Copernical Team
Future trillion dollar 'space economy' threatened by debris, WVU researcher says
The space economy is on track to be valued at a trillion dollars by the end of 2030, according to Piyush Mehta, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at West Virginia University. Yet space assets-equipment that is placed in space such as navigation, weather and communication satellites that serve our society daily-are threatened by space debris.
According to NASA, it RIT scientists confirm a highly eccentric black hole merger for the first time
For the first time, scientists believe they have detected a merger of two black holes with eccentric orbits. According to a paper published in Nature Astronomy by researchers from Rochester Institute of Technology's Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation and the University of Florida, this can help explain how some of the black hole mergers detected by LIGO Scientific Collaboration Sols 3364-3366: Back at the Prow
On Wednesday we collected our first MAHLI images of the outcrops we've been studying the last few sols, and then drove back to the Prow to give us another chance to investigate the fascinating sedimentary structures we see preserved in this region. This morning we were pleased to find the rover was parked within a short bump distance to the Prow outcrop, exactly where we'd hoped to start the day Consistent asteroid showers rock previous thinking on Mars craters
New Curtin University research has confirmed the frequency of asteroid collisions that formed impact craters on Mars has been consistent over the past 600 million years.
The study, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, analysed the formation of more than 500 large Martian craters using a crater detection algorithm previously developed at Curtin, which automatically counts the v Ejecting Mars' Pebbles
The team has made good progress implementing the initial recovery steps outlined in last week's blog. Our first success: The upper two pebbles were ejected from the bit carousel during a test. This is great news, as these small chunks of debris are believed to be the cause of the unsuccessful transfer of the drill bit and sample tube into the carousel back on Dec. 29. Our second success: We appe STEM student experiments win Flight Opportunity in NASA Tech Contest
NASA selected 57 winning teams in an inaugural nationwide challenge designed to attract, engage, and prepare future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics professionals. The winning teams of the NASA TechRise Student Challenge will gain real world STEM experience by building experiments that autonomously operate and collect data from the edge of space aboard a suborbital rocket or a h China's new generation carrier rocket Long March-8 ready for launch
China plans to launch its new generation carrier rocket Long March-8 Y2 between late February and early March from the southern island of Hainan, sources with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the country's leading rocket maker, said on Friday.
The rocket arrived at the Wenchang Space Launch Center Friday after a week of ocean transport. It will undergo final assembly and tes NASA emergency beacons save 330 lives in 2021
In 2021, NASA technology saved 330 lives in the U.S. network region of the international satellite-aided search and rescue effort, Cospas-Sarsat. NASA has lent technical expertise to the Cospas-Sarsat program since its founding, aiding in the rescue of over 48,000 individuals globally.
Users purchasing commercially available 406 MHz frequency Cospas-Sarsat beacons have free access to the network, which provides accurate and reliable emergency location services. When users activate these beacons, they send signals through satellite instruments to ground stations that can calculate their position. The network then alerts first responders to the location and nature of the emergency.
Beacons are available in three types: Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs), for use by hikers and other explorers; Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs), designed for maritime use; and Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) for aviation. In 2021, 106 rescues were PLBs, 195 were EPIRBS, and 29 were ELTs.
In recent years, NASA's Search and Rescue (SAR) office has helped Cospas-Sarsat to enhance its network with aviation studies, next-generation beacon technology, and new capabilities for Artemis astronauts. The office is also working on a lunar search and rescue concept, or LunaSAR, as part of NASA's lunar network development effort, LunaNet.
Mid-level flare erupts from sun
The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare on Jan. 20, 2022, peaking at 1:01 a.m. EST. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event.
Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.
This flare is classified as a M5.5 class flare.
Explore further
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center: spaceweather.gov/
NASA's TESS hits milestone of 5,000 exoplanet candidates
The catalog of planet candidates found with NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) recently passed 5,000 TOIs, or TESS Objects of Interest.