Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 11, 2023
These objects are more than 100 times brighter than they should be. Observations by the agency's NuSTAR X-ray telescope support a possible solution to this puzzle. Exotic cosmic objects known as ultra-luminous X-ray sources produce about 10 million times more energy than the Sun. They're so radiant, in fact, that they appear to surpass a physical boundary called the Eddington limit, which

West Lafayette IN (SPX) Apr 11, 2023
On April 13, 2023, the European Space Agency is scheduled to launch a rocket carrying a spacecraft destined for Jupiter. The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer - or JUICE - will spend at least three years on Jupiter's moons after it arrives in 2031. In October 2024, NASA is also planning to launch a robotic spacecraft named Europa Clipper to the Jovian moons, highlighting an increased interest in these

Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Apr 11, 2023
Before NASA's Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission can be outfitted with its solar array wings, teams at the agency's Kennedy Space Center must first verify that the arrays extend and close properly. On March 17, 2023, technicians inside the Florida spaceport's Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building unfurled one of the wings to confirm all mechanisms operate as expected. Or

Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Apr 11, 2023
A NASA constellation of four storm tracking CubeSats are getting a new launch location as they prepare to study tropical cyclones beginning in the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season. NASA's Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of SmallSats (TROPICS) will observe the atmosphere to increase our unders

Washington DC (UPI) Apr 11, 2023
Elon Musk's Twitter marked the BBC and NPR as "government-funded" on Saturday but has not applied the label to Tesla or SpaceX - which have received billions in subsidies. Despite the significant contributions of federal and local governments to his businesses, Twitter this week decided to label NPR as "state-affiliated" media. After pushback from NPR, Twitter has since changed the l

Huntsville AL (SPX) Apr 11, 2023
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) cut the ribbon on a new, two-building campus located just outside of Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, expanding its launch and missile defense development capability. This campus will be home to over 1,000 Northrop Grumman employees in the Huntsville area. "Our new lab enables us to deliver innovative solutions to our customers on rapid time

Niversity Park PA (SPX) Apr 11, 2023
A research lab at Penn State will equally share a three-year, $2.55 million grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) with three other teams at Carnegie Mellon University and the Adolphe Merkle Institute of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. The multidisciplinary research collaboration aims to develop a framework for the design and production of soft, self-charging,

The ground terminals used to operate U.S. military and intelligence satellites are running out of capacity and in dire need of upgrades, warns a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Apr 11, 2023
NASA has awarded a sole source Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) to Capella Space Corporation of San Francisco to provide high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) (0.5 meter to 1.2 meters) commercial Earth observation data products. Under this agreement, the government will issue fixed-price BPA Calls for these products, at a not-to exceed value of $7 million per Call. The work will b

Rochester UK (SPX) Apr 10, 2023
Earth is a dynamic and constantly changing planet. From the formation of mountains and oceans to the eruption of volcanoes, the surface of our planet is in a constant state of flux. At the heart of these changes lies the powerful force of plate tectonics-the movements of Earth's crustal plates. This fundamental process has shaped the current topography of our pla