SMC stands up new Space Safari program office
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 08:35Space Safari responds to high-priority, urgent space needs by rapidly acquiring, integrating and executing missions in support of USSPACECOM requirements and other combatant commander needs. These missions are not typically a part of an enduring program of record, but respond to high priority needs to deploy space systems quickly to respond to emerging threats. As a high-speed integrator
Ultra-cool test of Jupiter instrument
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 08:00An instrument destined for Jupiter orbit undergoes eight days of cryogenic radio-frequency testing using a new test facility at ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands. The Submillimetre Wave Instrument of ESA’s Juice mission will survey the churning atmosphere of Jupiter and the scanty atmospheres of its Galilean moons.
Testing took place in ESA’s custom-built Low-temperature Near-field Terahertz chamber, or Lorentz. The first chamber of its kind, the 2.8-m diameter Lorentz chamber can perform high-frequency radio-frequency testing in realistic space conditions, combining space-quality vacuum with ultra-low temperatures.
China ready to launch first crew to new space station
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 06:39The first crew for China's new space station prepared to blast off this week for the latest step in Beijing's ambitious programme to establish itself as a space power. The mission is China's first crewed spaceflight in nearly five years, and a matter of prestige for the government as it prepares to mark the 100th birthday of the ruling Communist Party on July 1 with a propaganda blitz. A
G7 nations commit to the safe and sustainable use of space
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 06:39Today at the G7 Leaders' Summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, delegates from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the USA, the UK and the EU pledged to take action to tackle the growing hazard of space debris as our planet's orbit becomes increasingly crowded. One of the biggest global challenges facing the space sector is orbital congestion and space debris. There are currently an estimated
Discovery of the largest rotation in the universe
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 06:39By mapping the motion of galaxies in huge filaments that connect the cosmic web, astronomers at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), in collaboration with scientists in China and Estonia, have found that these long tendrils of galaxies spin on the scale of hundreds of millions of light years. A rotation on such enormous scales has never been seen before. The results published in
NASA, SpaceX Update Crew Launch and Return Dates
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 06:39NASA and SpaceX have adjusted target launch and return dates for upcoming crew missions to and from the International Space Station based on visiting vehicle traffic. NASA's SpaceX Crew-3 mission now is targeting launch no earlier than Sunday, Oct. 31, with NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer. Crew-3 will laun
NASA pursues greener, more efficient spacecraft propulsion
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 06:39NASA and the space industry will conduct several missions over the next year to test more efficient, environmentally friendly spacecraft, including a non-toxic propellant and solar power. The rapid expansion of private spaceflight, along with planned missions to the moon and Mars, has prompted a need for easier handling of spacecraft and their fuel, Jeff Sheehy, NASA's chief engineer fo
The sun's clock
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 06:39Not only the very concise 11-year cycle, but also all other periodic solar activity fluctuations can be clocked by planetary attractive forces. This is the conclusion drawn by Dr. Frank Stefani and his colleagues from the Institute of Fluid Dynamics at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and from the Institute of Continuous Media Mechanics in Perm, Russia. With new model calcul
Lunar samples record impact 4.2 billion years ago
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 06:39An international team of researchers led by The Open University (OU) has provided the first sample-based evidence, which they argue reflects the age of the Serenitatis Basin - one of the oldest craters on the Moon. The formation and ages of the lunar basins and craters, created during large collisional impact events during the first ~500 million years of the Solar System history, have fasc
NASA is returning to Venus to learn how it became a hot poisonous wasteland
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 06:39NASA is finally headed back to Venus. On June 2, 2021, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced that the agency had selected two winners of its latest Discovery class spacecraft mission competition, and both are headed to the second planet from the Sun. I'm a planetary scientist and a self-confessed Venus evangelist, and here's why I'm so excited that humanity is going back to Venus.
Mars rover to move south after testing
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 06:39China's Mars rover Zhurong will continue moving southward to explore the Red Planet, focusing on key scientific issues, such as potential locations of water and ice, as well as volcanic activities, according to a project leader. Liu Jianjun, chief designer of the Tianwen 1 mission's scientific system, said on Saturday that mission planners decided the rover would move south out of scientif
Dark matter is slowing the spin of the Milky Way's galactic bar
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 06:39The spin of the Milky Way's galactic bar, which is made up of billions of clustered stars, has slowed by about a quarter since its formation, according to a new study by researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Oxford. For 30 years, astrophysicists have predicted such a slowdown, but this is the first time it has been measured. The researchers say it gives
Boundary of heliosphere mapped for the first time
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 06:39For the first time, the boundary of the heliosphere has been mapped, giving scientists a better understanding of how solar and interstellar winds interact. "Physics models have theorized this boundary for years," said Dan Reisenfeld, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and lead author on the paper, which was published in the Astrophysical Journal today. "But this is the first tim
Drive to destruction
Tuesday, 15 June 2021 06:06First-of-its-kind study finds lightning impacts edge of space in ways not previously observed
Monday, 14 June 2021 19:15Solar flares jetting out from the sun and thunderstorms generated on Earth impact the planet's ionosphere in different ways, which have implications for the ability to conduct long range communications.
A team of researchers working with data collected by the Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) at the Arecibo Observatory, satellites, and lightning detectors in Puerto Rico have for the first time examined the simultaneous impacts of thunderstorms and solar flares on the ionospheric D-region (often referred to as the edge of space).
In the first of its kind analysis, the team determined that solar flares and lightning from thunderstorms trigger unique changes to that edge of space, which is used for long-range communications such the GPS found in vehicles and airplanes.
The work, led by New Mexico Tech assistant professor of physics Caitano L.