Copernical Team
An ambitious mission to Neptune could study both the planet and Triton
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Mission concepts to the outer solar system are relatively common, as planetary scientists are increasingly frustrated by our lack of knowledge of the farthest planets. Neptune, the farthest known planet, was last visited by Voyager 2 in the 1980s.
Technologies have advanced a lot since that probe was launched in 1977. But to utilize that better technology, we first need to have a mission arrive in the system—and one such mission is being developed over a series of papers by ConEx Research and University College London. One has been published in The Aeronautical Journal by J. E. McKevitt and colleagues.
The Arcanum mission is designed to orbit Neptune and land on Triton, giving insight into both objects of interest in the system. Neptune has some of the highest winds in the solar system and the "Great Dark Spot" storm system.
Spacewalk an 'emotional experience' for private astronauts
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The commander of the daring space voyage that included the first-ever spacewalk by private astronauts described opening the hatch into the void as an "emotional experience" that left him in awe, yet deeply aware of the dangers.
Jared Isaacman, the 41-year-old founder and CEO of Shift4Payments, led the recently concluded SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, where a team of four ventured farther into the cosmos than any humans in half a century.
Europa Clipper: 8 things to know about NASA's mission to an ocean moon of Jupiter
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The first NASA spacecraft dedicated to studying an ocean world beyond Earth, Europa Clipper aims to find out whether the ice-encased moon Europa could be habitable.
NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft, the largest the agency has ever built for a planetary mission, will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Europa, an intriguing icy moon of Jupiter. The spacecraft's launch period opens Thursday, Oct. 10.
Data from previous NASA missions has provided scientists with strong evidence that an enormous salty ocean lies underneath the frozen surface of the moon. Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter and conduct 49 close flybys of the moon to gather data needed to determine whether there are places below its thick frozen crust that could support life.
Watch the livestream of Industry Space Days 2024
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On 18–19 September, industry will meet at ESA–ESTEC in Noordwijk for ESA’s biennial Industry Space Days (ISD) event.
Watch ISD 2024 on ESA TV Channel Two livestreamed from Conference Hall A including presentations from ESA Directors and guests on 18 September (9:30–18:15 CEST) and 19 September (09:00–17:20 CEST). View the full ISD programme here.
HummingSat: Major progress on Intelsat and Inmarsat design reviews
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The HummingSat project has made major progress on the development of its product line, with Preliminary Design Review (PDR) meetings held for both the Intelsat 45 and Inmarsat 8 missions. These reviews are critical in ensuring that the satellite designs meet all necessary requirements before moving to the next phase of development.
Time to be inspired by planet Earth
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Swatch has again teamed up with ESA to give space fans a new opportunity to design a custom watch featuring breathtaking images of Earth from space.
Hubble finds more black holes in the early Universe
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With the help of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, an international team of researchers led by scientists in the Department of Astronomy at Stockholm University has found more black holes in the early Universe than has previously been reported. The new result can help scientists understand how supermassive black holes were created.
Sentinel-2C delivers stunning first images
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Less than two weeks after being launched into orbit, Sentinel-2C has delivered its first images. These spectacular views of Earth offer a sneak peek at the data that this new satellite will provide for Copernicus – Europe’s world-leading Earth observation programme.
Supermoon and partial lunar eclipse rising over Kansas City soon: When to look up
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If you look up in the Kansas and Missouri skies on Tuesday, Sept. 17, you may be able to catch a glimpse at not only a supermoon—but also a partial lunar eclipse.
A supermoon occurs when the moon is at its closest point to Earth, according to NASA. NASA calls supermoons the "biggest and brightest" full moons of the year. Supermoons happen three to four times a year and appear consecutively. September's supermoon is the harvest supermoon.
The next supermoon will be Oct. 17, followed by the last one of 2024 on Nov. 15. There was also a supermoon in August.
A partial lunar eclipse, on the other hand, is when the Earth moves in between the sun and the full moon, but isn't perfectly aligned. The lunar eclipse will last just over four hours.
This will be the second lunar eclipse of 2024. The next lunar eclipse will be a total one next March, according to Space.com.
In Kansas City, it will begin at 7:41 p.m., shortly after sunset at 7:22, and peak at 9:44 p.m. The lunar eclipse will end at 11:47 p.m.
Skylo introduces satellite connectivity for smartphones with Snapdragon
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Skylo Technologies has introduced satellite connectivity for smartphones powered by the Snapdragon X80 5G Modem-RF System from Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. This new integration brings Skylo's Non-Terrestrial-Network (NTN) to smartphones, enabling direct communication over satellite. This feature supports two-way peer-to-peer text messaging, location sharing, and SOS notifications to emergency ser