Boeing Starliner rolls to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of May launch
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48Boeing's Starliner spacecraft took a road trip Tuesday before its May 6 liftoff, moving from the Kennedy Space Center to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Starliner boarded a transporter at the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center on Monday. Final checks were completed Tuesday for the short trip to the United Launch Alliance's Vertical Integration
Ariane 6 debut includes Portugal's first university CubeSat for aircraft tracking
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48Europe's next-generation rocket, Ariane 6, is set to embark on its inaugural flight, carrying a series of space missions each with their own distinct goals and enthusiastic teams supporting them. This launch will demonstrate the capability and adaptability of the new heavy-lift launcher, whether it's deploying satellites to observe Earth, exploring deep space, or testing key new technologies in
NASA seeks community input to refine space technology priorities
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) is revising its approach to technology development as it aims to enhance its missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The agency has identified nearly 190 national space technology needs and is soliciting input from the American aerospace community to prioritize these for future endeavors. Dr. Kurt Vogel, associate administrator for Space T
Comet Geyser: Perseverance's 24th Rock Core
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48After investigating the high-standing bedrock at the Bunsen Peak workspace deep within the Margin Unit, the unique nature and composition of this rock was deemed worthy for collection of Perseverance's 24th rock core sample, Comet Geyser! Bunsen Peak is named after a prominent peak in Yellowstone National, Park, Wyoming, USA, and the namesake for Comet Geyser is the silica-sintered cone ge
NASA Goddard to Build Quake Detector for Artemis III Moon Landing
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will build a moonquake detector for astronauts to deploy on the Moon in 2026 during the Artemis III mission, which will return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years. NASA selected the instrument, the Lunar Environment Monitoring Station (LEMS) as one of the first three potential payloads for Artem
New insights on the young ice deposits of Ceres
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48Ceres, the largest asteroid in our Solar System, features recently formed ice deposits in permanently shadowed craters near its poles, similar to those found on our Moon and Mercury. This similarity was first noted when the Dawn spacecraft surveyed Ceres in 2016, revealing bright ice deposits in these dark craters. "The initial observation in 2016 opened up a mystery, with many of Ceres's
International Collaboration Boosts Planetary Defense Efforts with Hera Mission
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48The team managing the European Space Agency's Hera mission, designed for asteroid deflection, recently gathered in the ESTEC Test Centre cleanroom in the Netherlands, showcasing the mission's spacecraft. Present in the photograph are members from Tyvak International in Italy and GomSpace in Luxembourg, producers of the Milani and Juventas CubeSats, set to accompany Hera into the cosmos. Ch
Ingenuity Mars Helicopter transitions to stationary role on Red Planet
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48The final transmission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory marked the end of active operations for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter but the beginning of its new role as a stationary data collector. On April 16, engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory bid farewell to active missions of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, a pioneering aircraft on Mars. Although the formal mission concluded on
Dating the Solar System's orbital changes with enstatite meteorites
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48New research pinpoints the timeline of the Solar System's giant planets moving into their current orbits, showing these changes occurred between 60-100 million years after the Solar System formed. This shift is crucial for understanding events like the formation of the Moon. A team from the University of Leicester, utilizing a combination of simulation, observation, and meteorite analysis,
Milky Way's first massive stellar blackhole unveiled 2000 light years away
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48A team of astronomers has pinpointed the largest stellar black hole discovered in the Milky Way, utilizing data from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission. This newly identified black hole, exerting a unique 'wobbling' effect on its companion star, was initially detected through this anomalous motion. Verification efforts included observations from the European Southern Observatory's Very Lar
Dragonfly mission set for Saturn's moon Titan with NASA's confirmed plan
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48NASA has officially given the greenlight for the Dragonfly rotorcraft mission to Saturn's moon Titan, authorizing the project's transition to final design and construction stages. This development follows the successful completion of the mission's Preliminary Design Review and subsequent budget adjustments to align with the current financial landscape. "Dragonfly represents a major science
Purple may just be the new green in the hunt for alien life
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48Researchers are expanding the criteria for life on other planets beyond the familiar green of Earthly vegetation. Scientists at Cornell University have suggested that purple, not green, might be the predominant color of life on other worlds, based on a study of bacteria that absorb infrared light for photosynthesis. These purple bacteria, which exhibit a range of hues including yellow, ora
NASA's Fermi Telescope detects no gamma rays from recent supernova
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48In 2023, a supernova burst in the Pinwheel galaxy, creating an ideal scenario for testing theories on cosmic ray acceleration. However, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, which has been operational since 2008, did not detect the anticipated high-energy gamma rays. On May 18, 2023, the supernova named SN 2023ixf occurred about 22 million light-years away in Ursa Major, marking it as one o
Unveiling space chemistry via cold coulomb crystals
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:48The seemingly empty interstellar space is a bustling hub of atoms, ions, and molecules, comprising the Interstellar Medium (ISM). This vast expanse has been a focal point for scientists, with over 200 unique molecules discovered in its cold, low-pressure confines. The interplay of chemistry, physics, and astronomy is crucial as researchers from these disciplines explore the types of chemical rea
'Tube map' around planets and moons made possible by knot theory
Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:35
Just as sat-nav did away with the need to argue over the best route home, scientists from the University of Surrey have developed a new method to find the optimal routes for future space missions without the need to waste fuel. The paper is published in the journal Astrodynamics.
The new method uses mathematics to reveal all possible routes from one orbit to another without guesswork or using enormous computer power.
Danny Owen, who developed the technique at the Surrey Space Center, said, "Previously, when the likes of NASA wanted to plot a route, their calculations relied on either brute force or guesswork.
"Our new technique neatly reveals all possible routes a spacecraft could take from A to B, as long as both orbits share a common energy level.
"This makes the task of planning missions much simpler. We think of it as a tube map for space."
In recent decades, space missions have increasingly relied on the ability to change the course of a satellite's path through space without using fuel.