Week in images: 19 - 23 July 2021
Friday, 23 July 2021 11:30
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Week in images: 19 - 23 July 2021
Discover our week through the lens
Mini radar could scan the moon for water and habitable tunnels
Friday, 23 July 2021 11:12 Write a comment
A miniature device that scans deep below ground is being developed to identify ice deposits and hollow lava tubes on the moon for possible human settlement.
The prototype device, known as MAPrad, is just one-tenth the size of existing ground penetrating radar systems, yet can see almost twice as deeply below ground—more than 100 meters down—to identify minerals, ice deposits, or voids such as lava tubes.
Local start-up CD3D PTY Limited has now received a grant from the Australian Space Agency's moon to Mars initiative to further develop the prototype with RMIT University, including testing it by mapping one of Earth's largest accessible systems of lava tubes.
CD3D CEO and RMIT Honorary Professor, James Macnae, said their unique geophysical sensor had several advantages over existing technology that made it more suitable for space missions.
Counting carbon
Friday, 23 July 2021 11:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:03:40
The Paris Agreement adopted a target for global warming not to exceed 1.5°C. This sets a limit on the additional carbon we can add to the atmosphere – the carbon budget. Only around 17% of the carbon budget is now left. That is about 10 years at current emission rates.
Each country reports its annual greenhouse gas emissions to the United Nations. Scientists then set these emissions against estimates of the carbon absorbed by Earth’s natural carbon sinks. This is known as the bottom-up approach to calculating the carbon budget.
Another way to track carbon sources and sinks is
Senators push for action on space traffic management
Friday, 23 July 2021 10:49 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Members of a Senate space subcommittee argued that the Commerce Department was not doing enough to implement policies on space traffic management (STM) or staffing the office responsible for it.
At the July 22 hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee’s space subcommittee, senators said they were worried that slow action by the Commerce Department to set up a civil STM system as outlined in Space Policy Directive (SPD) 3 in 2018 threatened U.S.
Starliner cleared for second uncrewed test flight
Friday, 23 July 2021 09:46 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — NASA approved plans July 22 for the launch of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on a second uncrewed test flight that seeks to demonstrate that the company has corrected the problems seen on the first.
At the conclusion of the flight readiness review, NASA gave the go-ahead for a July 30 launch of Starliner on the Orbital Flight Test (OFT) 2 mission.
Better understanding of Earth’s atmospheric chemistry from studying Mars?
Friday, 23 July 2021 08:00 Write a comment
Long-term studies of ozone and water vapour in the atmosphere of Mars could lead to better understanding of atmospheric chemistry for the Earth. A new analysis of data from ESA's Mars Express mission has revealed that our knowledge of the way these atmospheric gases interact with each other is incomplete.
Earth from Space: Tarso Toussidé, Chad
Friday, 23 July 2021 07:00 Write a comment
The Tarso Toussidé volcanic massif is featured in this false-colour composite image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.
Space Force extends Parsons’ contract for satellite ground services
Thursday, 22 July 2021 20:35 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Braxton Technologies, a company recently acquired by Parsons Corp., received a $139.4 million contract to continue development and prototyping of the U.S. Space Force’s next-generation ground system for satellite operations.
United Kingdom a potential site for future U.S. space surveillance radar
Thursday, 22 July 2021 20:00 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — U.S. Space Force officials have begun discussions with the U.K. government about the possibility of building a deep-space radar site in the United Kingdom, a spokesman confirmed July 22.
The Space Force plans to develop a network of sensors known as the Deep Space Advanced Radar Concept (DARC) to track active satellites and debris beyond geostationary orbit 35,786 kilometers above the Earth.
InSight mission: Mars unveiled
Thursday, 22 July 2021 18:25 Write a comment
Using information obtained from around a dozen earthquakes detected on Mars by the Very Broad Band SEIS seismometer, developed in France, the international team of NASA's InSight mission has unveiled the internal structure of Mars. The three papers published on July 23, 2021 in the journal Science, involving numerous co-authors from French institutions and laboratories, including the CNRS, the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, and Université de Paris, and supported in particular by the French space agency CNES and the French National Research Agency ANR, provide, for the first time, an estimate of the size of the planet's core, the thickness of its crust and the structure of its mantle, based on the analysis of seismic waves reflected and modified by interfaces in its interior. It makes this the first ever seismic exploration of the internal structure of a terrestrial planet other than Earth, and an important step towards understanding the formation and thermal evolution of Mars.
Scientists determine Mars crustal thickness
Thursday, 22 July 2021 17:00 Write a comment
Based on the analysis of marsquakes recorded by NASA's InSight mission, the structure of Mars's crust has now been determined in absolute numbers for the first time. Beneath the InSight landing site, the crust is either approximately 20 or 39 kilometers thick. That is the result of an international research team led by geophysicist Dr.
NorthStar developing prototype Earth observation system for marine and coastal tracking
Thursday, 22 July 2021 16:45 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — NorthStar Earth & Space, a startup developing a constellation for tracking other satellites, has secured Canadian government funding for a prototype Earth observation monitoring system to combat climate change.
Montréal-based NorthStar said July 22 it is working with the Canadian Coast Guard on the project, using an airborne hyperspectral sensor system to monitor sensitive marine and coastal environments.
Exodus Orbitals is developing an open satellite platform
Thursday, 22 July 2021 10:30 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — Canadian startup Exodus Orbitals plans to launch its first satellite in March to take the software-defined space trend a step further, providing a platform for third parties to upload and run their applications from orbit.
Picture-frame-sized CubeSat antenna reaches orbit
Thursday, 22 July 2021 09:53 Write a comment
An ESA project has developed satellite antenna the size of a small picture frame, intended for miniature CubeSats. Built by Polish company WiRan the antenna found its first customer as soon as it was finalised, and is already serving in space.
Manipulating magnets in the quest for fusion
Thursday, 22 July 2021 08:58 Write a comment
After decades of plasma physics research, Senior Research Scientist Brian LaBombard is taking on magnets for MIT's new fusion effort.
"You get the high field, you get the performance."
Senior Research Scientist Brian LaBombard is summarizing what might be considered a guiding philosophy behind designing and engineering fusion devices at MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC). Begin