Copernical Team
Early combined tests mimic Ariane 6 liftoff
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Ariane 6 early combined tests at Latesys in Fos-sur-Mer, in France, have simulated the moment of liftoff when the umbilicals separate from the launch vehicle.
406 Day: celebrating Galileo saving lives
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Today is 406 Day – the annual campaigning day to spread awareness of the importance of emergency beacons, and the satellites that pick up their signals, including Europe’s Galileo constellation. As well as letting people across the world find their way, Galileo also serves to detect SOS messages and relay them to authorities, contributing to saving many lives.
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter survives first night alone on Mars
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NASA's Ingenuity mini-helicopter has survived its first night alone on the frigid surface of Mars, the US space agency said, hailing it as "a major milestone" for the tiny craft as it prepares for its first flight.
The ultra-light aircraft was dropped on the surface on Saturday after detaching from the belly of the Perseverance rover, which touched down on the Red Planet on February 18.
Detached from the Perseverance, Ingenuity had to rely on its own solar-powered battery to run a vital heater to protect its unshielded electrical components from freezing and cracking during the bitter Martian night, where temperatures can plunge as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius).
Making it through the frigid Martian night was "a major milestone for the small rotorcraft," NASA said in a statement Monday.
Raindrops also keep fallin' on exoplanets
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One day, humankind may step foot on another habitable planet. That planet may look very different from Earth, but one thing will feel familiar - the rain.
In a recent paper, Harvard researchers found that raindrops are remarkably similar across different planetary environments, even planets as drastically different as Earth and Jupiter. Understanding the behavior of raindrops on other plan Skoltech team used mass spectrometry to study composition of meteorites
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Scientists from Russia and Germany studied the molecular composition of carbonaceous chondrites - the insoluble organic matter of the Murchison and Allende meteorites - in an attempt to identify their origin. Ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry revealed a wide diversity of chemical compositions and unexpected similarities between meteorites from different groups. The research was published i NASA's Curiosity team names Martian hill that serves as mission gateway
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The team of scientists and engineers behind NASA's Curiosity rover named a hill along the rover's path on Mars in honor of a recently deceased mission scientist. A craggy hump that stretches 450 feet (120 meters) tall, "Rafael Navarro mountain" is located on Mount Sharp in northwest Gale Crater.
The inspiration for the name is award-winning scientist Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez; he died on Jan More potential air leak locations found at ISS
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Russian cosmonauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) have identified another three possible air leak locations in the Russian Zvezda module, a space industry source told Sputnik.
"This week, the cosmonauts found another three possible air leak locations in the intermediate chamber of the Zvezda module," the source said, adding that on Friday and Saturday, the Russian crew patc NASA's Mars Helicopter Survives First Cold Martian Night on Its Own
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NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has emerged from its first night on the surface of Mars.
Evening temperatures at Jezero Crater can plunge as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius), which can freeze and crack unprotected electrical components and damage the onboard batteries required for flight. Surviving that first night after being deployed from where it was attac NASA's Curiosity team names Martian hill that serves as mission 'gateway'
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The team of scientists and engineers behind NASA's Curiosity rover named a hill along the rover's path on Mars in honor of a recently deceased mission scientist. A craggy hump that stretches 450 feet (120 meters) tall, "Rafael Navarro mountain" is located on Mount Sharp in northwest Gale Crater.
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter dropped on Mars' surface ahead of flight
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NASA's Ingenuity mini-helicopter has been dropped on the surface of Mars in preparation for its first flight, the US space agency said.
The ultra-light aircraft had been fixed to the belly of the Perseverance rover, which touched down on the Red Planet on February 18.
"MarsHelicopter touchdown confirmed!" NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory tweeted Saturday.
"Its 293 million mile (471 million kilometer) journey aboard @NASAPersevere ended with the final drop of 4 inches (10 centimeter) from the rover's belly to the surface of Mars today. Next milestone? Survive the night."
A photograph accompanying the tweet showed Perseverance had driven clear of the helicopter and its "airfield" after dropping to the surface.
Ingenuity had been feeding off the Perseverance's power system but will now have to use its own battery to run a vital heater to protect its unshielded electrical components from freezing and cracking during the bitter Martian night.