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Washington DC (SPX) Feb 15, 2021
Using nuclear propulsion technologies to support a human mission to Mars in 2039 will require NASA to pursue an aggressive and urgent technology development program, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. NASA should commit within the year to conducting an extensive and objective assessment of the merits and challenges of using different types
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Houston TX (SPX) Feb 15, 2021
NASA has assigned two crew members to launch on the agency's SpaceX Crew-4 mission - the fourth crew rotation flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Bob Hines will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, for the Crew-4 mission. Additional crew members will be assigned as mission specialists in the future by the a
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Boulder CO (SPX) Feb 11, 2021
Ball Aerospace has been selected to support Solar Cruiser, a NASA small satellite technology demonstration on the use of solar photons for propulsion in space. Ball will perform several mission-critical functions, including the integration and test of the satellite bus with the solar sail system that will form the completed "Sailcraft." "Solar Cruiser will be an important step in the advan
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Busan, South Korea (SPX) Feb 12, 2021
Modern telecommunication systems rely on satellites to relay signals across the globe quickly and reliably, enabling users to send messages across the world in an instant, watch live television, or - more recently - hold conference calls with global partners right from the kitchen table! Communications satellites use high-frequency radio waves to transmit data, with antennas acting as a tw
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Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 15, 2021
Nearly six-and-a-half months and 300 million miles since launch, NASA's Perseverance rover will land on Mars Feb. 18, 2021, to begin its robotic exploration of the Red Planet. But before Perseverance touches down on the surface of Mars, it has to achieve a successful entry, descent, and landing (EDL). Onboard the rover's protective aeroshell is the Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrume

A new way of forming planets

Saturday, 13 February 2021 13:56
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Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Feb 12, 2021
In the last 25 years, scientists have discovered over 4000 planets beyond the borders of our solar system. From relatively small rock and water worlds to blisteringly hot gas giants, the planets display a remarkable variety. This variety is not unexpected. The sophisticated computer models, with which scientists study the formation of planets, also spawn very different planets. What the models h
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Livermore CA (SPX) Feb 12, 2021
Advances in astronomical observations have resulted in the discovery of an extraordinary number of extrasolar planets, some of which are believed to have a rocky composition similar to Earth. Learning more about their interior structure could provide important clues about their potential habitability. Led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), a team of researchers aims to unloc
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Boulder CO (SPX) Feb 11, 2021
For nearly a century, scientists have worked to unravel the mystery of dark matter - an elusive substance that spreads through the universe and likely makes up much of its mass, but has so far proven impossible to detect in experiments. Now, a team of researchers have used an innovative technique called "quantum squeezing" to dramatically speed up the search for one candidate for dark matter in
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Munich, Germany (SPX) Feb 12, 2021
Globular clusters are extremely dense stellar systems, in which stars are packed closely together. They are also typically very old - the globular cluster that is the focus of this study, NGC 6397, is almost as old as the Universe itself. It resides 7800 light-years away, making it one of the closest globular clusters to Earth. Because of its very dense nucleus, it is known as a core-collapsed c
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Warwick UK (SPX) Feb 12, 2021
Remnants of planets with Earth-like crusts have been discovered in the atmospheres of four nearby white dwarf stars by University of Warwick astronomers, offering a glimpse of the planets that may have once orbited them up to billions of years ago. These crusts are from the outer layers of rocky planets similar to Earth and Mars and could give astronomers greater insights into the chemistr
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Nanjing, China (XNA) Feb 12, 2021
China's tracking vessel Yuanwang-6 on Wednesday departed from a port in east China's Jiangsu Province for maritime spacecraft monitoring missions in the Indian Ocean. The Yuanwang fleet will continue to carry out intensive and challenging maritime missions this year, and Yuanwang-6 alone will operate at sea for over 200 days, according to sources with the country's satellite maritime track

Proba-V's plus one

Saturday, 13 February 2021 13:56
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Paris (ESA) Feb 12, 2021
This satellite mockup, seen during antenna testing, shows the shape of ESA's new Proba-V Companion CubeSat, which is due for launch at the end of this year. The mission is a 12-unit 'CubeSat' - a small, low-cost satellite built up from standardised 10-cm boxes. It will fly a cut-down version of the vegetation-monitoring instrument aboard the Earth-observing Proba-V to perform experimental
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InSight Is Meeting the Challenge of Winter on Dusty Mars
This illustration shows NASA's InSight spacecraft with its instruments deployed on the Martian surface. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

As dust collects on the solar panels and winter comes to Elysium Planitia, the team is following a plan to reduce science operations in order to keep the lander safe.

NASA's InSight lander recently received a mission extension for another two years, giving it time to detect more quakes, , and other phenomena on the surface of Mars. While the mission team plans to continue collecting data well into 2022, the increasing dustiness of the spacecraft's and the onset of the Martian winter led to a decision to conserve and temporarily limit the operation of its instruments.

InSight was designed to be long-lasting: The stationary lander is equipped with solar panels, each spanning 7 feet (2 meters) across. InSight's design was informed by that of the solar-powered Spirit and Opportunity rovers, with the expectation that the panels would gradually reduce their as settled on them but would have ample output to last through the two-year prime mission (completed in November 2020).

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WASHINGTON — The Space Force is by far the smallest branch of the U.S. military and will have to “punch above its weight” to get its share of military funding and other resources, said Lt.

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A window is set to open for Virgin Galactic to make another attempt at a rocket-powered flight from New Mexico to the fringe of space, but the company announced Friday it would be holding off on a new effort.

Virgin Galactic said in a social media post that during pre-flight preparations, it was decided more time was needed for technical checks and the team would be working to identify the next opportunity to hit what would be a key milestone as the promise of commercial flights continues to loom.

The last attempt in December was cut short when computer trouble prevented the spaceship's rocket from firing properly. Instead of soaring toward , the ship and its two pilots were forced to make an immediate landing by gliding back down to the runway at Spaceport America in New Mexico.

Over the past week, preparations for the latest attempt included installing the rocket motor into the spacecraft and checking the operation of a feathering system that slows and stabilizes the craft as it re-enters the atmosphere.

The spacecraft also was secured to the carrier plane that will fly it to a , where it will be released so it can fire its rocket motor and make the final push to space.

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