NASA's Perseverance Rover 22 days from Mars landing
Wednesday, 27 January 2021 06:48NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission is just 22 days from landing on the surface of Mars. The spacecraft has about 25.6 million miles (41.2M km) remaining in its 292.5-million-mile (470.8M km) journey and is currently closing that distance at 1.6 miles per second (2.5 kilometers per second). Once at the top of the Red Planet's atmosphere, an action-packed seven minutes of descent aw
Purported phosphine on Venus more likely to be ordinary sulfur dioxide,
Wednesday, 27 January 2021 06:48In September, a team led by astronomers in the United Kingdom announced that they had detected the chemical phosphine in the thick clouds of Venus. The team's reported detection, based on observations by two Earth-based radio telescopes, surprised many Venus experts. Earth's atmosphere contains small amounts of phosphine, which may be produced by life. Phosphine on Venus generated buzz that the
NASA spacewalk partially hooks up new science platform
Wednesday, 27 January 2021 06:48Two NASA astronauts were unable to complete work during a spacewalk Wednesday on hooking up Europe's new Bartolomeo science platform outside the International Space Station. Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover spent 6 hours, 56 minutes on the spacewalk. The assignment was the first spacewalk for Glover, the first Black astronaut to live and work aboard the space station. Nearly halfwa
Welding underway on Orion indended for landing astronauts on the Moon
Wednesday, 27 January 2021 06:48At NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, technicians from Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin have welded together three cone-shaped panels on Orion's crew module for the Artemis III mission that will land the first woman and next man on the Moon. The crew module's primary structure, the pressure vessel, is comprised of seven machined aluminum alloy pieces that are welded tog
NASA's Artemis Base Camp on the Moon will need light, water, elevation
Wednesday, 27 January 2021 06:48American astronauts in 2024 will take their first steps near the Moon's South Pole: the land of extreme light, extreme darkness, and frozen water that could fuel NASA's Artemis lunar base and the agency's leap into deep space. Scientists and engineers are helping NASA determine the precise location of the Artemis Base Camp concept. Among the many things NASA must take into account in choos
How heavy is dark matter
Wednesday, 27 January 2021 06:48Scientists have calculated the mass range for Dark Matter - and it's tighter than the science world thought. Their findings - due to be published in Physics Letters B in March - radically narrow the range of potential masses for Dark Matter particles, and help to focus the search for future Dark Matter-hunters. The University of Sussex researchers used the established fact that gravity act
US leading race in artificial intelligence, China rising: survey
Wednesday, 27 January 2021 06:48The United States is leading rivals in development and use of artificial intelligence while China is rising quickly and the European Union is lagging, a research report showed Monday. The study by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation assessed AI using 30 separate metrics including human talent, research activity, commercial development and investment in hardware and software.
Unmanned aerial vehicles to scale new heights thanks to NASA
Wednesday, 27 January 2021 06:48NASA is funding a major project on the future of autonomous air cargo transportation, and The University of Texas at Austin will be playing a lead role. The COVID-19 vaccine rollout - the largest global logistics effort since World War II - has underscored the importance of increasing efficiencies in the global supply chain infrastructure. Autonomous aerial vehicles have the potential to revolut
Sirius XM says its newest satellite has malfunctioned
Wednesday, 27 January 2021 06:48Sirius XM's newest satellite isn't working properly and may be the subject of a $225 million insurance claim, the company said Wednesday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Elon Musk's SpaceX launched the SXM-7 communications satellite Dec. 13, and testing of its systems began Jan. 4. But "events occurred which have caused failures" on the craft, Sirius XM repo
Lunar solar experiment build completed despite challenges
Wednesday, 27 January 2021 06:48NASA is one step closer to understanding the solar power challenges and opportunities on the Moon's surface after completing the build and readiness review of the Photovoltaic Investigation on the Lunar Surface, or PILS, experiment. The agency overcame multiple engineering challenges to get the experiment ready for integration with a commercial lander for a ride to the Moon as part of NASA's Com
Satellite data reveals bonds between emissions, pollution and economy
Wednesday, 27 January 2021 06:48Burning fossil fuels has long powered world economies while contributing to air pollution and the buildup of greenhouse gases. A new analysis of nearly two decades of satellite data shows that economic development, fossil-fuel combustion and air quality are closely linked on the continental and national scales, but can be decoupled at the national level, according to Penn State scientists.
Firefly Aerospace seeking to raise $350 million
Wednesday, 27 January 2021 00:45WASHINGTON — Small launch vehicle developer Firefly Aerospace, nearing its first orbital launch attempt, is looking to raise $350 million to scale up production and work on a new, larger vehicle.
During an IPO Edge webinar Jan.
Lawmakers amp up pressure on Biden to investigate Space Command basing decision
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 21:52WASHINGTON — Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) on Jan. 27 added his voice to the chorus of lawmakers demanding that the Biden administration investigate the Air Force’s decision to move U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama.
U.S. Space Force acquisitions to get fresh look, lawmaker wants hearings
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 20:50WASHINGTON — Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), a leading proponent of establishing the U.S. Space Force, said he wants the Biden administration to put pressure on the service to clean up its procurement act.
Cooper chairs the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee that wrote language in 2017 to establish a Space Corps, which ultimately became the Space Force.
Purported phosphine on Venus more likely to be ordinary sulfur dioxide, new study shows
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 20:21In September, a team led by astronomers in the United Kingdom announced that they had detected the chemical phosphine in the thick clouds of Venus. The team's reported detection, based on observations by two Earth-based radio telescopes, surprised many Venus experts. Earth's atmosphere contains small amounts of phosphine, which may be produced by life. Phosphine on Venus generated buzz that the planet, often succinctly touted as a "hellscape," could somehow harbor life within its acidic clouds.
Since that initial claim, other science teams have cast doubt on the reliability of the phosphine detection. Now, a team led by researchers at the University of Washington has used a robust model of the conditions within the atmosphere of Venus to revisit and comprehensively reinterpret the radio telescope observations underlying the initial phosphine claim.