Houston TX (SPX) Aug 20, 2021
The 23rd SpaceX cargo resupply services mission carrying scientific research and technology demonstrations to the International Space Station is targeted to launch in late August from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Experiments aboard include an investigation into protecting bone health with botanical byproducts, testing a way to monitor crew eye health, demonstrating improved dext

Washington DC (SPX) Aug 20, 2021
The full Moon of Sunday, August 22nd, will be a "Blue Moon" according to the original - but not the most popular - definition of the phrase. In modern usage, "Blue Moon" has come to refer to the second full Moon in a month (the last of these occurred on October 31, 2020) - but that hasn't always been the case. This colorful term is actually a calendrical goof that worked its way into the p

Baikonur, Kazakhstan (Sputnik) Aug 20, 2021
Initially, the launch was scheduled for August 5, but due to satellite production problems, it was reportedly postponed, as some devices had to be replaced because of low-quality components at the company's factory in Florida. Russian space agency Roscosmos will launch a Soyuz 2.1b spaceship with a new batch of 34 UK OneWeb satellites from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday night.

Huntsville AL (SPX) Aug 20, 2021
Driving down a bumpy gravel road, even an off-road vehicle experiences bumps and vibrations, partly because of the car's natural frequency. An object's natural frequency is the frequency or rate that it vibrates naturally when struck. When forces like speed and the smoothness of the road are just right, the car will vibrate in tune with that same frequency. Rockets flying through the atmos

Tucson AZ (SPX) Aug 20, 2021
What was once the largest solar observatory in the world is now undergoing a transformation to become a one-of-a-kind facility for sharing the wonders of astronomy with people around the globe. Construction work has started to recast the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope facility at Kitt Peak National Observatory into the NOIRLab Windows on the Universe Center for Astronomy Outreach. Dedicated

Locarno, Switzerland (SPX) Aug 20, 2021
In 1998, the journal Nature published a seminal letter concluding that a mysterious signal, which had been recently discovered analysing the polarization of sunlight, implies that the solar chromosphere (a very important layer of the solar atmosphere) is practically unmagnetised, in sharp contradiction with common wisdom. This paradox motivated laboratory experiments and theoretical investigatio

Chandler AZ (SPX) Aug 20, 2021
Advanced military platforms, ocean-bottom survey systems and remote sensing applications all require precise timing for mission success. Chip Scale Atomic Clocks (CSACs) ensure stable and accurate timing even when Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) time signals are unavailable. Helping industrial and military system designers to meet this requirement, Microchip Technology Inc. has announ

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 20, 2021
Every day - up to thirty times a day, in fact - one of Mark Mason's employees at Nature's Reward Farms in Monterey County, California brings him the results of a soil test for discussion. Mason supervises fertilizer and irrigation for the farm's 5,000 acres along California's Central Coast, which is nicknamed "America's Salad Bowl" and is one of the most productive and diverse agricultural

Washington DC (SPX) Aug 20, 2021
The recently released IPCC Sixth Assessment Report predicts faster warming of Earth's atmosphere and oceans compared to previous assessments. Now, new research shows how the new generation of climate models used in the assessment differ from earlier models in their prediction of the impact on the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets on sea level rise. The new study predicts that, by 2100, ad

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After four months of darkness, it is finally time to rise and shine for the crew at Concordia Research Station in Antarctica. The most-welcome Sun finally made its appearance on 11 August and ESA-sponsored medical doctor Nick Smith was not about to miss it.

For nine months Nick and his fellow crew mates have been living and working in one of the most isolated, confined and extreme environments on Earth, with no way in or out of the Station during the winter-over period.   

Nick is overseeing experiments in human physiology and biology, atmospheric physics, meteorology, and astronomy, among other disciplines.