August's supermoon is the first of four lunar spectacles
Tuesday, 20 August 2024 05:08
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Monday's supermoon is the first of four this year.
During a supermoon, the full moon inches a little closer than usual to Earth. A supermoon isn't bigger, but it can appear that way in the night sky, although scientists say the difference can be barely perceptible.
September's supermoon will coincide with a partial lunar eclipse. October's will be the year's closest approach, and November's will round out the year.
More a popular term than a scientific one, a supermoon occurs when a full lunar phase syncs up with an especially close swing around Earth. This usually happens only three or four times a year and consecutively, given the moon's constantly shifting, oval-shaped orbit.
Globalstar gets conditional approval to replenish constellation
Monday, 19 August 2024 23:02
RFA first stage destroyed in static-fire test
Monday, 19 August 2024 22:37
German cubesat to test quantum key distribution
Monday, 19 August 2024 20:26
Polaris Dawn private astronaut mission ready for launch
Monday, 19 August 2024 20:08
Specialized materials could passively control the internal temperature of space habitats
Monday, 19 August 2024 17:16 Write a comment
Areas of space have wildly different temperatures depending on whether they are directly in sunlight or not. For example, temperatures on the moon can range from 121 °C during the lunar "day" (which lasts for two weeks), then drop down to -133 °C at night, encompassing a 250 °C swing.
Stabilizing the temperature inside a habitat in those environments would require heating and cooling on a scale never before conducted on Earth. But what if there was a way to ease the burden of those temperature swings? Phase change materials (PCMs) might be the answer, according to a paper, appearing in Thermo, by researchers at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid.
PCMs have been known for some time and are currently used in several industries, including batteries, solar power plants, heat pumps, and even spacecraft. Perhaps most interestingly, they've been used to cool and heat the interiors of buildings on Earth.
Project Helianthus—a solar-sail-driven geomagnetic storm tracker
Monday, 19 August 2024 17:14 Write a comment
Solar storms captured the imagination of much of the American public earlier this year when auroras were visible well south of their typical northern areas. As the sun ramps into another solar cycle, those storms will become more and more common, and the dangers they present to Earth's infrastructure will continue to increase.
Currently, most of our early warning systems only give us a few minutes warning about a potentially destructive impending geomagnetic storm event. So a team of researchers from Sapienza University in Rome and the Italian Space Agency proposed a plan to sail a series of detectors to a point out in space where they could give us an early warning. And they want those detectors to stay on station without rockets.
The mission, known as Helianthus, the official name for a sunflower, was initially described at the 6th International Symposium on Space Sailing in June 2023.
Planet signs deal with NATO to supply satellite imagery
Monday, 19 August 2024 16:05
RS-25 Engine Evolves for the Evolvable SLS Rocket
Monday, 19 August 2024 15:23
South Korea hires SpaceX to launch GEO satellite in 2027
Monday, 19 August 2024 14:27
Why Juice is coming back to Earth
Monday, 19 August 2024 14:15 Write a comment
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ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) returns to Earth on 19–20 August 2024, to complete the world's first Lunar-Earth gravity assist. Flight controllers will guide the spacecraft past the Moon and then Earth itself, ‘braking’ the spacecraft. This manoeuvre may seem counterintuitive but will allow Juice to take a shortcut via Venus on it's way to Jupiter.
Juice has already travelled more than 1000 million km to the giant planet but it still has a long way to go even though Jupiter is on average ‘just’ 800 million km away from Earth. Join us as we explain why
Boeing Starliner astronauts: What six months stuck in space may do to their perception of time
Monday, 19 August 2024 13:33 Write a comment
Two astronauts marooned in space may sound like the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster, but for two NASA crew members, it is now a reality. Commander Barry Wilmore and pilot Sunita Williams are currently in limbo on the International Space Station (ISS).
They arrived in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft—the first test of the spaceship with astronauts. Wilmore and Williams were supposed to stay on the ISS for around eight days and return on the same spacecraft. But there is now debate about the safety of Starliner after it experienced helium leaks and thruster problems on its way to the ISS.
In coming days, NASA and Boeing may decide to clear Starliner to carry the astronauts back to Earth. This means their stay might not last too much longer. But if officials decide against Starliner, the astronauts face waiting an additional six months in orbit before returning.
Sentinel-2C fully loaded
Monday, 19 August 2024 13:30 Write a comment
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Sentinel-2C fully loaded 
