NASA's Curiosity team names Martian hill that serves as mission gateway
Monday, 05 April 2021 05:36
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The team of scientists and engineers behind NASA's Curiosity rover named a hill along the rover's path on Mars in honor of a recently deceased mission scientist. A craggy hump that stretches 450 feet (120 meters) tall, "Rafael Navarro mountain" is located on Mount Sharp in northwest Gale Crater.
The inspiration for the name is award-winning scientist Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez; he died on Jan Skoltech team used mass spectrometry to study composition of meteorites
Monday, 05 April 2021 05:36 Write a comment
Scientists from Russia and Germany studied the molecular composition of carbonaceous chondrites - the insoluble organic matter of the Murchison and Allende meteorites - in an attempt to identify their origin. Ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry revealed a wide diversity of chemical compositions and unexpected similarities between meteorites from different groups. The research was published i Raindrops also keep fallin' on exoplanets
Monday, 05 April 2021 05:36 Write a comment
One day, humankind may step foot on another habitable planet. That planet may look very different from Earth, but one thing will feel familiar - the rain.
In a recent paper, Harvard researchers found that raindrops are remarkably similar across different planetary environments, even planets as drastically different as Earth and Jupiter. Understanding the behavior of raindrops on other plan NASA's Curiosity team names Martian hill that serves as mission 'gateway'
Sunday, 04 April 2021 20:49 Write a comment
The team of scientists and engineers behind NASA's Curiosity rover named a hill along the rover's path on Mars in honor of a recently deceased mission scientist. A craggy hump that stretches 450 feet (120 meters) tall, "Rafael Navarro mountain" is located on Mount Sharp in northwest Gale Crater.
Op-ed | Space Settlement Act should guide Nelson’s NASA tenure
Sunday, 04 April 2021 18:41 Write a comment
As former U.S. lawmaker Bill Nelson awaits Senate confirmation of his nomination to lead NASA, it is perhaps time to recall a policy he voted for some 30 years ago.
As chairman of a House space subcommittee, Nelson presided over consideration of the Space Settlement Act of 1988, which was added as a provision to the NASA Authorization Act, and ultimately signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.
With Air Force funding, Numerica deploys telescopes to monitor space in broad daylight
Sunday, 04 April 2021 16:08 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Numerica, a company that operates a network of ground-based telescopes to track objects in deep space, is deploying new sensors that can observe orbiting satellites in broad daylight.
The telescopes were funded with $3 million the company won in 2019 at a pitch day event hosted by the U.S.
Lockheed Martin makes block buy of launches from ABL Space Systems
Sunday, 04 April 2021 15:00 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin has signed a contract with small launch vehicle developer ABL Space Systems for as many as 58 launches over the next decade, a deal potentially worth several hundred million dollars.
The contract, announced April 5, covers up to 26 launches of ABL’s RS1 rocket through 2025, and an additional 32 launches from 2026 through 2029.
Crew Dragon moves to new docking port at ISS
Sunday, 04 April 2021 12:20 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft moved from one docking port to another on the International Space Station April 5, marking the start of a busy month spacecraft arrivals and departures on the station.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft Resilience undocked from the forward port on the station’s Harmony module at 6:30 a.m.
Russia continues discussions with China on lunar exploration cooperation
Saturday, 03 April 2021 23:40 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The Russian space agency Roscosmos anticipates additional negotiations with China at a conference in June, building upon an agreement on lunar exploration announced in February.
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter dropped on Mars' surface ahead of flight
Saturday, 03 April 2021 15:54 Write a comment
NASA's Ingenuity mini-helicopter has been dropped on the surface of Mars in preparation for its first flight, the US space agency said.
The ultra-light aircraft had been fixed to the belly of the Perseverance rover, which touched down on the Red Planet on February 18.
"MarsHelicopter touchdown confirmed!" NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory tweeted Saturday.
"Its 293 million mile (471 million kilometer) journey aboard @NASAPersevere ended with the final drop of 4 inches (10 centimeter) from the rover's belly to the surface of Mars today. Next milestone? Survive the night."
A photograph accompanying the tweet showed Perseverance had driven clear of the helicopter and its "airfield" after dropping to the surface.
Ingenuity had been feeding off the Perseverance's power system but will now have to use its own battery to run a vital heater to protect its unshielded electrical components from freezing and cracking during the bitter Martian night.
Technology race against China a key concern for Pentagon acquisition nominee
Saturday, 03 April 2021 14:19 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Michael Brown, a veteran tech industry executive who has led the Pentagon’s commercial outreach office since 2018, is President Biden’s pick for the Defense Department’s top procurement job, the White House announced April 2.
Rover drops off Mars Helicopter Ingenuity for first flight on Mars
Saturday, 03 April 2021 03:55 Write a comment
Within a few days, Ingenuity will be on the surface of Mars. Until now it has been connected to the Perseverance rover, which allowed Ingenuity to charge its battery as well as use a thermostat-controlled heater powered by the rover.
This heater keeps the interior at about 45 degrees F through the bitter cold of the Martian night, where temperatures can drop to as low as -130F. That comfor OSIRIS-REx's set for final observation run before heading to Earth
Saturday, 03 April 2021 03:55 Write a comment
NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is on the brink of discovering the extent of the mess it made on asteroid Bennu's surface during last fall's sample collection event. On Apr. 7, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will get one last close encounter with Bennu as it performs a final flyover to capture images of the asteroid's surface. While performing the flyover, the spacecraft will observe Bennu from a distance Gateway's propulsion system passes first test
Saturday, 03 April 2021 03:55 Write a comment
The thruster system that will propel NASA's Gateway around the Moon was recently fired up for the first of many ground tests to ensure the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) is ready for flight.
NASA, along with Maxar Technologies and Busek Co., successfully completed a test of the 6-kilowatt (kW) solar electric propulsion (SEP) subsystem destined for the PPE.
The hot fire tests were InSight detects two sizable quakes on Mars
Saturday, 03 April 2021 03:55 Write a comment
NASA's InSight lander has detected two strong, clear quakes originating in a location of Mars called Cerberus Fossae - the same place where two strong quakes were seen earlier in the mission. The new quakes have magnitudes of 3.3 and 3.1; the previous quakes were magnitude 3.6 and 3.5. InSight has recorded over 500 quakes to date, but because of their clear signals, these are four of the best qu