Copernical Team
China reveals photos taken by Mars rover
The China National Space Administration made public on Friday four pictures taken by the Tianwen 1 robotic mission, showing the Zhurong rover on Martian surface and scenes of its landing site. Three pictures were taken by Zhurong's cameras, and display the rover's upper stage, its landing platform as well as environment of the landing site. Another one was shot
Technology tests in microgravity for 'Cosmic Kiss' mission
The 36th parabolic flight campaign organised by the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is taking place from 4 to 11 June 2021 at the airport in Paderborn. During the campaign, various technology tests for the 'Cosmic Kiss' mission to be flown by German ESA astronaut Matthias Mauer will be carried out under microgravity conditions,
NASA's space communications user terminal
In the early days of cellphone use, each user was limited to their chosen provider's network and service capabilities. Restricting customers to service within one network led to high prices for out-of-network calls and limited value for customers. Cellphone providers long ago adopted roaming, allowing devices to jump from network to network without interrupting service and increasing competition
Marshall ships air filtration hardware to Wallops for ISS
New air filtration technology developed, built, and tested at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is bound for the International Space Station - where it will demonstrate advanced life support system capabilities that could help future explorers on the Moon and Mars breathe easier. The new hardware, known as the 4-Bed Carbon Dioxide Scrubber, was shipped June 9 from
Iridium announces Operation Arctic Lynx
Iridium Communications has announced Operation Arctic Lynx (OAL), a series of partnership-driven field exercises deploying Iridium and Iridium Connected technologies and involving more than 20 organizations, primarily focused above 60 degrees north latitude and stretching as far as 82 degrees north latitude. Taking place between June 11 and June 26, 2021, OAL involves an international cont
MIT study compares the four largest internet meganetworks
In recent months, people have reported seeing a parade of star-like points passing across the night sky. The formation is not extraterrestrial, or even astrophysical in origin, but is in fact a line of satellites, recently launched by SpaceX, that will eventually be joined by many more to form Starlink, a "megaconstellation" that will wrap around the Earth as a global network designed to beam hi
ESA selects revolutionary Venus EnVision mission
EnVision will be ESA's next Venus orbiter, providing a holistic view of the planet from its inner core to upper atmosphere to determine how and why Venus and Earth evolved so differently. The mission was selected by ESA's Science Programme Committee on 10 June as the fifth medium-class mission in the Agency's Cosmic Vision plan, targeting a launch in the early 2030s. "A new era in the expl
Queqiao: The bridge between Earth and the far side of the moon
Because of a phenomenon called gravitational locking, the Moon always faces the Earth from the same side. This proved useful in the early lunar landing missions in the 20th century, as there was always a direct line of sight for uninterrupted radiocommunications between Earth ground stations and equipment on the Moon. However, gravitational locking makes exploring the hidden face of the moon - t
Sunrise special: Solar eclipse thrills world's northern tier
The top of the world got a sunrise special Thursday—a "ring of fire" solar eclipse.
This so-called annular eclipse began at the Canadian province of Ontario, then swept across Greenland, the North Pole and finally Siberia, as the moon passed directly in front of the sun.
An annular eclipse occurs when a new moon is around its farthest point from us and appearing smaller, and so it doesn't completely blot out the sun when it's dead center.
The upper portions of North America, Europe and Asia enjoyed a partial eclipse, at least where the skies were clear. At those locations, the moon appeared to take a bite out of the sun.
It was the first eclipse of the sun visible from North America since August 2017, when a dramatic total solar eclipse crisscrossed the U.S.