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Robotic moving 'crew' preps for work on moon

Wednesday, 25 September 2024 19:20
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Robotic moving 'Crew' preps for work on moon
LANDO prepares to move its payload to a safe spot on the simulated lunar surface. Credit: NASA/David C. Bowman

As NASA moves forward with efforts to establish a long-term presence on the moon as part of the Artemis campaign, safely moving cargo from landers to the lunar surface is a crucial capability.

Whether the cargo, also known as payloads, are small scientific experiments or large technology to build infrastructure, there won't be a crew on the moon to do all the work, which is where robots and new software come in.

A team at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, spent the last couple of years infusing existing robotic hardware with a that makes the robot operate autonomously. Earlier this month, that team, led by researcher Dr. Julia Cline of NASA Langley's Research Directorate, ran demonstrations of their system called LANDO (Lightweight Surface Manipulation System AutoNomy capabilities Development for surface Operations and construction).

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Record-breaking laser demo completes mission
The benefits of laser communications: more efficient, lighter systems, increased security, and more flexible ground systems. Credit: NASA/Dave Ryan

NASA's TBIRD (TeraByte InfraRed Delivery) demonstration and its host spacecraft—the PTD-3 (Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-3)—have completed their technology demonstration. The TBIRD payload spent the past two years breaking world records for the fastest satellite downlink from space using laser communications.

NASA's PTD series leverages a common commercial spacecraft to provide a robust platform for effective testing of technologies with minimal redesign in between launches. After launch in May 2022 on the SpaceX Transporter 5 mission, the PTD-3 spacecraft entered low-Earth orbit, and shortly after, TBIRD began sending signals to an optical ground station in Table Mountain, California.

TBIRD's two-year demonstration showcased the viability of laser communications. Most NASA missions rely on radio frequency systems. However, laser communications use and can pack significantly more data in a single communications link.

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Los Angeles CA (SMN) Sep 25, 2024
With the exponential growth in the gaming industry, internet speed has become a necessity. Many gamers live in rural areas where internet connectivity is challenged due to poor infrastructure. This has barred them from engaging in online games. For such people, SpaceX's satellite internet, known as Starlink, promises to change this narrative. But the question remains: is Starlink good for
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space
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

During missions into outer space, galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) will penetrate current spacecraft shielding and thus pose a significant risk to human health.

Previous studies have shown that GCR can cause short-term cognitive deficits in male rodents. Now a study published in the Journal of Neurochemistry reveals that GCR exposure can also cause long-lasting learning deficits in female rodents.

The impact of GCR on cognition was lessened when mice were fed an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound called CDDO-EA.

Beyond its immediate implications for , the findings contribute to a broader understanding of radiation's long-term impact on cognitive health.

"Our study lays the groundwork for future causal delineation of how the brain responds to complex GCR exposure and how these brain adaptations result in altered behaviors," said co-corresponding author Sanghee Yun, Ph.D., of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute and the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

More information: S. Yun, F.C. Kiffer, et al. The longitudinal behavioral effects of acute exposure to galactic cosmic radiation in female C57BL/6J mice: implications for deep space missions, female crews, and potential antioxidant countermeasures, Journal of Neurochemistry (2024).

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A big asteroid could threaten life on Earth -- but nuclear bombs could come to the rescue, a new laboratory experiment suggests
A big asteroid could threaten life on Earth -- but nuclear bombs could come to the rescue, a new laboratory experiment suggests.

Humanity could use a nuclear bomb to deflect a massive, life-threatening asteroid hurtling towards Earth in the future, according to scientists who tested the theory in the laboratory by blasting X-rays at a marble-sized "mock asteroid".

The biggest real-life test of our planetary defenses was carried out in 2022, when NASA's fridge-sized DART spacecraft smashed into a 160-metre (525-feet) wide asteroid, successfully knocking it well off course.

But for bigger asteroids, merely crashing spaceships into them will probably not do the trick.

When the roughly 10-kilometer wide Chicxulub asteroid struck the Yucatan peninsula around 66 million years ago, it is believed to have plunged Earth into darkness, sent kilometers-high tsunamis rippling around the globe and killed three quarters of all life—including wiping out the dinosaurs.

NASA pilots use specialty suits to validate data

Wednesday, 25 September 2024 15:27
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NASA pilots use specialty suits to validate data
Credit: NASA Goddard/Erica McNamee

Welcome to NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem Postlaunch Airborne eXperiment (PACE-PAX). We've been talking about this validation campaign and now are finally here. "Here" being one of three main locations where PACE-PAX validation efforts are taking place: NASA's Armstrong Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

PACE-PAX uses the unique vantage point of the ER-2 aircraft to gather data on in the atmosphere and ultimately help verify the data gathered by the satellite in orbit.

NASA's ER-2 aircraft flies high in the sky—approximately 70,000 feet in altitude, where the can see the curvature of Earth. At that high an altitude, pilots must be equipped with a uniform closer to that of an astronaut rather than a flight suit. In fact, while flying the ER-2, the pilot sports a pressurized suit that is essentially a spacesuit.

"The spacesuit is the last line of defense against the elements at altitude," said Kirt Stallings, an ER-2 research pilot. "If the aircraft cabin lost pressurization the spacesuit would automatically inflate protecting the pilot from the elements and allowing them to safely recover the aircraft.

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European astronauts will train inside a unique simulator in Cologne and test equipment that will one day travel to the Moon
European astronauts will train inside a unique simulator in Cologne and test equipment that will one day travel to the Moon.

A large, ordinary-looking warehouse in the German city of Cologne is the closest you can get to walking on the moon—without leaving Earth.

The facility known as LUNA, which was officially inaugurated on Wednesday, is the world's most faithful recreation of the , according to the European Space Agency (ESA).

European astronauts will train inside the unique simulator and that will one day travel to the moon—including potentially on NASA's upcoming Artemis program, which plans to send humans there on a mission in a few years.

From the outside, it looks like a huge white hangar in a corner of the German Aerospace Center on the outskirts of Cologne.

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Sydney, Australia (SPX) Sep 25, 2024
On Tuesday morning, China launched a Smart Dragon 3 carrier rocket from the coast of Haiyang in Shandong province, successfully deploying eight satellites into space. According to the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the satellites were placed into their designated orbital positions shortly after the rocket's launch at 10:31 am from a launch service ship. This marks the fourth sea-bas
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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 25, 2024
Blue Origin's New Glenn second stage (GS2) successfully completed a critical hotfire test Tuesday, marking a key step toward its first flight, set for November from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 36. The NG-1 mission will carry Blue Ring technology as its first payload. The 15-second hotfire test was the first time the vehicle operated as a fully integrated system. This test was conducted
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