Copernical Team
SwRI scientists discover a new auroral feature on Jupiter
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The SwRI-led Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) orbiting Jupiter aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft has detected new faint aurora features, characterized by ring-like emissions, which expand rapidly over time. SwRI scientists determined that charged particles coming from the edge of Jupiter's massive magnetosphere triggered these auroral emissions.
"We think these newly discovered faint ultraviolet SpaceX postpones Starship test flight
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SpaceX postponed a test flight Monday for the company's Starship moon and Mars rocket in Boca Chica, Texas.
Company CEO Elon Musk posted on Twitter that the flight was called off because a federal inspector couldn't reach the remote site in time. Musk calls it Starbase, and it is about 23 miles east of Brownsville.
"Postponed to no earlier than tomorrow [Tuesday]" Musk wrote. Even with regular exercise, astronaut's heart left smaller after a year in space
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With NASA preparing to send humans to Mars in the 2030s, researchers are studying the physical effects of spending long periods in space. Now a new study by scientists at UT Southwestern shows that the heart of an astronaut who spent nearly a year aboard the International Space Station shrank, even with regular exercise, although it continued to function well.
The results were comparable with what the researchers found in a long-distance swimmer who spent nearly half a year trying to cross the Pacific Ocean.
The study, published today in Circulation, reports that astronaut Scott Kelly, now retired, lost an average of 0.74 grams—about three-tenths of an ounce—per week in the mass of his heart's left ventricle during the 340 days he spent in space, from March 27, 2015, to March 1, 2016. This occurred despite a weekly exercise regimen of six days of cycling, treadmill, or resistance work.
SpaceX says no Starship launch on Monday
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SpaceX has postponed the latest test flight of its prototype interplanetary Starship rocket from the company's south Texas facility, Elon Musk said Monday.
"FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) inspector unable to reach Starbase in time for launch today," the company's founder and CEO tweeted.
"Postponed to no earlier than tomorrow."
No launch window has so far been provided for Tuesday.
The company is hoping to finally perform a successful test flight after the last three attempts ended in spectacular explosions, and had been granted a five hour window for spaceflight activities by local authorities on Monday.
NASA begins final assembly of spacecraft destined for asteroid Psyche
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A major component of NASA's Psyche spacecraft has been delivered to the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the phase known as assembly, test, and launch operations is now underway. Over the next year, the spacecraft will finish assembly and undergo rigorous checkout and testing before it's shipped to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for an August 2022 launch to the main asteroid belt.
The Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) Chassis, crafted by Maxar Technologies' team in Palo Alto, California, is the size of a van and represents more than 80% (by mass) of the hardware that will ultimately make up the Psyche spacecraft. The large, box-shaped structure made a dramatic entrance as it rolled into the white-walled clean room of JPL's storied High Bay 1 of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility.
Exploring the moon's shadowed regions using beamed energy
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In less than three years, astronauts will return to the moon for the first time since the Apollo Era. As part of the Artemis Program, the purpose is not only to send crewed missions back to the lunar surface to explore and collect samples. This time around, there's also the goal of establishing vital infrastructure (like the Lunar Gateway and a Base Camp) that will allow for "sustained lunar exploration."
A key requirement for this ambitious plan is the provision of power, which can be difficult in regions like the South Pole-Aitken Basin—a cratered region that is permanently-shadowed. To address this, a researcher from the NASA Langley Research Center named Charles Taylor has proposed a novel concept known as "Light Bender." Using telescope optics, this system would to capture and distribute sunlight on the moon.
The Light Bender concept was one of 16 proposals that were selected for Phase I of the 2021 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, which is overseen by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). As with previous NIAC submissions, those proposals that were selected represent a broad range of innovative ideas that could help advance NASA's space exploration goals.
Image: Engine of Atlantis
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The second European Service Module that will power the Orion spacecraft on a crewed flyby of the moon is fitted with a special engine at Airbus facilities in Germany.
This engine belonged to Space Shuttle Atlantis, and is one of five refurbished engines to be paired with the first five European Service Modules. Technicians carefully install the engine in Airbus' cleanroom.
ESM is the powerhouse of NASA's Orion spacecraft. It will provide critical functions such as the propulsion system to get astronauts to the moon, and the consumables astronauts need to stay alive.
ESM-2 will fuel the crewed Orion spacecraft during a flyby of the moon for Artemis 2 and is currently undergoing integration and other testing in Europe before it is delivered to NASA this summer.
Meanwhile in the United States, the first European Service Module is making its way to the launch pad as part of the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 1 mission test flight later this year. Next stop is fuelling, due to take place next week.
ESM is ESA's contribution to NASA's Artemis program and includes involvement from 10 European nations.
SpaceX preparing for possible Starship launch
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SpaceX is preparing for a possible launch of its prototype interplanetary Starship rocket from the company's facility in south Texas on Monday afternoon.
The company is hoping to finally perform a successful testflight after the last three attempts ended in spectacular explosions.
"I have ordered the closure of Boca Chica Beach and Hwy 4 for the purpose of protecting public health and safety during SpaceX space flight activities on March 29," Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr said in a statement.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk also tweeted on Sunday about the "Possible Starship flight tomorrow afternoon.
Why we need to get better at predicting space weather
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The sun is the most important source of energy for sustaining life on Earth, but it gives us a lot more than just light and heat. It also gives us solar storms.
Disturbances on the sun, such as coronal mass ejections produced by solar flares that emanate from active sunspot regions, can cause solar storms. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections emit vast quantities of radiation and charged particles into space.
These events can damage the Earth's communication and power infrastructures, resulting in power outages and reduced system functionality. Satellites, space stations and astronauts, aviation, GPS, power grids and more can be affected.
As our civilisation becomes more advanced, we become more vulnerable to the effects of solar storms. Now, as the sun's activity is on the increase, we need to get better at predicting solar weather.
Many people still remember the collapse of Canada's Quebec electrical grid on 13 March 1989, which lasted for nine hours and affected six million people. It caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages and lost revenues.
Corridor test of Proba-3’s formation flying sensors
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The longest corridor in ESA’s largest establishment was turned into a test site for one of the Agency’s most ambitious future missions, Proba-3. The two satellites making up this mission will line up so that one casts a shadow onto the other, revealing inner regions of the Sun’s ghostly atmosphere. But such precision formation flying will only be possible through a vision-based sensor system allowing one satellite to lock onto the other.
