Copernical Team
An astronaut’s guide to out-of-Earth manufacturing
Improvising new stuff from the stuff you have is part of an astronaut’s job description – think Apollo 13’s crew refitting CO2 filters to save their own lives, or stranded Mark Watney in The Martian, feeding himself on the Red Planet. Now plans are underway to manufacture items in orbit, and ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst argues this could make a big difference to living and working in space.
Careers at ESA homepage link
Careers at ESA
NASA's new Mars rover hits dusty red road, 1st trip 21 feet
NASA's newest Mars rover hit the dusty red road this week, putting 21 feet on the odometer in its first test drive.
The Perseverance rover ventured from its landing position Thursday, two weeks after setting down on the red planet to seek signs of past life.
The roundabout, back and forth drive lasted just 33 minutes and went so well that more driving was on tap Friday and Saturday for the the six-wheeled rover.
"This is really the start of our journey here," said Rich Rieber, the NASA engineer who plotted the route.
DcubeD to release its new deployable SPACE SELFIE STICK (D3S3)
DcubeD (Deployables Cubed GmbH) has released its first ever deployable structure product, the "DCUBED SPACE SELFIE STICK", shortened to D3S3. The Space Selfie Stick will be launched into space onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in June 2021 as part of an In-Orbit Demonstration Mission in partnership with the Polish satellite manufacturer Sat Revolution and the British New Space propulsion develope
Sixth mirror casting brings Giant Magellan Telescope closer to completion
At 3 p.m. on March 5, a gigantic furnace will slowly start spinning underneath the stands of Arizona Stadium at the University of Arizona. Fire-engine red, massive in size and resembling a sci-fi version of a Dutch oven, the furnace is the only one of its kind, and its sole purpose is to produce the world's biggest and most advanced telescope mirrors. During the process, nearly 20 tons (17
China selects astronauts for space station program
The crewmembers who will participate in the construction of China's space station have been selected and are being trained for their missions, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). The construction of the space station has entered a crucial stage, said the CMSA, noting that this year will see several space missions including the launch of the station's core module, cargo reple
Comet Catalina Suggests Comets Delivered Carbon to Rocky Planets
In early 2016, an icy visitor from the edge of our solar system hurtled past Earth. It briefly became visible to stargazers as Comet Catalina before it slingshot past the Sun to disappear forevermore out of the solar system. Among the many observatories that captured a view of this comet, which appeared near the Big Dipper, was the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, NASA's t
Astronauts conclude spacewalk maintenance on International Space Station
Astronauts Kate Rubins and Soichi Noguchi completed a spacewalk Friday of 6 hours, 56 minutes to perform maintenance on the exterior of the International Space Station. Rubins, of NASA, and Noguchi, of the Japanese Space Agency, installed a device on an airlock cover to prevent it from blowing out when a hatch is opened. The two also attached new apparatus that will hold upgraded solar
Space launch from British soil one step closer
In a giant leap in British spaceflight history, government publishes response to commercial spaceflight consultation. A giant leap in British spaceflight history is being made 5 March 2021 as the government publishes its commercial spaceflight consultation response, paving the way for space launches from UK soil. Over the past few months, the government has been inviting industry, st
NASA's Perseverance Drives on Mars' Terrain for First Time
NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover performed its first drive on Mars March 4, covering 21.3 feet (6.5 meters) across the Martian landscape. The drive served as a mobility test that marks just one of many milestones as team members check out and calibrate every system, subsystem, and instrument on Perseverance. Once the rover begins pursuing its science goals, regular commutes extending 656 feet