Tucson AZ (SPX) Nov 11, 2021
A new technique developed in part by Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Nader Haghighipour has allowed astronomers to quickly detect a transiting circumbinary planet orbiting around two suns, according to a new Astronomical Journal paper on which Haghighipour is an author. Circumbinary planets are planetary bodies that rotate around two stars. Although for years, they were merely

Austin TX (SPX) Nov 10, 2021
Thousands of alien worlds are known to orbit stars beyond our solar system. And many more worlds, possibly harboring life, lie waiting to be discovered. A new astronomical instrument called NEID, the NN-explore Exoplanet Investigations with Doppler spectroscopy, has come online in 2021 to help scientists hunt for new alien worlds. The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) is assisting the

Beijing (XNA) Nov 11, 2021
China has released the information of the third batch of lunar samples brought back by the country's Chang'e-5 mission. Public users can log on to the website of China's Lunar and Deep Space Exploration (www.clep.org.cn) to check for the related information of the 15 new samples and submit applications for research. The Chang'e-5 probe returned to Earth on Dec. 17, 2020, retrieving a

Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 11, 2021
Every time we collect a rock sample on Mars, Perseverance performs an hours-long set of carefully choreographed operations with its robotic arm, the coring drill, and the Adaptive Caching Assembly. One of these operations is docking: the process by which the arm aligns itself with the Bit Carousel on the front of the rover, so that the corer can drop off and pick up new drill bits. Docking

Kourou, French Guiana (ESA) Nov 11, 2021
Ariane 5 parts are coming together in the launch vehicle integration building for the launch of Webb from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. The Ariane 5 core stage is 5.4 m diameter and 30.5 m high. On 6 November it was taken out of its shipping container and raised vertical. At launch it will contain 175 t of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants. With its Vulcain 2 engin

Toronto, Canada (SPX) Nov 12, 2021
MDA has been awarded a contract by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to undertake a Phase A initial design study for a Canadian Lunar Rover mission to the Moon. As part of the CSA's Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP), the Lunar Rover will advance eight key technologies that are foundational building blocks for planetary rovers, including mobility, communications, operations, thermal cont

Tucson AZ (SPX) Nov 12, 2021
A near-Earth asteroid named Kamo`oalewa could be a fragment of our moon, according to a new paper published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment by a team of astronomers led by the University of Arizona. Kamo`oalewa is a quasi-satellite - a subcategory of near-Earth asteroids that orbit the sun but remain relatively close to Earth. Little is known about these objects because they

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Nov 12, 2021
With the launch of 'Cosmic Kiss', Matthias Maurer's long-cherished dream comes true. The Saarland native is the fourth German to travel to the International Space Station (ISS). He departed from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 21:03 local time on 10 November 2021 (03:03 CET 11 November 2021). The 51-year-old materials scientist from Sankt Wendel has been a member of the European Space Agency

Washington (AFP) Nov 12, 2021
A SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts docked with the International Space Station on Thursday, kicking off a six-month stay on the orbiting outpost. This mission known as Crew-3 is part of NASA's multibillion-dollar partnership with Elon Musk's space company, signed after the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011 and aimed at restoring US capacity to carry out human spaceflight, rather tha

Moscow (Sputnik) Nov 12, 2021
Space radiation may ride roughshod over a satellite's electrical circuits and result in a full-fledged burnout of its onboard systems. This remains one of the main headaches for satellite manufacturers. Specialists from the Russian Space Systems holding (RSS) have successfully tested a miniature device designed to protect the electronic onboard systems of state-of-the-art satellites from c