With the HUMANS project, a message that space is for everyone
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 06:07When the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft launched in 1977, they each carried a Golden Record, a special project spearheaded by astrophysicist Carl Sagan, in addition to the scientific instruments necessary for their mission to explore the outer reaches of our solar system. Part time capsule, part symbolic ambassador of goodwill, the Golden Record comprises sounds, images, music, and greetings
China's experimental space plane aces test flight
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 06:07China's reusable aerospace plane, which was tested on Friday, offers great potential in a wide range of businesses, according to industry observers. "It will be able to do many different things: space tourism, transporting astronauts, satellite deployment, cargo transportation and emergency rescues," said Wang Yanan, editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine. "Compared to rocke
Long March 2C rocket carrying four satellites launched
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 06:07China launched a Long March 2C carrier rocket on Monday morning at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province to place four satellites into space. The rocket blasted off at 8:19 am and deployed three Yaogan 30-series remote-sensing satellites as well as a micro communication satellite into their orbits, said the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the country's leadin
Amazon magnate Bezos ready to ride his own rocket to space
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 06:07The wealthiest man on the planet Jeff Bezos will ride his own rocket to outer space on Tuesday, a key moment for a fledgling industry seeking to make the final frontier accessible to elite tourists. Blue Origin has planned its first crewed mission, an 11-minute hop from west Texas to beyond the Karman line and back again, to coincide with the 52nd anniversary of the first Moon landing. V
SwRI to adapt mass spectrometer for Lunar missions
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 06:07NASA has funded Southwest Research Institute's Environmental Analysis of the Bounded Lunar Exosphere (ENABLE) project, which aims to return mass spectrometry to the lunar surface. The three-year, $2.18 million program seeks to adapt a commercial off-the-shelf mass spectrometer into a design to identify materials present on the Moon. Mass spectrometry is an analytic technique that identifie
Supermassive black holes put a brake on stellar births
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 06:07Black holes with masses equivalent to millions of suns do put a brake on the birth of new stars, say astronomers. Using machine learning and three state of the art simulations to back up results from a large sky survey, the researchers resolve a 20-year long debate on the formation of stars. Joanna Piotrowska, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, will present the new work today (Tuesday
New sunspot catalogue to improve space weather predictions
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 06:07Scientists from the University of Graz, Kanzelhohe Observatory, Skoltech, and the World Data Center SILSO at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, have presented the Catalogue of Hemispheric Sunspot Numbers. It will enable more accurate predictions of the solar cycle and space weather, which can affect human-made infrastructure both on Earth and in orbit. The study came out in the Astronomy and Astr
A bug's life: Millimeter-tall mountains on neutron stars
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 06:07New models of neutron stars show that their tallest mountains may be only fractions of millimetres high, due to the huge gravity on the ultra-dense objects. The research is presented today at the National Astronomy Meeting 2021. Neutron stars are some of the densest objects in the Universe: they weigh about as much as the Sun, yet measure only around 10km across, similar in size to a large
Cosmic rays help supernovae explosions pack a bigger punch
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 06:07The final stage of cataclysmic explosions of dying massive stars, called supernovae, could pack an up to six times bigger punch on the surrounding interstellar gas with the help of cosmic rays, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Oxford. The work will be presented by PhD student Francisco Rodriguez Montero today (19 July) at the virtual National Astronomy Meeting (NA
Funding partnerships launch the UK-Australia Space Bridge
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 06:07The first collaborative activity within the UK-Australia Space Bridge framework is being launched today by Australia's SmartSat CRC, UK Science and Innovation Network, and the Satellite Applications Catapult with the support of Austrade and the Australian Space Agency. The Satellite Applications Catapult, based at the Harwell Space Cluster in Oxfordshire, and Australia's Smartsat CRC will
China's five-star red flag flies proudly on red planet
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 06:07Four photos of Mars taken by the Tianwen 1 probe were unveiled in China last month, but the excitement generated by humanity's next great step in space exploration was shared around the world. Just as eye-catching as images of the Martian surface itself was the Chinese national flag on the Zhurong rover's landing platform. After the historic landing on May 15, the flag was slowly unr
ExoMars orbiter continues hunt for key signs of life on Mars
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 06:00The ESA-Roscosmos Trace Gas Orbiter has set new upper limits on how much methane, ethane, ethylene and phosphine is in the martian atmosphere – four so-called ‘biomarker’ gases that are potential signs of life.
ESA Highlights 2020: interactive format now available!
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 05:50ESA Highlights 2020: interactive format now available!
Lynk books SpaceX flight for direct-to-cellphone satellites
Monday, 19 July 2021 21:47TAMPA, Fla. — Lynk aims to launch multiple operational satellites on a SpaceX ride-share mission in December, ahead of plans to provide connectivity services with the constellation directly to unmodified cellphones next year.
The Virginia-based startup booked a place on a SpaceX transporter mission through ride-share service provider Spaceflight, Lynk CEO Charles Miller told SpaceNews.
Investors drop out of Momentus SPAC deal
Monday, 19 July 2021 21:40EL PASO, Texas — Investors accounting for more than half the money in a funding round concurrent with in-space transportation company Momentus’s merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) dropped out of the deal when given the opportunity by a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.