East Lansing MI (SPX) Aug 04, 2023
Sometimes, the best place to hide a secret is in broad daylight. Just ask the sun. "The sun is more surprising than we knew," said Mehr Un Nisa, a postdoctoral research associate at Michigan State University. "We thought we had this star figured out, but that's not the case." Nisa, who will soon be joining MSU's faculty, is the corresponding author of a new paper in the journal Physi

Birmingham UK (SPX) Aug 04, 2023
An international team of scientists have discovered an unusual Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a low-mass star called TOI-4860, located in the Corvus constellation. The newly discovered gas giant, named TOI-4860 b, is an unusual planet for two reasons: stars of such low mass are not expected to host planets like Jupiter, and the planet appears to be particularly enriched by heavy elements.

Tempe AZ (SPX) Aug 04, 2023
NASA's LunaH-Map (Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper) mission, a briefcase-sized lunar orbiter that launched as a ride share on NASA's Artemis I mission last year, has ceased operations after successfully demonstrating its neutron spectrometer can detect water and ice at the lunar surface. The LunaH-Map CubeSat was designed to map ice deposits across the Moon's South Pole as part of NASA's SIMPLE

Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 04, 2023
Atmospheric temperature is a meteorological variable of daily concern to humans. Temperature also has a major impact on Perseverance mission operations (e.g. temperature sensors are distributed throughout the rover to monitor its thermal performance). In addition, temperature data are key to the mission's scientific investigations of the atmosphere. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA

Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 04, 2023
Earth planning date: Wednesday, August 2, 2023: We don't have a lot of power to play with today, so we have to be careful about how much time we give the different activities. As Arm Rover Planner, I got to sequence the contact science activities today. We start this two-sol plan with a nap to save up power. After waking up in the afternoon, we do a short block of imaging. Mastcam is takin

Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 04, 2023
On Aug. 5, NASA's Curiosity rover will notch its 11th year on Mars by doing what it does best: studying the Red Planet's surface. The intrepid bot recently investigated a location nicknamed "Jau" that is pockmarked with dozens of impact craters. Scientists have rarely gotten a close-up view of so many Martian craters in one place. The largest is estimated to be at least as long as a basketball c

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 06, 2023
In a groundbreaking analysis, scientists from Tulane University have delved deep into the winding paths of rivers on both Earth and Mars. This study, recently published in Nature Geosciences, aims to understand how climate change influences the shifting paths of these meandering rivers. Dr. Chenliang Wu, a postdoctoral researcher with Tulane University's School of Science and Engineering,

Washington DC (UPI) Aug 4, 2023
NASA Friday announced four crew members that will fly on NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 mission for a long-term stay on the International Space Station. The crew includes NASA astronauts Commander Matthew Dominick, Pilot Michael Barrat, and Mission Specialist Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Alexander Grebenkin. They will all join Expedition 70 and 71 crew m

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 06, 2023
In a renewed commitment to the growth of private space ventures, NASA has announced another joint mission with Axiom Space. This mission, which will be the fourth private astronaut initiative, is slated for a tentative launch in August 2024 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Phil McAlister, Director of Commercial Space at NASA Headquarters, emphasized the significance of the join

New Delhi (AFP) Aug 5, 2023
India's latest space mission entered the Moon's orbit on Saturday ahead of the country's second attempted lunar landing, as its cut-price space programme seeks to reach new heights. The world's most populous nation has a comparatively low-budget aerospace programme that is rapidly closing in on the milestones set by global space powers. Only Russia, the United States and China have prev