Bacterial bloom as the earth thawed: Photosynthetic organisms during the snowball earth
Some researchers hypothesize that ice sheets enveloped the earth during the Marinoan glaciation (650-535 million years ago) in what is dubbed the "Snowball Earth." The glaciation also impacted the climate and chemical compositions of the oceans, restraining the evolution of early life. Yet, as the earth warmed, and the Ediacaran period dawned, biotic life began to evolve.
A research team f Space Development Agency transitioning to US Space Force
The Space Development Agency has already started the process of transitioning from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering to the U.S. Space Force, said the agency's director.
Derek M. Tournear spoke yesterday at the U.S. Space Foundation's 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The SDA, established in March 2019, will fully transition t SpaceX launches ants, avocados, robot to space station
A SpaceX shipment of ants, avocados and a human-sized robotic arm rocketed toward the International Space Station on Sunday.
The delivery—due to arrive Monday—is the company's 23rd for NASA in just under a decade.
A recycled Falcon rocket blasted into the predawn sky from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. After hoisting the Dragon capsule, the first-stage booster landed upright on SpaceX's newest ocean platform, named "A Shortfall of Gravitas." SpaceX founder Elon Musk continued his tradition of naming the booster-recovery vessels in tribute to the late science fiction writer Iain Banks and his Culture series.
The Dragon is carrying more than 4,800 pounds (2,170 kilograms) of supplies and experiments, and fresh food including avocados, lemons and even ice cream for the space station's seven astronauts.
The Girl Scouts are sending up ants, brine shrimp and plants as test subjects, while University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists are flying up seeds from mouse-ear cress, a small flowering weed used in genetic research. Samples of concrete, solar cells and other materials also will be subjected to weightlessness.
A Japanese start-up company's experimental robotic arm, meanwhile, will attempt to screw items together in its orbital debut and perform other mundane chores normally done by astronauts.
SpaceX ends launch hiatus with cargo Dragon mission
SpaceX performed its first Falcon 9 launch in two months Aug. 29, sending a cargo Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.
Virgin Orbit clears environmental review to launch satellites from Guam
The Federal Aviation Administration on Aug. 27 released its final environmental assessment that found “no significant impact” for Virgin Orbit to conduct launches from Guam.
Delta II and SLC-2: A Remarkable Era
The launch of NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) on September 15, 2018, marked the end of a remarkable era for the venerable Delta II launch vehicle and SLC-2.
Countdown to Webb launch with new merchandise collection
Countdown to Webb launch with new merchandise collection
Node 2 | Space Station 360 (in French with English subtitles available)
Video:
00:01:46
ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet takes you on a tour of the International Space Station like no other. Filmed with a 360 camera, the Space Station 360 series lets you explore for yourself alongside Thomas’s explanation – this is the Node 2 module. Node 2 is a European-built connecting module also known as Harmony that acts as an internal passageway and utility hub. Its exterior also serves as a work platform for the station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2, and has docking ports for spacecraft.
In this video, Thomas shows the different modules that Node 2 connects: Europe’s Columbus Laboratory, the
How AWS is opening up space with the cloud
Clinton Crosier, a retired U.S. Air Force major general who helped organize the standup of the U.S. Space Force, recently celebrated his anniversary of joining cloud giant AWS to lead its newly created Aerospace and Satellite business team.
Space mission tests NREL perovskite solar cells
On a clear night, Kaitlyn VanSant will be able to watch her work whiz by. Knowing the success of her project, however, will have to wait until her tiny, temporary addition to the International Space Station returns to Earth.
"My family and I have definitely been looking up at night more frequently," said VanSant, who earned her doctorate from the Colorado School of Mines in materials science last year. Now a postdoctoral researcher with NASA, VanSant holds a unique collaborative appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
The pairing of NREL and NASA continues a long-standing alliance between solar power and space. Specialized photovoltaic (PV) panels turned to the sun have been used to generate electricity for Mars rovers and space probes, but the manufacturing costs of these high-efficiency solar cells are too high for use on Earth. Researchers at NREL are testing ways to bring those costs down for terrestrial applications and transforming how PV technologies could work in space as well.
The latest test will evaluate the potential use of perovskite solar cells in space and assess the durability of materials used in those cells.
