Copernical Team
A new space instrument captures its first solar eruption
For new sun-watching spacecraft, the first solar eruption is always special.
On February 12, 2021, a little more than a year from its launch, the European Space Agency and NASA's Solar Orbiter caught sight of this coronal mass ejection, or CME. This view is from the mission's SoloHI instrument—short for Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager—which watches the solar wind, dust, and cosmic rays that fill the space between the sun and the planets.
It's a brief, grainy view: Solar Orbiter's remote sensing won't enter full science mode until November. SoloHI used one of its four detectors at less than 15% of its normal cadence to reduce the amount of data acquired.
NASA rocket chasing the source of the sun's hot atmosphere
Graphene sensor combines temperature and magnetic measurements
Graphene is the thinnest material known – possessing the thickness of a single atom but 200 times stronger than steel – and has a reputation for versatility. Now an ESA-backed project has come up with yet another use for this ‘wonder stuff’, as the basis for a combined temperature and magnetism sensor.
Robotic Navigation Tech Will Explore the Deep Ocean
Terrain-relative navigation helped Perseverance land - and Ingenuity fly - autonomously on Mars. Now it's time to test a similar system while exploring another frontier. On May 14, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ship Okeanos Explorer will depart from Port Canaveral in Florida on a two-week expedition led by NOAA Ocean Exploration, featuring the technology demons
LatConnect 60 partners with SSTL in first UK-Australia 'Space Bridge' industry partnership
Smart satellite provider LatConnect 60 and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) have announced the first partnership under the UK-Australia 'Space Bridge', a program launched earlier this year by the Australian Space Agency and UK Space Agency to boost investment and knowledge across both countries' space sectors. Under the partnership, Perth-based LatConnect 60 will provide high resolut
BDS-3 system facilitates public transportation in east China's Nanchang
High-resolution terminal devices of China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) have been installed in public buses in the city of Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province, local authorities said Thursday. Installation of the sub-meter level positioning equipment, which took less than 10 minutes on each bus, is expected to offer real-time information with high accuracy. In remote
New evidence of how and when the Milky Way came together
New research provides the best evidence to date into the timing of how our early Milky Way came together, including the merger with a key satellite galaxy. Using relatively new methods in astronomy, the researchers were able to identify the most precise ages currently possible for a sample of about a hundred red giant stars in the galaxy. With this and other data, the researchers wer
Scientists will peer at first galaxies with James Webb telescope
The most powerful telescope ever built, the James Webb Space Telescope, is fully booked to peer at other planets and the origins of the universe for more than a year after its planned launch in October. About 400 studies that could reveal secrets about the oldest galaxies, inhabitable planets and even the dawn of the universe already are scheduled, scientists said. "It's a totall
Kayla Barron joins NASA's SpaceX Crew-3 mission to Space Station
NASA has assigned Kayla Barron to serve as a mission specialist for the agency's SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station, which is targeted to launch as early as Oct. 23. This will be the first spaceflight for Barron, who became a NASA astronaut in January 2020 after completing two years of training. She will join NASA astronauts Raja Chari and Tom Marshburn, as the missio
New Phoebus contract paves the way for development of future lightweight composite rocket stages
The European Space Agency (ESA) and ArianeGroup, lead contractor and design authority for Ariane 6, have signed a new technological development contract in the field of carbon composites. The PHOEBUS (Prototype of a Highly OptimizEd Black UpperStage) program will increase the maturity of the technologies needed to lower both the manufacturing cost and the weight of the Ariane 6 upper stage.