CO2 mitigation on Earth and magnesium civilization on Mars
Saturday, 10 April 2021 14:27Excessive CO2 emissions are a major cause of climate change, and hence reducing the CO2 levels in the Earth's atmosphere is key to limit adverse environmental effects. Rather than just capture and store CO2, it would be desirable to use it as carbon feedstock for fuel production to achieve the target of "net-zero-emissions energy systems". The capture and conversion of CO2 (from fuel gas o
The European Hexa-X project for the development of 6G technology starts
Saturday, 10 April 2021 14:27The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) is participating in the development of the European Hexa-X project, through the Network Technologies research group and coordinated by Nokia, to promote the development of technologies that will make up 6G from Europe. This project, funded by the European Commission within the framework of the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, also
Amounts of organic molecules in planetary systems differ from early on
Saturday, 10 April 2021 14:27An international group of scientists led by the RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research have studied the chemical composition of 50 protoplanetary-disk forming regions in the Perseus Molecular Cloud, and found that despite being in the same cloud, the amounts of complex organic molecules they contain are quite different. Interestingly, the chemically rich young disks have similar compositions of o
Long-awaited review reveals journey of water from interstellar clouds to habitable worlds
Saturday, 10 April 2021 14:27Dutch astronomer Ewine van Dishoeck (Leiden University, the Netherlands), together with an international team of colleagues, has written an overview of everything we know about water in interstellar clouds thanks to the Herschel space observatory. The article, published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, summarizes existing knowledge and provides new information about the origin of
NASA delays Mars copter flight for tech check
Saturday, 10 April 2021 03:32NASA has delayed by at least several days the first flight of its mini-helicopter on Mars after a possible tech issue emerged while testing its rotors, the US space agency said Saturday. Ingenuity's trip, which is to be the first-ever powered, controlled flight on another planet, was set for Sunday but is now on hold until at least April 14. A high-speed test of the four-pound (1.8 kilo
NASA delays first flight of Mars helicopter
Friday, 09 April 2021 21:03WASHINGTON — NASA announced April 10 it was postponing the first flight attempt of the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars by at least three days after detecting a problem during a final pre-flight test.
In a brief statement, NASA said that the command sequence for an April 9 test of the vehicle’s rotors, where they would spin up to full speed, ended early when a “watchdog” timer expired.
General Atomics wins DARPA contract to design nuclear reactor to power missions to the moon
Friday, 09 April 2021 10:56WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded a $22 million contract to General Atomics to design a small nuclear reactor for space propulsion, the agency announced April 9.
General Atomics, based in San Diego, California, was selected for the first phase of a program known as a DRACO, short for demonstration rocket for agile cislunar operations.
General Atomics wins DARPA contract to develop nuclear reactor to power missions to the moon
Friday, 09 April 2021 10:56WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded a $22 million contract to General Atomics to design a small nuclear reactor for space propulsion, the agency announced April 9.
General Atomics, based in San Diego, California, was selected for the first phase of a program known as a DRACO, short for demonstration rocket for agile cislunar operations.
All aboard! Next stop space...
Friday, 09 April 2021 08:53Several hundred people have already booked their tickets and begun training for a spectacular voyage: a few minutes, or perhaps days, in the weightlessness of space.
The mainly wealthy first-time space travellers are getting ready to take part in one of several private missions which are preparing to launch.
The era of space tourism is on the horizon 60 years after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space.
Two companies, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, are building spacecraft capable of sending private clients on suborbital flights to the edge of space lasting several minutes.
Glenn King is the director of spaceflight training at the National Aerospace Training and Research Center, a private company based in Pennsylvania which has already trained nearly 400 future Virgin Galactic passengers for their trips.
Sperms in Space and the Lust for Power Grips Voyagers in Theaters April 9th
Friday, 09 April 2021 04:15Every space event always seems to have a chuckle about sex in space. But the no jargon crowd at NASA somehow magnified the power of sex by denying it to the Voyagers crew. The opening scene with our little swimmers marching to pierce the goal only belies the race to save man. One dad for all kids being grown to launch with the premise that if they don't see the outside of the box they won'
Biden proposes 6.3% boost for NASA in budget proposal
Friday, 09 April 2021 04:15President Joe Biden is seeking $24.7 billion for NASA in his 2022 budget released Friday, boosting funding for the agency's Artemis program as well as weather and climate efforts. The budget request represents a 6.3% increase over the $23.27 billion funding NASA received in the 2021 fiscal year. Steve Jurczyk, NASA's acting administrator, said the funding demonstrates Biden's "co
Three-man crew docks at ISS after flight honouring Gagarin
Friday, 09 April 2021 04:15A three-man crew docked at the international Space Station Friday after a flight honouring the 60th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space. A Soyuz capsule carrying Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei docked at 1105 GMT, footage broadcasted by NASA TV showed. "There is contact!" Russia's space age
40th anniversary of first space shuttle orbital mission a bittersweet occasion
Friday, 09 April 2021 04:15The 40th anniversary Monday of the first orbital flight of a space shuttle - Columbia - evokes the accomplishments of the program, but also a grim reminder of tragedies during its existence. The first shuttle orbital flight in April 1981 revolutionized space exploration because it proved a reusable, piloted space plane could succeed. But that legacy also offered perilous lesson
NASA space copter ready for first Mars flight
Friday, 09 April 2021 04:15The helicopter that NASA has placed on Mars could make its first flight over the Red Planet within two days after a successful initial test of its rotors, the US space agency said Friday. The current plan for the first-ever attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet is for the four-pound (1.8 kilogram) helicopter, dubbed the Ingenuity, to take off from Mars' Jezero Crater on Sun
New research reveals secret to Jupiter's curious aurora activity
Thursday, 08 April 2021 20:04Auroral displays continue to intrigue scientists, whether the bright lights shine over Earth or over another planet. The lights hold clues to the makeup of a planet's magnetic field and how that field operates.
New research about Jupiter proves that point—and adds to the intrigue.
Peter Delamere, a professor of space physics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, is among an international team of 13 researchers who have made a key discovery related to the aurora of our solar system's largest planet.
The team's work was published April 9, 2021, in the journal Science Advances. The research paper, titled "How Jupiter's unusual magnetospheric topology structures its aurora," was written by Binzheng Zhang of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Hong Kong; Delamere is the primary co-author.
Research done with a newly developed global magnetohydrodynamic model of Jupiter's magnetosphere provides evidence in support of a previously controversial and criticized idea that Delamere and researcher Fran Bagenal of the University of Colorado at Boulder put forward in a 2010 paper—that Jupiter's polar cap is threaded in part with closed magnetic field lines rather than entirely with open magnetic field lines, as is the case with most other planets in our solar system.