Copernical Team
From better sunglasses to a better way of looking at asteroid surfaces
Using the same principles that make polarized sunglasses possible, a team of researchers at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico have developed a technique that will help better defend against asteroids on a collision course with Earth. A new study recently published in The Planetary Science Journal found a better way to interpret radar signals bounced off asteroids' surfaces. The data c
The five most expensive works by living artists
As a digital collage by US artist Beeple sells for $69.3 million, we look at the five works by living artists that have fetched the most at auction. - 'Rabbit', Jeff Koons - The stainless steel casting of an inflatable rabbit fetched a record price for a living artist of $91.1 million at Christie's in May 2019. Just over a metre tall (41 inches), the 1986 work is one of 66-year-old
Hubble set to resume science operations
NASA is working to return the Hubble Space Telescope to science operations after resolving a problem with a safeguard aboard. Hubble entered safe mode on Sunday, March 7, shortly after 4 a.m. EST, following detection of a software error within the spacecraft's main computer. The spacecraft has been moved out of safe mode into a pre-science state with the plan of returning to normal operati
Distant planet may be on its second atmosphere
Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence that a planet orbiting a distant star may have lost its atmosphere but gained a second one through volcanic activity. The planet, GJ 1132 b, is hypothesized to have begun as a gaseous world with a thick hydrogen blanket of atmosphere. Starting out at several times the diameter of Earth, this so-called "sub-Neptune" is belie
Perseverance SuperCam science instrument delivers first results
The first readings from the SuperCam instrument aboard NASA's Perseverance rover have arrived on Earth. SuperCam was developed jointly by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico and a consortium of French research laboratories under the auspices of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). The instrument delivered data to the French Space Agency's operations center in Toulou
Roscosmos, NASA in contradiction over next ISS Commander
NASA and Roscosmos diverged on information concerning the next commander of the International Space Station. NASA's press office told Sputnik that after Soyuz MS-17 dispatches from the ISS on 17 April with Ryzhikov, Kud-Sverchkov and Rubins on board, Walker will become the 65th expedition commander. When she leaves the station on the board of the Crew Dragon spaceship in late April, Japan'
Four Long March 11 launches by sea planned
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp plans to carry out four sea-based launches this year by its Long March 11 solid-propellant carrier rocket, said a senior scientist at the State-owned space contractor. Bao Weimin, the company's director of science and technology and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said five flights have been scheduled this year for the Long Mar
China's Long March 7A rocket puts satellite in orbit
The newest type in China's carrier rocket family - Long March 7A - made its first successful flight at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province early Friday morning, sending a technology demonstration satellite into space. The 60.1-meter colossal rocket blasted off from a launch pad in the coastal launch center at 1:51 am, and soon deployed the New Technology Demonstrator 9 expe
Asteroid 2001 FO32 will safely pass by Earth March 21
The largest asteroid predicted to pass by our planet in 2021 will be at its closest on March 21, providing astronomers a rare opportunity to get a good look at a rocky relic that formed at the dawn of our solar system. Called 2001 FO32, the near-Earth asteroid will make its closest approach at a distance of about 1.25 million miles (2 million kilometers) - or 5 1/4 times the distance from
Perseverance rover's SuperCam science instrument delivers first results
The first readings from the SuperCam instrument aboard NASA's Perseverance rover have arrived on Earth. SuperCam was developed jointly by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico and a consortium of French research laboratories under the auspices of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). The instrument delivered data to the French Space Agency's operations center in Toulouse that includes the first audio of laser zaps on another planet.
"It is amazing to see SuperCam working so well on Mars," said Roger Wiens, the principal investigator for Perseverance's SuperCam instrument from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. "When we first dreamed up this instrument eight years ago, we worried that we were being way too ambitious.