NASA's Curiosity team names Martian hill that serves as mission 'gateway'
Sunday, 04 April 2021 20:49
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 Sensors collect crucial data on Mars landings with arrival of Perseverance
Saturday, 03 April 2021 03:55
"Tango delta. Touchdown confirmed. Perseverance safely on the surface of Mars, ready to begin seeking the signs of past life." For more than six years, the Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2 (MEDLI2) team waited to hear these words.
NASA's Perseverance rover successfully landed Feb. 18, 2021, beginning its robotic exploration of the Red Planet. MEDLI2 was one of the crucial NASA aims to wow public with landing video, images
Saturday, 03 April 2021 03:55
NASA has started intense planning to capture public attention with high-definition video, photos and possible live streaming from the moon during upcoming Artemis missions.
Grainy delayed footage - sometimes only in black and white - was a hallmark of the first Apollo moon landing in 1969. But even that captured 650 million viewers around the globe.
Artemis moon missions will f Distant, spiralling stars give clues to the forces that bind sub-atomic particles
Saturday, 03 April 2021 03:55
Space scientists at the University of Bath in the UK have found a new way to probe the internal structure of neutron stars, giving nuclear physicists a novel tool for studying the structures that make up matter at an atomic level.
Neutron stars are dead stars that have been compressed by gravity to the size of small cities. They contain the most extreme matter in the universe, meaning they