Copernical Team
NASA and JAXA exchange asteroid samples
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NASA has transferred a portion of the asteroid Bennu sample, collected by its OSIRIS-REx mission, to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as part of an asteroid sample exchange. The handover took place during a ceremony on Aug. 22 at JAXA's Sagamihara campus in Japan.
This exchange follows the November 2021 event when JAXA provided NASA with a sample from asteroid Ryugu, retrieved NASA and Boeing Prepare for Critical Starliner Return Review
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NASA and Boeing's engineering teams are conducting extensive data analysis as they approach a significant decision regarding the Starliner spacecraft's return from the International Space Station (ISS). This decision, which will determine if Starliner will return to Earth with astronauts on board, is anticipated no earlier than Saturday, Aug. 24. The determination will follow an agency-level rev Relationships with Space Colonists
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One day soon we may have long-term orbiting colonies circling the planet in microgravity space stations with complete, self-sustained ecosystems, governance bodies and a completely independent society that operates as a sovereign entity.
The relationship between on-Earth societies and colonists would likely be complicated. Several factors would shape this relationship, including the very d Scout Space to test novel SDA sensors on Dawn Aerospace Spaceplane
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Scout Space Inc., a prominent provider of in-space observation services focusing on space security and autonomous solutions, is set to achieve a major milestone with the first demonstration of an innovative Space Domain Awareness (SDA) capability in very low Earth orbit (vLEO). This demonstration, named "Morning Sparrow," will take place aboard a reusable, taskable, sub-orbital spaceplane platfo Lessons from Amazon and FedEx can inform satellite and spacecraft management
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Most space mission systems historically have used one spacecraft designed to complete an entire mission independently. Whether it was a weather satellite or a human-crewed module like Apollo, nearly every spacecraft was deployed and performed its one-off mission completely on its own.
But today, space industry organizations are exploring missions with many satellites working together. For Blue Origin's NS-26 launch set for August 29 with six crew members
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Blue Origin is gearing up for its eighth human spaceflight, the NS-26 mission, scheduled to launch on Thursday, August 29, from the company's Launch Site One in West Texas. The launch window is set to open at 8:00 AM CDT / 1300 UTC, with live coverage starting 40 minutes prior on BlueOrigin.com.
The NS-26 mission will be crewed by six passengers: Nicolina Elrick, Rob Ferl, Eugene Grin, Dr. NASA to decide Saturday on return of stranded astronauts
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NASA is expected to decide Saturday whether two astronauts who arrived at the International Space Station aboard Boeing's Starliner should return on that craft - or brace for a longer wait to fly home with rival SpaceX.
The latter solution would not only create a fresh public relations headache for Boeing, but possibly result in astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams spending a total of Researchers identify effective materials for protecting astronauts from harmful cosmic radiation on Mars
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Researchers have identified specific materials, including certain plastics, rubber, and synthetic fibers, as well as Martian soil (regolith), which would effectively protect astronauts by blocking harmful space radiation on Mars. These findings could inform the design of protective habitats and spacesuits, making long-duration Mars missions more feasible. Because Mars lacks Earth's thick atmosphere and magnetic field, astronauts exploring the planet would be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.
Dimitra Atri, Investigator, Center for Astrophysics and Space Science and Group Leader of the Mars Research Group at NYU Abu Dhabi's Center for Astrophysics and Space Science, and lead author Dionysios Gakis from the University of Patras in Greece, report these new findings in "Modeling the effectiveness of radiation shielding materials for astronaut protection on Mars," appearing in the journal The European Physical Journal Plus.
Could 2 NASA astronauts be stuck at the space station until next year? A decision is imminent
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Will two NASA astronauts return to Earth soon in their troubled Boeing capsule? Or wait at the International Space Station for a ride home next year with SpaceX?
NASA has been wrestling with that decision ever since Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the orbiting lab in early June on what was supposed to be a weeklong test flight.
Comparing two proposed NASA missions to Jupiter's moon Io
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Thanks to NASA's Juno mission to the Jupiter system, we're getting our best looks ever at the gas giant's volcanic moon Io. Even as Juno provides our best views of the moon, it also deepens our existing questions. Only a dedicated mission to Io can answer those questions, and there are two proposed missions.
Io is well-known as the most geologically active world in the solar system, and it's not even close.
