Keeping mold out of future space stations
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 16:02
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Mold can survive the harshest of environments, so to stop harmful spores from growing on future space stations, a new study suggests a novel way to prevent its spread.
The invisible battle for space dominance
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 14:00
Spacewalking is the new domain of the rich as billionaire attempts first private spacewalk
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 13:48 Write a comment
First came space tourism. Now comes an even bigger thrill for the monied masses: spacewalking.
The stage is set for the first private spacewalk Thursday. Tech billionaire Jared Isaacman will pop out of the hatch of his orbiting SpaceX capsule, two days after blasting off from Florida on a chartered flight that lifted him and his crew higher than anyone since NASA's moonwalkers. He partnered with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to buy a series of rocket rides and help develop brand new spacesuits.
SpaceX is the first private company to attempt a spacewalk, until now the domain of just 12 countries. There's a reason why it's such a niche and elite group: Spacewalking is considered the most dangerous part of any flight after launch and reentry, and demands extensive training.
Hera CubeSats’ touchdown
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 12:22 Write a comment
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Hera CubeSats’ touchdown U.S. space weather policy is alive and well but is insufficiently funded
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 12:00
Private astronauts on daring trek ahead of historic spacewalk
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 11:56 Write a comment
A private crew set out on an audacious orbital expedition Tuesday, journeying deeper into the cosmos than any humans in half a century as they prepare for the first ever spacewalk by non-professional astronauts.
The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, led by Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and should by the end of its first day attain a peak alt What's it Like to Spacewalk?
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 11:56 Write a comment
Spacewalks occur in the vacuum of deep space, but astronauts are tethered to their spacecraft if they exit an orbiting space station, space module, or spacecraft. Inside a spaceship, conditions are well suited to humans. Outside, in space, it's an entirely different story. The frigid vacuum of space presents deadly risks. Earth scientists take flight, set sail to verify PACE satellite data
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 11:56 Write a comment
From sea to sky to orbit, a range of vantage points allow NASA Earth scientists to collect different types of data to better understand our changing planet. Collecting them together, at the same place and the same time, is an important step used to verify the accuracy of satellite data.
NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite launched in February 2024 and is colle Astroscale and ClearSpace get funds to advance double satellite de-orbit mission
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 10:56
Amid Boeing's Starliner troubles, WA space industry thrives
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 10:47 Write a comment
It'd be reasonable to think Washington's space economy has a lot riding on Boeing's Starliner, the spacecraft that left two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station and headed back to Earth with an empty cabin Friday.
The astronauts were scheduled to return on Starliner in June after a week on the ISS, but thruster failures and helium leaks on the way there made NASA decide a trip back on the Boeing spacecraft was too risky. Boeing's troubles with Starliner date back years, including a flawed, unmanned test flight in 2019 that had to be repeated in 2022.
But, outside of some classified satellite jobs that pop up in South King County, Boeing's efforts in the Seattle area are largely centered on its commercial airplane business, according to industry experts. Instead, the biggest players in the Seattle area's space industry are Amazon, Blue Origin and SpaceX.
"The Seattle space ecosystem is small but mighty because we have companies here that cover the entire space supply chain," said Stan Shull, founder of space technology consulting firm Alliance Victory.
Shull said there are the space and tech giants like SpaceX and Amazon manufacturing thousands of satellites in their Starlink and Project Kuiper divisions, respectively, and Blue Origin with its rocket engines and spacecraft.
Report highlights severe infrastructure challenges at NASA
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 10:12
Landspace completes 10-kilometer reusable rocket test, eyes 2025 orbital launch
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 09:24
Below the surface - ExoMars Rosalind Franklin mission
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 07:00 Write a comment
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Watch the second episode of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission – Europe’s ambitious exploration journey to search for past and present signs of life on Mars.
This episode starts with Rosalind searching for traces of life below the martian surface using a ground penetrating radar and a set of cameras.
The rover will dig, collect, and investigate the chemical composition of material collected by a drill. Rosalind Franklin will be the first rover to reach a depth of up to two metres deep below the surface, acquiring samples that have been protected from surface radiation and extreme temperatures.
Weak gravitational lensing: how Euclid maps dark matter
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 07:00 Write a comment
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00:04:11
ESA's Euclid mission is surveying the sky to explore the composition and evolution of the dark Universe. But how can Euclid see the invisible? Watch this video to learn about the light-bending effect that enables scientists to trace how dark matter is distributed in the Universe.
By making use of Euclid’s flagship simulation, the video illustrates how dark-matter filaments subtly alter the shape of galaxies. Light travelling to us from vastly distant galaxies is bent and distorted by concentrations of matter along its way. The effect is called gravitational lensing because matter (both ‘normal’ and dark matter) acts
Voyager 1 team accomplishes tricky thruster swap
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 06:39 Write a comment
Engineers working on NASA's Voyager 1 probe have successfully mitigated an issue with the spacecraft's thrusters, which keep the distant explorer pointed at Earth so that it can receive commands, send engineering data, and provide the unique science data it is gathering.
After 47 years, a fuel tube inside the thrusters has become clogged with silicon dioxide, a byproduct that appears with age from a rubber diaphragm in the spacecraft's fuel tank. The clogging reduces how efficiently the thrusters can generate force. After weeks of careful planning, the team switched the spacecraft to a different set of thrusters.
The thrusters are fueled by liquid hydrazine, which is turned into gases and released in tens-of-milliseconds-long puffs to gently tilt the spacecraft's antenna toward Earth.