph or two from their mission. For Katie Stack Morgan, the deputy project scientist for NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, the first close-up image of layered rocks at the base of Jezero Crater's ancient river delta