Long March 8 rocket makes maiden flight
Wednesday, 23 December 2020 07:49
Five days after China concluded its historic 23-day Chang'e 5 lunar mission, Chinese space engineers made a new achievement with the debut flight of the country's newest carrier rocket.
The Long March 8, the latest in China's Long March launch vehicle fleet, lifted off at 12:37 pm on Tuesday from a coastal launchpad at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan province. GomSpace signs a three-party cooperation contract to develop science and technology activities with the Colombian Air force and CODALTEC
Wednesday, 23 December 2020 07:49
GomSpace has signed the second FACSAT-2 contract to support advanced science and technology activities to enhance the satellite capabilities of the Colombian Airforce. The contract and collaboration consist of a three-party agreement between CODALTEC / Colombian Air Force ("FAC") and GomSpace to continue the FACSAT-2 satellite mission and associated intensive virtual technology transfer program. NTU Singapore scientists invent glue activated by magnetic field
Wednesday, 23 December 2020 07:49
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), have developed a new way to cure adhesives using a magnetic field.
Conventional adhesives like epoxy which are used to bond plastic, ceramics and wood are typically designed to cure using moisture, heat or light. They often require specific curing temperatures, ranging from room temperature up to 80 degrees Celsiu Arianespace will orbit CSO-2 satellite for CNES and DGA on behalf of the French Ministry of Defense
Wednesday, 23 December 2020 07:49
For its 10th and final launch of the year - and the fifth in 2020 with the Soyuz medium launcher - Arianespace will send the CSO-2 Earth observation satellite, intended for defense and security applications, into Sun-synchronous orbit.
CSO-2 will be launched for the French CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) space agency and the DGA (Direction generale de l'armement) defense procurem Lockheed Martin set to takeover Aerojet Rocketdyne
Wednesday, 23 December 2020 07:49
Lockheed Martin has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AJRD) for $56 per share in cash, which is expected to be reduced to $51 per share after the payment of a pre-closing special dividend.
This represents a post-dividend equity value of $4.6 billion and a total transaction value of $4.4 billion including the assumption of net cash. DARPA selects teams to capture potable water from air
Wednesday, 23 December 2020 07:49
DARPA recently awarded five contracts and selected one Government partner to develop technology to capture potable water from the air in quantities sufficient to meet critical DoD needs, even in extremely dry climates. GE Research, Physical Sciences Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Texas at Austin, and U.S. Naval Research Laboratory were ch NASA, UN sign Memorandum of Understanding on Peaceful Uses of Space
Wednesday, 23 December 2020 07:49
NASA and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) pledging cooperation in areas of science and technology to support the peaceful use of outer space.
The MOU, signed Thursday, Dec. 17, brings together NASA's wealth of publicly available Earth observation data and dynamic exploration opportunities with UNOOSA's unique positio Ultracold atoms reveal a new type of quantum magnetic behavior
Wednesday, 23 December 2020 07:49
A new study illuminates surprising choreography among spinning atoms. In a paper appearing in the journal Nature, researchers from MIT and Harvard University reveal how magnetic forces at the quantum, atomic scale affect how atoms orient their spins.
In experiments with ultracold lithium atoms, the researchers observed different ways in which the spins of the atoms evolve. Like tippy balle Compressive fluctuations heat ions in space plasma
Wednesday, 23 December 2020 07:49
New simulations carried out in part on the ATERUI II supercomputer in Japan have found that the reason ions exist at higher temperatures than electrons in space plasma is because they are better able to absorb energy from compressive turbulent fluctuations in the plasma. These finding have important implications for understanding observations of various astronomical objects such as the images of NASA finds what a glacier's slope reveals about Greenland ice sheet thinning
Wednesday, 23 December 2020 07:49
As glaciers flow outward from the Greenland Ice Sheet, what lies beneath them offers clues to their role in future ice thinning and sea-level rise contribution.
Outlet glaciers are rivers of ice flowing within the cracks of the bedrock and draining into the surrounding sea. They retreat and start to thin as climate warms, and this thinning works its way toward the center of the ice sheet. Mapping out a transient atom
Wednesday, 23 December 2020 07:49
An international team from Germany, Sweden, Russia and the USA, led by scientists from European XFEL, has published the results of an experiment that could provide a blueprint for the analysis of transitions states in atoms and molecules. This would open up new opportunities to gain insights into important processes such as photocatalysis, elementary steps in photosynthesis and radiation damage. Brazilian researcher experiments with electron-plasma interactions
Wednesday, 23 December 2020 07:49
A paper on research conducted by Meirielen Caetano de Sousa, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Sao Paulo's Physics Institute (IF-USP) in Brazil, is highlighted as Editor's Pick in the September issue of Physics of Plasmas, published by the American Institute of Physics with the cooperation of The American Physical Society.
The paper, entitled "Wave-particle interactions in a long tr Earthlings and astronauts chat away, via ham radio
Tuesday, 22 December 2020 20:37
The International Space Station cost more than $100 billion. A ham radio set can be had for a few hundred bucks.
Perhaps that explains, in part, the appeal of having one of humankind's greatest scientific inventions communicate with Earth via technology that's more than 100 years old. But perhaps there's a simpler explanation for why astronauts and ham radio operators have been talking, and talking, for years.
NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock was just a few weeks into his six-month mission at the space station when feelings of isolation began to set in.
Wheelock would be separated from loved ones, save for communication via an internet phone, email or social media. At times, the stress and tension of serving as the station's commander could be intense.
One night, as he looked out a window at the Earth below, he remembered the space station's ham radio. He figured he'd turn it on—see if anyone was listening.
"Any station, any station, this is the International Space Station," Wheelock said.
A flood of voices jumbled out of the airwaves.
Astronauts aboard the space station often speak to students via ham radio, which can also be used in emergencies, but those are scheduled appearances.
Voyager Space Holdings to acquire majority stake in Nanoracks
Tuesday, 22 December 2020 19:16
WASHINGTON — Voyager Space Holdings, a company that has acquired several space ventures, is taking a majority stake in commercial space station company Nanoracks, the two firms announced Dec. 23.
Voyager announced it would take a majority stake in XO Markets, the parent company of Nanoracks.
A-68A iceberg thinning at 2.5 cm per day
Tuesday, 22 December 2020 15:30
Latest images reveal that the A-68A iceberg has shattered into multiple pieces, with two large fragments of ice breaking off from the main berg and floating away in the open ocean. Scientists using satellite data have not only been monitoring the iceberg’s journey across the South Atlantic Ocean, but have been studying the iceberg’s ever-changing shape.