GPS tracking reveals how a female baboon stopped using urban space after giving birth
Wednesday, 31 May 2023 11:08
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A new study from Swansea University and the University of Cape Town provides the first documented evidence of a cessation in urban space use by a female baboon after giving birth: another example of how wild animals are adaptively responding to urbanisation.
The study, recently published in the journal Ecology and Evolution, used GPS collars to track the movements of 13 chacma baboons in C Second Axiom Space private astronaut mission concludes with splashdown
Wednesday, 31 May 2023 10:22 Write a comment
A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico late May 30, concluding Axiom Space’s second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station.
China looks to Long March 8 rocket to help launch its answer to Starlink
Wednesday, 31 May 2023 09:09
Wanted: European commercial cargo service for space stations around Earth
Wednesday, 31 May 2023 07:56 Write a comment
ESA invites European companies to submit proposals for commercial cargo transportation services to and from the International Space Station and future commercial low Earth orbit outposts.
High winds halt Spanish rocket launch
Wednesday, 31 May 2023 07:46 Write a comment
The maiden flight of the Spanish-built Miura 1 rocket was canceled Wednesday due to high winds, startup PLD Space said, in a setback for development of the small-scale space launcher.
"We have no green light, there are gusts of wind at high altitude above our limits. That means we don't have sufficiently safe conditions to launch," a commentator said on PLD Space's livestream of the lift-off, which was to be Spain's first.
It will be several days before a new launch window opens, the commentator added.
Standing just 12 meters (40 feet) tall, the small rocket was to fly 100 kilometers (62 miles) above the Earth's surface from a military base in southern Spain.
While that distance would put it in outer space, the rocket is not powerful enough to reach orbit.
Wednesday's sub-orbital launch had been slated to bring a payload with micro-gravity experiments, as well as setting up PLD Space's plans for future rockets.
"The idea is to learn and to minimize risks for the first flights of the Miura 5", said PLD Space cofounder Raul Verdu, referring to a launcher the firm hopes will place satellites into orbit from 2025.
Private flight with 2 Saudi astronauts returns from space station with Gulf of Mexico splashdown
Wednesday, 31 May 2023 07:39 Write a comment
Register for ESA’s first Earth observation commercialisation event
Wednesday, 31 May 2023 05:55 Write a comment
Registration is now open for ESA’s first-ever Earth Observation Commercialisation Forum. Taking place at ESA Headquarters in Paris from 30 to 31 October 2023, investors, institutions, entrepreneurs and companies of any size from the Earth observation sector will now be able to come together and discuss the commercial potential and challenges of Earth observation, together with the technical, industrial and risk-capital support available to European companies.
Spain signs Artemis Accords
Tuesday, 30 May 2023 23:35 Write a comment
Spain is the latest European nation to sign the Artemis Accords, a central element of a new American strategic framework for space diplomacy.
Telesat orders prototype satellite to continue LEO broadband tests
Tuesday, 30 May 2023 21:13 Write a comment
Telesat plans to launch another low Earth orbit prototype satellite in the coming months to continue tests after an aging demonstrator for its delayed broadband constellation ran out of fuel.
Northrop Grumman’s deep-space radar passes critical design review
Tuesday, 30 May 2023 20:26 Write a comment
A deep-space radar developed by Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Space Force passed a critical design review, the company announced May 30.
Researchers propose a deep neural network-based 4-quadrant analog sun sensor calibration
Tuesday, 30 May 2023 18:32 Write a comment
A spacecraft can estimate the attitude state by comparing external measurements from attitude sensors with reference information. CubeSats tend to use 4-quadrant analog solar sensors which have the advantages of extremely low power consumption, minimal volume, low complexity, low cost, and high reliability as attitude sensors, considering the limitation of satellite volume and payload. The performance of the sensor can be importantly improved by the calibration procedure and compensation model.
However, the various error sources affecting the calibration of the 4-quadrant sun sensor lead to a complicated process of compensation model establishment. Deep learning, which is widely used in the aerospace field in recent years, is able to approximate any continuous function on a bounded closed set, providing new ideas for solving the traditional problem.
In a research paper recently published in Space: Science & Technology, authors from Northwestern Polytechnical University, German Aerospace Center, and Dalian University of Technology together propose a method to calibrate sun sensors by deep learning, which not only is able to integrate the influence of various errors but also avoids the need of analyzing and modeling every single error.
Webb maps surprisingly large plume jetting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus
Tuesday, 30 May 2023 14:00 Write a comment
Interaction between moon’s plumes and Saturn’s ring system explored with Webb
A water vapour plume from Saturn’s moon Enceladus spanning more than 9600 kilometres — long enough to stretch across the Eurasian continent from Ireland to Japan — has been detected by researchers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Not only is this the first time such water ejection has been seen over such an expansive distance, but Webb is also giving scientists a direct look, for the first time, at how this emission feeds the water supply for the entire system of Saturn and its rings.
DARPA launches initiative to help tech companies work on classified programs
Tuesday, 30 May 2023 12:23 Write a comment
DARPA's Strategic Technology Office launched an initiative called Bridges to help companies get security clearances to work on classified programs.
Orion European Service Module-4 logo
Tuesday, 30 May 2023 11:00 Write a comment
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Orion European Service Module-4 logo NASA inspector general faults agency on SLS booster and engine overruns
Tuesday, 30 May 2023 10:09 Write a comment
Conversion of shuttle-era solid rocket boosters and engines for use on the Space Launch System has cost NASA billions more and taken years longer than originally planned, the agency’s inspector general concluded.