Teams from across ESA and industry have worked continuously over the past four months to overcome a glitch that prevented BepiColombo’s thrusters from operating at full power. The ESA/JAXA mission is still on track, with a new trajectory that will take it just 165 km from Mercury’s surface on Wednesday.

Taking BepiColombo closer to Mercury than it’s ever been before, this flyby will reduce the spacecraft’s speed and change its direction. It also gives us the opportunity to snap images and fine-tune science instrument operations at Mercury before the main mission begins. Closest approach is scheduled for 23:48 CEST

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
Researchers at the Beijing Institute of Technology have developed a sophisticated control strategy for spacecraft formations, enabling them to surround noncooperative targets effectively within a finite time. This development could play a key role in future space missions where precise formation flying and target interaction are crucial. The research team introduced a comprehensive model o

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
On a remote patch of the windy, frozen Beaufort Sea north of Alaska, engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California huddled together, peering down a narrow hole in a thick layer of sea ice. Below them, a cylindrical robot gathered test science data in the frigid ocean, connected by a tether to the tripod that had lowered it through the borehole. This test gave engin

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft, the largest ever built for planetary exploration, has been fitted with a set of gigantic solar arrays at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. These arrays, each measuring approximately 46.5 feet (14.2 meters) in length and 13.5 feet (4.1 meters) in height, are the largest ever developed by NASA for a planetary mission. Their size is crucial to harness the maximu

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
Global warming, fueled by human activities, has led to rising average temperatures across the globe. However, Greenland is experiencing warming at a rate faster than the global average, causing its ice sheets to melt more rapidly. This phenomenon, known as Arctic Amplification, could significantly raise sea levels, threatening coastal regions and ecosystems worldwide. Understanding the factors d

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
Amid the ongoing energy crisis and the growing threat of climate change, the need to harness renewable energy sources has become increasingly urgent. Solar energy, in particular, is emerging as a leading candidate, with experts predicting it could become the primary energy source by the end of the century. However, solar energy generation is not without challenges. Like wind power, solar i

Plainsboro NJ (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
Whether between galaxies or within doughnut-shaped fusion devices known as tokamaks, the electrically charged fourth state of matter known as plasma regularly encounters powerful magnetic fields, changing shape and sloshing in space. Now, a new measurement technique using protons, subatomic particles that form the nuclei of atoms, has captured details of this sloshing for the first time, potenti

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
Using observations from a NASA suborbital rocket, an international team of scientists has, for the first time, successfully measured a planet-wide electric field thought to be as fundamental to Earth as its gravity and magnetic fields. Known as the ambipolar electric field, scientists first hypothesized over 60 years ago that it drove how our planet's atmosphere can escape above Earth's North an

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 01, 2024
The space industry is expected to experience significant growth, with a market valuation projected to reach $6.1 trillion by 2064, according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The report, titled "Future of Space Industry," provides an in-depth analysis of the factors driving this anticipated expansion and highlights the key areas of opportunity within the sector. The study outlines the

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 01, 2024
It takes a long time for supermassive black holes, like the one at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, to form. Typically, the birth of a black hole requires a giant star with the mass of at least 50 of our suns to burn out - a process that can take a billion years - and its core to collapse in on itself. Even so, at only about 10 solar masses, the resulting black hole is a far cry from th