Shannon Pallone, United States Space Force – Leading Women in Space
Thursday, 25 July 2024 15:40
NASA says no return date yet for astronauts and troubled Boeing capsule at space station
Thursday, 25 July 2024 15:38
Write a comment
Already more than a month late getting back, two NASA astronauts will remain at the International Space Station until engineers finish working on problems plaguing their Boeing capsule, officials said Thursday.
Test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were supposed to visit the orbiting lab for about a week and return in mid-June, but thruster failures and helium leaks on Boeing's new Starliner capsule prompted NASA and Boeing to keep them up longer.
NASA's commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said mission managers are not ready to announce a return date.
How Europe’s biggest rocket came to be: Ariane 6 montage
Thursday, 25 July 2024 14:30 Write a comment
Video:
00:08:21
The first half of 2024 saw hundreds of people across Europe building, cajoling, shipping, lowering, integrating, securing and protecting the precious pieces and parts that came together to create Ariane 6 – Europe’s new heavy-lift rocket.
Huge engines, boosters and outer shells met tiny screws, electrical boards and masses of supercooled fuel. All this came together at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, for the spectacular first launch of Ariane 6 on 9 July 2024, restoring Europe’s access to space.
Get a glimpse at the teamwork, skill and care that went into this moment over many months, in this montage
Space-trekking muscle tests drugs for microgravity-induced muscle impairment
Thursday, 25 July 2024 14:00 Write a comment
A gentle rumble ran under Ngan Huang's feet as a rocket carrying her research—live, human muscle cells grown on scaffolds fixed on tiny chips—lifted off, climbed, and disappeared into the sky to the International Space Station National Laboratory. These chips would help Huang better understand muscle impairment, often seen in astronauts and older adults, and test drugs to counter the condition.
Now, the results are back. Reporting in a study published July 25 in Stem Cell Reports, Huang's team showed that space-traveling muscle had metabolic changes that indicate impaired muscle regeneration and gene activities associated with age-related muscle loss called sarcopenia. But drug treatment partially prevented microgravity's adverse effects.
"Space is a really unique environment that accelerates qualities associated with aging and also impairs many healthy processes," says Huang, an associate professor at Stanford University.
"Astronauts come back with muscle atrophy, or a reduction of muscle function, because the muscle isn't being actively used in the absence of gravity.
Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital seeks input on new loan program for critical technologies
Thursday, 25 July 2024 13:00
ESA's stand at the Farnborough International Airshow 2024
Thursday, 25 July 2024 12:53 Write a comment
Image:
ESA's stand at the Farnborough International Airshow 2024 From Concordia to the Moon
Thursday, 25 July 2024 12:00 Write a comment
Image:
Concordia is a research station in Antarctica that places you farther away from humankind than even the International Space Station. Every year, ESA sponsors a medical doctor to spend a year, or "winterover," at Concordia station. This year, our medical doctor is Jessica Kehala Studer, who is seen in this picture gazing at the Moon and the vast expanse of Antarctica. Around May, the Sun dips below the horizon for the last time, and the crew experiences four months of total darkness, with temperatures dropping to –80°C in winter.
The station serves as an analogue for space, mirroring the
New report examines Space Force agency’s ambitious satellite network program
Thursday, 25 July 2024 09:05
Sierra Space conducts second full-scale burst test of inflatable module
Thursday, 25 July 2024 09:00
Make the most of ESA’s Industry Space Days 2024
Thursday, 25 July 2024 06:40 Write a comment
Participants of ESA’s Industry Space Days (ISD 2024) share insights and tips on how to make the most of this space technology business event on 18–19 September at ESA-ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
Rocket engine startup Ursa Major adds 3D printing lab in Ohio
Thursday, 25 July 2024 05:26
New Frontier Aerospace tests rocket engine for point-to-point travel
Thursday, 25 July 2024 04:56
Chinese lunar probe finds water in Moon samples
Wednesday, 24 July 2024 22:17 Write a comment
A Chinese lunar probe found traces of water in samples of the Moon's soil, scientists have said, as the country pushes its ambitious space programme into high gear.
The Chang'e-5 rover completed its mission in 2020, returning to Earth with rock and soil samples from the Moon.
The lunar samples "revealed the presence of trace water", the group of scientists from Chinese universities wrote Stellar magnetism may influence exoplanet habitability
Wednesday, 24 July 2024 22:17 Write a comment
The pursuit of discovering life beyond our solar system has heightened interest in Earth-like planets within the habitable zone of their stars. However, the habitability of these exoplanets is affected by more than just their distance from the star.
A new study by Rice University's David Alexander and Anthony Atkinson broadens the definition of a habitable zone to include the star's magnet