Week in images: 21 - 25 June 2021

Discover our week through the lens

The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission takes us over Lake Mar Chiquita – an endorheic salt lake in the northeast province of Córdoba, Argentina.

Osaka, Japan (SPX) Jun 25, 2021
Scientists from the Department of Physics and the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP) at Osaka University, in collaboration with Kyoto University, used alpha particle inelastic scattering to show that the theorized "5a condensed state" does exist in neon-20. This work may help us obtain a better understanding the low-density nucleon many-body systems. All elements besides hydrogen a

Leicester UK (SPX) Jun 25, 2021
Samples from other worlds will be examined by space scientists at the University of Leicester as they continue to study the building blocks of the Solar System. Some of the first particles from asteroid Ryugu - returned by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) probe Hayabusa2 in 2020 - and samples from the Winchcombe meteorite, which fell to Earth earlier this year, will be scrutinised

London, UK (SPX) Jun 24, 2021
Monitoring and tackling climate change and tracking endangered wildlife are among the exciting features of three UK-built satellites set to launch on a SpaceX rocket on Friday 25th June. UK companies have received nearly 15 million pounds from the UK Space Agency, through the European Space Agency's Pioneer Partnership Programme, to develop the trio of satellites due to lift off from NASA'

London, UK (SPX) Jun 25, 2021
Cosmic dawn, when stars formed for the first time, occurred 250 million to 350 million years after the beginning of the universe, according to a new study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge. The study, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, suggests that the NASA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled to

Washington DC (Sputnik) Jun 25, 2021
NASA's 2024 deadline to return humans to the Moon looks increasingly unlikely due to reliance on technology that has yet to be fully developed, the General Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report on Thursday. "A fast-tracked schedule to meet this ambitious date - along with some technical risks - mean that it's less likely a lunar landing will happen in 2024," a GAO press release expl

Washington DC (UPI) Jun 24, 2021
NASA's upcoming Artemis I mission to the moon, planned for later this year, won't have a human crew, but the space agency is preparing three inanimate occupants of the Orion capsule to measure radiation and vibrations. The Artemis I "crew" members, mannikins, will help NASA test radiation, vibration and impacts from landing before the space agency plans to send astronauts in an Orion ca

Chelmsford, MA (SPX) Jun 25, 2021
AiRANACULUS, a private, Massachusetts-based technology company providing early stage research, development, prototyping and consulting services, announced it has been awarded a second NASA Small Business Innovation Research contract for development of an advanced space communications system to support upcoming missions to the Moon and Mars. Under the new contract, AiRANACULUS will develop

Bellingham WA (SPX) Jun 25, 2021
The open access Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems (JATIS) has published a special section on the latest science, engineering, research, and programmatic advances of starshades, the starlight-suppression technology integral to extra-solar and exoplanet detection. Section topics range from starshade programs and missions, to various aspects of related technologies,