Copernical Team
Insight data offers clues to Mars' deep interior, formation in solar system
Marsquake data collected by NASA's InSight lander has allowed planetary scientists to more accurately characterize Mars' deep interior, as well as offered clues to the Red Planet's origins.
"Insight has confirmed that our view that Mars is a planet that was once almost entirely molten and separated into a crust, mantle and core as it cooled," Amir Khan of ETH Zurich said Friday during a Better understanding of Earth's atmospheric chemistry from studying Mars?
Long-term studies of ozone and water vapour in the atmosphere of Mars could lead to better understanding of atmospheric chemistry for the Earth. A new analysis of data from ESA's Mars Express mission has revealed that our knowledge of the way these atmospheric gases interact with each other is incomplete.
Using four martian years of observations from the SPICAM (Spectroscopy for the Invest The Red Planet has a larger core and a thinner crust
Mars' surface is known in great detail through exploration using orbiting spacecraft. But until now its interior structure could only be derived indirectly or simulated using computational models. With the participation of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), NASA's InSight mission has provided surprising new discoveries.
The core of our planetary n Scientists unveil European Mars rover's meteorite-hunting instruments
The ExoMars rover Rosalind Franklin, scheduled to launch in 2022, is tasked with hunting for past life on the Red Planet.
Most of the rover's scientific probing will be focused on the first six inches of Mars' crust, but the spacecraft will also be programmed to identify, sample and analyze meteorites strewn across the Martian surface.
Mission scientists unveiled the rover's mete SpaceX to launch NASA's Europa Clipper on Falcon Heavy rocket in 2024
NASA on Friday awarded SpaceX the $178 million contract to launch the agency's Europa Clipper mission to study Jupiter's fourth-largest moon.
The mission is expected to depart October 2024 on the private aerospace company's Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"Europa Clipper will conduct a detailed survey of Europa and use a sophisticated suite of scienc NASA selects SpaceX for mission to Jupiter moon Europa
NASA on Friday said it had selected SpaceX to launch a planned voyage to Jupiter's icy moon Europa, a huge win for Elon Musk's company as it sets its sights deeper into the solar system.
The Europa Clipper mission will launch in October 2024 on a Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with the total contract worth $178 million.
The mission was previously supposed to take off on NASA's own Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which has been plagued by delays and cost overruns, with critics calling it a "jobs program" for the state of Alabama where much of the development work is taking place.
Artificial intelligence helps improve NASA's eyes on the Sun
A group of researchers is using artificial intelligence techniques to calibrate some of NASA's images of the Sun, helping improve the data that scientists use for solar research. The new technique was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics on April 13, 2021.
NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Europa Clipper Mission
NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for Earth’s first mission to conduct detailed investigations of Jupiter's moon Europa. Mini radar could scan the moon for water and habitable tunnels
A miniature device that scans deep below ground is being developed to identify ice deposits and hollow lava tubes on the moon for possible human settlement.
The prototype device, known as MAPrad, is just one-tenth the size of existing ground penetrating radar systems, yet can see almost twice as deeply below ground—more than 100 meters down—to identify minerals, ice deposits, or voids such as lava tubes.
Local start-up CD3D PTY Limited has now received a grant from the Australian Space Agency's moon to Mars initiative to further develop the prototype with RMIT University, including testing it by mapping one of Earth's largest accessible systems of lava tubes.
CD3D CEO and RMIT Honorary Professor, James Macnae, said their unique geophysical sensor had several advantages over existing technology that made it more suitable for space missions.
Keen to sign up for space tourism? Here are 6 things to consider (besides the price tag)
It's been a momentous month for space-faring billionaires. On July 11, British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson's Unity "rocket-plane" flew him and five fellow passengers about 85 kilometers above Earth. And this week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' New Shepard capsule reached an altitude of 106km, carrying Bezos, his brother, and the oldest and youngest people ever to reach such a height. Passengers on both flights experienced several minutes of weightlessness and took in breathtaking views of our beautiful and fragile Earth.
Both flights created an avalanche of media coverage and brand recognition for Branson's Virgin Galactic and Bezos's Blue Origin. There is renewed anticipation of a lucrative commercial space tourism industry that could eventually see thousands of paying passengers journey into space (or not quite into space, depending on your preferred level of pedantry).
This year marks 60 years since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space.