Unique solar system views from NASA sun-studying missions
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 15:28
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Though they focus on the star at the center of our solar system, three of NASA's Sun-watching spacecraft have captured unique views of the planets throughout the last several months. Using instruments that look not at the Sun itself, but at the constant outflow of solar material from the Sun, the missions—ESA and NASA's Solar Orbiter, NASA's Parker Solar Probe, and NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory—have sent home images from their distinct vantage points across the inner solar system.
All three missions carry instruments to study the Sun and its influence on space, including cameras that look out the sides of the spacecraft to study the Sun's outer atmosphere, the solar wind, and the dust in the inner solar system. It's these instruments that, at various points in 2020, saw several planets pass through their fields of view.
Spacewalking astronauts improve station's European lab
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 15:15 Write a comment
Spacewalking astronauts installed a high-speed data link outside the International Space Station's European lab on Wednesday and tackled other improvements.
Video: EDRS: the space data highway
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 15:05 Write a comment
The European Data Relay System, or EDRS, uses cutting-edge laser technology to greatly reduce the time it takes for information to be sent from low-Earth orbiting spacecraft—such as the Earth observing Sentinel satellites—to Earth.
The system makes Earth observation information available in almost real-time, which can help disaster management workers and the emergency services accelerate their responses to natural crises.
Known as the "space data highway," it currently consists of an extensive network of European ground stations and control centres, and two sister satellites: EDRS-A and EDRS-C. Both are in geostationary orbit at an altitude of around 36 000 km, far higher than low-Earth orbiting spacecraft, which typically have an altitude of below 1000 km.
Thanks to the orbital position of the system's satellites, low-Earth orbiting spacecraft lie within the field of view of EDRS for extended periods. At the same time, EDRS has a permanent connection to its own ground stations located on European soil.
Traditionally, when a low-Earth orbiting satellite sends information to Earth, it must wait until it has a direct line of sight to a ground station. This can lead to delays of up to 90 minutes.
Instead, the EDRS satellites relay data from spacecraft within their field of view, allowing people on Earth to receive Earth observation information in almost real-time.
A year in the life of GSTP
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 14:02 Write a comment
For more than a quarter of a century ESA’s optional General Support Technology Programme (GSTP) has been preparing promising technologies for space.
A CubeSat will test out water as a propulsion system
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 13:11 Write a comment
Novel propulsion systems for CubeSats have been on an innovative tear of late. UT has reported on propulsion systems that use everything from solid iodine to the Earth's own magnetic field as a way of moving a small spacecraft. Now, there is a potential solution using a much more mundane material for a propellant—water.
Water has plenty of advantages going for it as a propellant. Most obviously, it is not volatile or toxic, making it much easier to handle than conventional rocketfuel. One design flaw holding back the adoption of regular rocket fuel into widespread use in CubeSats is their explosive potential. CubeSats are usually housed next to larger, more expensive satellites in the payloads of rockets. If the rocket fuel loaded into a small CubeSat were to ignite unintentionally, it could completely destroy the much larger, more expensive telescope.
OSIRIS-REx mission plans for May asteroid departure
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 12:53 Write a comment
Since its launch in September 2016, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has traveled billions of miles, mapped the surface of an asteroid in unprecedented detail, and made new scientific discoveries about near-Earth asteroids. Now, it's preparing to bring a piece of asteroid Bennu home.
On May 10, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will say farewell to asteroid Bennu and begin its two-year journey back to Earth, where the dust and rocks collected during the Touch-And-Go maneuver in October will be studied by scientists, including OSIRIS-REx mission principal investigator and University of Arizona planetary scientist Dante Lauretta.
During its Oct. 20, 2020, sample collection event, the spacecraft collected a substantial amount of material from Bennu's surface, likely exceeding the mission's requirement of 2 ounces, or 60 grams.
Apollo Fusion wins electric propulsion order from York Space Systems
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 11:52 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Apollo Fusion announced Jan. 26 it won an order from York Space Systems for a set of satellite electric propulsion systems.
Apollo Fusion said it will provide its Apollo Constellation Engine (ACE) electric propulsion system for a low Earth orbit constellation of at least 10 satellites York is building for launch in 2022.
EDRS: the space data highway
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 11:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:02:19
The European Data Relay System, or EDRS, uses cutting-edge laser technology to greatly reduce the time it takes for information to be sent from low-Earth orbiting spacecraft – such as the Earth observing Sentinel satellites – to Earth.
The system makes Earth observation information available in almost real-time, which can help disaster management workers and the emergency services accelerate their responses to natural crises.
Known as the ‘space data highway’, it currently consists of an extensive network of European ground stations and control centres, and two sister satellites: EDRS-A and EDRS-C. Both are in geostationary orbit at an altitude
Axiom Space reveals historic first private crew to visit ISS
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 08:55 Write a comment
Axiom Space on Tuesday announced its crew for humankind's first flight of a group of private individuals to a Low Earth Orbit destination - the first-ever entirely private mission proposed to fly to the International Space Station (ISS).
The proposed historic Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) will consist of: former NASA astronaut and Axiom vice president Michael Lopez-Alegria as commander; American NASA Marshall, SpaceX team celebrates engines of success
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 08:55 Write a comment
When the big ring of nine Merlin engines on the Falcon 9 rocket rumbled to life, propelling NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 spacecraft and its occupants to their historic rendezvous with the International Space Station, most spectators were watching for the customary bloom of smoke and fire.
NASA manager Steve Gaddis and his team were also listening, anticipating the musical sound of success. At 7:27 Hot Fire met many objectives, test assessment underway
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 08:55 Write a comment
For the Green Run hot fire test on Jan. 16, NASA set out to acquire test data to support 23 detailed verification objectives. To satisfy the objectives, hot fire test data is used in combination with analysis and testing that has already been completed. These detailed verification objectives are used to certify the design of the Space Launch System rocket's core stage.
The preliminary asse AI: ensuring that humans remain in the center
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 08:55 Write a comment
Valuable support or job killer? Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to enhance efficiency of business processes, but also changes the environment of workers. Profitable use of AI technologies for digitization in the energy sector and ways for human beings to remain in the center are studied by the new MeKIDI project coordinated by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The project is aimed a When galaxies collide
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 08:55 Write a comment
It was previously thought that collisions between galaxies would necessarily add to the activity of the massive black holes at their centers. However, researchers have performed the most accurate simulations of a range of collision scenarios and have found that some collisions can reduce the activity of their central black holes. The reason is that certain head-on collisions may in fact clear th The naming of Tooley crater
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 08:38 Write a comment
Satnav antenna built for ends of the Earth
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 08:07 Write a comment
A new ESA-supported wide-bandwidth satnav antenna has been designed to receive both satellite and augmentation signals from anywhere in the sky, even down to just a couple of degrees above the horizon.