Like a diamond in the sky: How to spot NASA's solar sail demo in orbit
Monday, 09 September 2024 16:35
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Now that its reflective sail has deployed fully open in orbit, the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System can be seen in the night sky from many locations across the world!
Stargazers can join NASA's #SpotTheSail campaign by using the NASA app on mobile platforms to find out when the spacecraft will be visible at their location. The app, which is free to use and available on iOS and Android, provides a location-specific schedule of upcoming sighting opportunities. A built-in augmented reality tool points users to the location of the spacecraft in real time.
Can you spot the solar sail? Share your viewing experience online using the hashtag #SpotTheSail for a chance to be featured on NASA's website and social media channels.
Artemis III landing sites identified using mapping and algorithm techniques
Monday, 09 September 2024 15:44 Write a comment
Where would be the most ideal landing site for the Artemis III crew in SpaceX's Human Landing System (HLS)? This is what a recent study submitted to Acta Astronautica, and available on the arXiv preprint server, hopes to address as an international team of scientists investigated plausible landing sites within the lunar south pole region, which comes after NASA selected 13 candidate landing regions in August 2022 and holds the potential to enable new methods in determining landing sites for future missions, as well.
Video: Cluster reentry explained—world's first targeted reentry
Monday, 09 September 2024 14:56 Write a comment
The first of four satellites that make up ESA's Cluster mission is coming safely back down to Earth, marking a brilliant end to this remarkable mission.
The satellite's orbit was tweaked back in January to target a region as far as possible from populated regions. This ensures that any spacecraft parts that survive the reentry will fall over open ocean.
During 24 years in space, Cluster has sent back precious data on how the sun interacts with Earth's magnetic field, helping us better understand and forecast potentially dangerous space weather.
With this first ever targeted reentry, Cluster goes down in history for a different reason, taking ESA well beyond international space safety standards and helping ensure the long-term sustainability of space activities.
Provided by European Space Agency
NASA scientific balloon takes flight with student-built payloads
Monday, 09 September 2024 14:31 Write a comment
NASA's Scientific Balloon Program's fifth balloon mission of the 2024 fall campaign took flight Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, from the agency's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The HASP 1.0 (High-Altitude Student Platform) mission remained in flight over 11 hours before it safely touched down. Recovery is underway.
HASP is a partnership among the Louisiana Space Grant Consortium, the Astrophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, and the agency's Balloon Program Office and Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility. The HASP platform supports up to 12 student-built payloads and is designed to flight test compact satellites, prototypes, and other small experiments. Since 2006, HASP has engaged more than 1,600 undergraduate and graduate students involved in the missions.
UK-US integration key to future of space security
Monday, 09 September 2024 13:37 Write a comment
U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. David N. Miller, Jr., commander of Space Operations Command, and Chief Master Sgt. Caleb Lloyd, SpOC senior enlisted leader, met with Airmen, Guardians and UK counterparts during a visit Aug. 27-30.
The SpOC command team visited RAF Waddington, Feltwell and High Wycombe to engage with members of the Space Force on morale, readiness, and interoperability with host Floodbase's Enhanced Flood Mapping Technique surpasses NOAA's accuracy
Monday, 09 September 2024 13:37 Write a comment
A newly published study in 'Geophysical Research Letters' reveals that Floodbase's flood mapping technology achieves an 11% improvement in accuracy over leading methods, offering more precise flood monitoring and potentially lowering costs for parametric flood insurance.
Floodbase, a key provider of flood intelligence and data for disaster management and re/insurance sectors, has developed ICEYE and Aon broaden partnership with global flood and US wildfire data agreement
Monday, 09 September 2024 13:37 Write a comment
ICEYE, a leader in satellite-powered disaster management, has announced an expanded data licensing agreement with Aon, a global professional services firm. This partnership now includes ICEYE's Flood Insights data globally and Wildfire Insights data for the United States.
Through this agreement, Aon will integrate ICEYE's near real-time flood and wildfire data into its event response capab Why the Martian polar caps show significant differences
Monday, 09 September 2024 13:37 Write a comment
For centuries, observers have watched the bright poles of Mars change with the seasons. In the last 50 years, scientists have determined that these polar caps are primarily composed of carbon dioxide that cycles in and out of the atmosphere with the seasons. However, the underlying processes driving these changes are intricate and continue to be a focus of scientific study.
In a recent pap China targets Mars sample-return mission by 2028
Monday, 09 September 2024 13:37 Write a comment
China is preparing to launch its Tianwen-3 mission with the aim of returning samples from Mars by 2028, a Chinese space expert revealed on Thursday.
Liu Jizhong, the chief designer of the Mars sample-return mission, provided details during the 2nd International Deep Space Exploration Conference held in Tunxi, Huangshan City, Anhui Province, China.
The mission's primary goal will be t Scientists demonstrate producing fiber materials from simulated Martian soil
Monday, 09 September 2024 13:37 Write a comment
A study conducted by Chinese researchers has confirmed that it is possible to continuously produce fiber materials from Martian soil, suggesting that "in-situ resource utilization" could be achieved in the construction of future Mars bases.
A research team from the Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), collaborated with various Outer Solar System may hold far more objects than previously thought
Monday, 09 September 2024 13:37 Write a comment
New observations of the outer Solar System using the Subaru Telescope have revealed the presence of several unexpected objects, suggesting that the region may be home to a much larger population of celestial bodies than previously believed. These findings could significantly alter our understanding of the Solar System's formation and its similarities to other planetary systems, potentially influ 3 Questions: Evidence for planetary formation through gravitational instability
Monday, 09 September 2024 13:37 Write a comment
Exoplanets form in protoplanetary disks, a collection of space dust and gas orbiting a star. The leading theory of planetary formation, called core accretion, occurs when grains of dust in the disk collect and grow to form a planetary core, like a snowball rolling downhill. Once it has a strong enough gravitational pull, other material collapses around it to form the atmosphere.
A secondar ALMA observations reveal gravitational instability in planet-forming disk
Monday, 09 September 2024 13:37 Write a comment
Planet formation has traditionally been described as a "bottom-up" process, where dust grains gradually clump together over millions of years, forming larger structures step by step. However, a competing theory suggests that planets can form much faster via a "top-down" process, where material in a protoplanetary disk fragments due to gravitational instability.
An international team of ast NASA's mini BurstCube mission detects mega blast
Monday, 09 September 2024 13:37 Write a comment
The shoebox-sized BurstCube satellite has observed its first gamma-ray burst, the most powerful kind of explosion in the universe, according to a recent analysis of observations collected over the last several months.
"We're excited to collect science data," said Sean Semper, BurstCube's lead engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "It's an important mileston 
