The obliquity of Mars: Periodic bedding in Tithonium Chasma
Monday, 11 January 2021 12:28
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Earth's seasons are caused by the tilt of our planet's rotational axis to the orbital plane or obliquity. Mars' obliquity is currently about 25 degrees, which is not much different from Earth's 23 degrees. However, numerical calculations by scientists at the Paris Observatory and Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggest that this near-agreement is a coincidence.
Under the influence of gravitational torques from other planets, Mars' obliquity varies chaotically, probably reaching values greater than 60 degrees and lower than 10 degrees. By contrast, Earth's obliquity appears to have been limited to small variations from its current value because of the stabilizing gravitational influence of the Moon. If the calculations are correct, then for most of the Solar System's history, the obliquity of Mars was greater than 25 degrees. This would produce warmer summers and colder winters than on present-day Mars. On Earth, a recent 1 degree rise in obliquity is believed to have triggered ice sheet retreat from the current location of New York City to Greenland. The climatic consequences of 50 degree changes in obliquity on Mars remain unknown.
It is possible, though unproven, that higher obliquity triggered partial melting of some of Mars' water ice.
Pool preps
Monday, 11 January 2021 12:08 Write a comment
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Prepping for a spacewalk typically means diving underwater to rehearse and fine-tune operations.
In 2016, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst performed such an underwater rehearsal for the Colka high speed radio, the brown box imaged above, that will be installed this month on the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover will integrate the small fridge-sized device outside the European Columbus module during a spacewalk scheduled this year. ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will be at NASA’s mission control directing the spacewalkers as Capcom. The Columbus Ka-band terminal, nicknamed ‘Colka’, will enable faster communication with Europe.
Orbiting the planet every
Ariane 6 launch complex – December 2020
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Tour the Ariane 6 launch complex at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana NASA to upgrade space station solar arrays
Monday, 11 January 2021 11:59 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — NASA will start an upgrade this year of the solar arrays of the International Space Station to ensure the station has sufficient power to continue operating at least through the end of the decade.
Energy from solar wind favours the north
Monday, 11 January 2021 08:40 Write a comment
Using information from ESA’s Swarm satellite constellation, scientists have made a discovery about how energy generated by electrically-charged particles in the solar wind flows into Earth’s atmosphere – surprisingly, more of it heads towards the magnetic north pole than towards the magnetic south pole.
Iceye to launch three SAR satellites on SpaceX rideshare flight
Monday, 11 January 2021 04:35 Write a comment
SAN FRANCISCO – Iceye is preparing to send three Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites into orbit on the SpaceX Falcon 9 small satellite rideshare mission scheduled for launch Jan. 21.
With the upcoming launch, Iceye seeks to expand its constellation to include six SAR satellites.
Rolls-Royce and UK Space Agency launch study into nuclear-powered space exploration
Monday, 11 January 2021 02:16 Write a comment
The UK Space Agency and Rolls-Royce are joining forces for a unique study into how nuclear power and technologies could be used as part of space exploration.
This new research contract will see planetary scientists work together to explore the game-changing potential of nuclear power as a more plentiful source of energy, capable of making possible deeper space exploration in the decades to Researchers realize efficient generation of high-dimensional quantum teleportation
Monday, 11 January 2021 02:16 Write a comment
In a study published in Physical Review Letters, the team led by academician GUO Guangcan from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) made progress in high dimensional quantum teleportation. The researchers demonstrated the teleportation of high-dimensional states in a three-dimensional six-photon system.
To transmit unknown quantum st Autonomous in-space assembly and manufacturing moves closer to reality
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COSM Advanced Manufacturing Systems will begin working on final development and build of electron beam 3D metal printing systems for a variety of future in-space, lunar, and Martian applications. The work is funded by a SBIR contract from NASA to support the Artemis program's return to the Moon.
The technology advanced by COSM uses an electron beam to deposit metal from a spool of wire int Space Force joins U.S. Intelligence Community
Monday, 11 January 2021 02:16 Write a comment
The U.S. Space Force was designated the 18th member of the U.S. Intelligence Community in a ceremony featuring John Ratcliffe, National Intelligence director, the branch announced on Monday.
The new service branch, founded in 2019, joins a group of government intelligence agencies and subordinate organizations that work separately and collectively to conduct intelligence activities in s SEAKR demonstrates DARPA Pit Boss hardware on-orbit in 9 months
Monday, 11 January 2021 02:16 Write a comment
SEAKR Engineering, Inc. (SEAKR) is pleased to announce it realized on-orbit technology demonstration of Pit Boss supercomputing processing hardware in 9 months as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Blackjack Program. Pit Boss is an autonomous, collaborative, distributed space-based enterprise designed to self-task, process, and distribute tactically relevant informatio Umbra Drops "Lab" and Prepares for Launch
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The satellite intelligence company will now become "Umbra synthetic aperture radar satellite." Umbra's rebranding marks the beginning of the company's preparation of its first commercial satellite launches throughout 2021. The company said the simplified name reflects the evolution of its business focus from "a research and development laboratory" towards a "commercial satellite constellation op Roman Space Telescope could image 100 Hubble ultra deep fields at once
Monday, 11 January 2021 02:16 Write a comment
In 1995, the Hubble Space Telescope stared at a blank patch of the sky for 10 straight days. The resulting Deep Field image captured thousands of previously unseen, distant galaxies. Similar observations have followed since then, including the longest and deepest exposure, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Now, astronomers are looking ahead to the future, and the possibilities enabled by NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Dynetics achieves critical NASA milestone and delivers key data on lunar lander program
Monday, 11 January 2021 02:16 Write a comment
Dynetics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Leidos, has submitted its proposal for Option A of the Human Landing System (HLS) for NASA's Artemis Program. The Dynetics team has also completed the HLS Continuation Review, a critical milestone during the 10-month base period, which NASA will use to assess progress on HLS hardware development and program plans.
At the Continuation Review, Dynetics A Tale of Planetary Resurrection
Monday, 11 January 2021 02:16 Write a comment
Years after its detection, astronomers have learned that a planet called KOI-5Ab orbits in a triple-star system with a skewed configuration.
Shortly after NASA's Kepler mission began operations back in 2009, it identified what was thought to be a planet about the size of Neptune. Called KOI-5Ab, the planet, which was the second new planet candidate to be found by the mission, was ultimately for