Image: Mont Mercou on Mars
Monday, 22 March 2021 12:27
Here are a few stunning views of the Curiosity Rover's current location, Mont Mercou in Gale Crater on Mars. This towering outcrop provides a great look at layered sedimentary rock structures. On Earth, it's common to find layered rock like the ones within this cliff face, especially where there were once lakes. The pancake-like layers of sediment are compressed and cemented to form a rock record of the planet's history.
This color image is from one of our favorite image editors, Kevin Gill. He assembled 202 raw images taken by MSL's MastCam between sols 3057 and 3061. You can see Kevin's full mosaic on Flickr.
Gale Crater was specifically chosen as the destination for the Curiosity rover from approximately original 60 candidate sites, because data from orbiting spacecraft determined that Mount Sharp—the big mountain in the middle of the crater—is created from dozens of layers of sedimentary rock, perhaps built over millions of years. These layers are telling the story of Mars' geological and climate history, and planetary geologists are having a field day with Mont Mercou.
And the cadre of image editing enthusiasts around the world have been taking advantage of this amazing rock formation, too.
MDA files to go public
Monday, 22 March 2021 11:39
WASHINGTON — Canadian space technology company MDA Ltd. filed paperwork March 22 for an initial public offering of stock, raising funding to pay down its debt and invest in new projects.
In a filing with Canadian securities regulators, MDA announced its intent to raise $500 million Canadian ($397 million U.S.
NASA Joins White House National Climate Task Force
Monday, 22 March 2021 10:06
As a leading agency observing and understanding environmental changes to Earth, NASA has joined the National Climate Task Force. President Joe Biden issued an executive order Jan. 27, which initially outlined details of the task force.
The administration's climate agenda outlines putting climate at the center of the country's foreign policy and national security and encourages a government Astronomers see a 'space jellyfish'
Monday, 22 March 2021 10:06
A radio telescope located in outback Western Australia has observed a cosmic phenomenon with a striking resemblance to a jellyfish.
Published in The Astrophysical Journal, an Australian-Italian team used the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope to observe a cluster of galaxies known as Abell 2877.
Lead author and PhD candidate Torrance Hodgson, from the Curtin University node of Hubble Sees Changing Seasons on Saturn
Monday, 22 March 2021 10:06
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is giving astronomers a view of changes in Saturn's vast and turbulent atmosphere as the planet's northern hemisphere summer transitions to fall as shown in this series of images taken in 2018, 2019, and 2020 (left to right).
"These small year-to-year changes in Saturn's color bands are fascinating," said Amy Simon, planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Hubble Shows Torrential Outflows from Infant Stars May Not Stop Them from Growing
Monday, 22 March 2021 10:06
Though our galaxy is an immense city of at least 200 billion stars, the details of how they formed remain largely cloaked in mystery.
Scientists know that stars form from the collapse of huge hydrogen clouds that are squeezed under gravity to the point where nuclear fusion ignites. But only about 30 percent of the cloud's initial mass winds up as a newborn star. Where does the rest of the Algorithms inspired by social networks reveal lifecycle of substorms, a key element of space weather
Monday, 22 March 2021 10:00
Space weather often manifests as substorms, where a beautiful auroral display such as the Northern Lights is accompanied by an electrical current in space which has effects at earth that can interfere with and damage power distribution and electrical systems. Now, the lifecycle of these auroral substorms has been revealed using social media-inspired mathematical tools to analyse space weather observations across the Earth's surface.
Analysis by researchers led by the University of Warwick has revealed that these substorms manifest as global-scale electrical current systems associated with the spectacular aurora, reaching across over a third of the globe at high latitudes.
New research which involves the University of Warwick, John Hopkins University—Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Bergen and Cranfield University, and published today in the journal Nature Communications processes data on disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field from over a hundred magnetometers in the Northern hemisphere using a new technique that enables them to find 'like-minded friends'.
Green cities use space to boost wellbeing
Monday, 22 March 2021 09:57
Urban greenery can improve air quality and promote wellbeing. ESA is working with municipal authorities to identify how space can help to create sustainable cities in which people are healthier, happier and more productive.
Discover how space can help to boost the physical and mental health of city dwellers in an hour-long webinar to be held on 25 March.
UNSW Canberra Space launches world-leading CubeSat satellites
Monday, 22 March 2021 06:53
UNSW Canberra Space's M2 CubeSat satellites successfully launched with Rocket Lab's 'They Go Up So Fast' mission from New Zealand earlier today, representing a significant step forward in Australia's sovereign space capabilities.
The M2 mission, a collaboration between UNSW Canberra Space and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), brings together emerging technologies that deliver advanced Kepler Communications reports successful Launch of two GEN1 satellites
Monday, 22 March 2021 06:53
Kepler Communications welcomed two new satellites into their constellation today, further expanding the active constellation to 15 satellites in total. These two satellites, KEPLER-6 and KEPLER-7, were successfully launched via Soyuz 2 out of Baikonur Cosmodrome as part of the CAS500-1 mission at approximately 02:07 AM EDT.
Once fully operational within the constellation these will add add Mars helicopter Ingenuity could usher in new era of exploration
Monday, 22 March 2021 06:53
NASA's plan to fly a helicopter on Mars for the first time in a few weeks could start a new era of interplanetary exploration like the space agency's little Sojourner rover did in the 1990s, according to several experts.
The Mars helicopter, Ingenuity, will be dropped from the Perseverance rover soon, but NASA hasn't determined the exact date. The rover ejected a shield that covered the FAA streamlined launch and reentry rule takes effect
Monday, 22 March 2021 06:53
The United States is leading the way to a new era of commercial space transportation with a final rule that streamlines the licensing process for private sector launch and reentry operations.
"Innovation in commercial space transportation is increasing dramatically, and policy needs to keep up. This rule will help us to prepare for future U.S. leadership in commercial space transportation All 38 satellites launched on Russia's Soyuz reach orbit: Roscosmos
Monday, 22 March 2021 06:53
Russia's Fregat upper stage has placed all the 38 satellites in target orbits after the launch of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos, said on Monday.
"Separation of 33 satellites has taken place," Rogozin said, adding that five satellites were placed in orbit earlier.
The rocket was launched from the Baikonur space India wants to win share of in Heavy Lift market from SpaceX
Monday, 22 March 2021 06:53
The ISRO has been keen on roping in the domestic private sector to finance the rocket manufacturing and satellite launch business so that it can itself focus on research and the heavy satellite launch market. Hoping to get a share of the global satellite launch business, India allocated a $1.4 billion fund for NewSpace India Ltd.
India's state owned NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) has prepared t Keeping track of spacecraft as Earth's water alters its spin
Monday, 22 March 2021 06:53
External gravitational forces, predominantly from the Sun and Moon, are constantly and predictably acting on our planet. While the Sun's enormous gravity keeps Earth in orbit, the gentle tug of the Moon has, over billions of years, quite dramatically slowed its spin, increasing the length of a day on Earth.
When the Earth first formed, a day was somewhere between six and eight hours long a