Copernical Team
Swarming for success: Starling completes primary mission
After 10 months in orbit, the Starling spacecraft swarm successfully demonstrated its primary mission's key objectives, representing significant achievements in the capability of swarm configurations.
Swarms of satellites may one day be used in deep space exploration. An autonomous network of spacecraft could self-navigate, manage scientific experiments, and execute maneuvers to respond to environmental changes without the burden of significant communications delays between the swarm and Earth.
"The success of Starling's initial mission represents a landmark achievement in the development of autonomous networks of small spacecraft," said Roger Hunter, program manager for NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology program at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. "The team has been very successful in achieving our objectives and adapting in the face of challenges.
South Korea targets Mars mission with new space centre
South Korea aims to make a Mars landing by 2045, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday, outlining plans to spend about $70 billion over the coming decades on space exploration. The newly created Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) will lead the drive to make the land of K-pop a new space powerhouse, following the United States, Russia and China. "I have always believed that there is an
Russian Progress 88 cargo spacecraft launched to ISS
A Russian Soyuz rocket launched early Thursday morning put an un-piloted spacecraft safely in orbit headed for the International Space Station. NASA said it carries roughly three tons of supplies. The 5:43 a.m. EDT launch was from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Following a two-day orbit the spacecraft will automatically dock to the space-facing port of the Poisk module at
South Korea targets Mars mission with new space center
South Korea aims to make a Mars landing by 2045, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday, outlining plans to spend about $70 billion over the coming decades on space exploration.
The newly created Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) will lead the drive to make the land of K-pop a new space powerhouse, following the United States, Russia and China.
"I have always believed that there is an infinite dream and future in outer space," Yoon said on Thursday.
"KASA will strive to land a homegrown probe on the moon by 2032 and plant the Taegeukgi (South Korean flag) on Mars by 2045," he said.
South Korea sent up its first lunar orbiter, Danuri, in 2022 on a SpaceX Falcon rocket.
It also successfully launched its homegrown Nuri rocket and placed working satellites into orbit last year after two failed attempts.
Seoul is now gearing up for its fourth launch of the Nuri rocket in the second half of 2025.
Modeled after the United States' NASA, KASA says it will act as an "aerospace control tower", overseeing aerospace policy, satellite development and space missions, including moon exploration.
ISS research shows spaceflight affects tumor-bearing fruit fly hosts and their parasites
Like humans, fruit flies (a model organism for spaceflight research) also exhibit immune system dysfunction in space. Despite decades of studies on fruit flies and wasps, little was known about how their immune systems interact with natural parasites in space. Drosophila parasitoid wasps modify blood cell function to suppress host immunity.
NASA astronauts return to Space Coast ahead of Starliner launch
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Kennedy Space Center on May 28 as their much-delayed flight to the International Space Station aboard Boeing's CST-100 Starliner looks like it may finally happen Saturday.
The duo are slated to climb back aboard the capsule and fly atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 at 12:25 p.m., with a backup launch opportunity on Sunday. ULA said the weather forecast calls for 90% good conditions at the launch site for both days, although the weather also has to be clear along the launch corridor in the event of an emergency abort.
Dubbed the Crew Flight Test, the mission marks the first human spaceflight for Starliner as Boeing tries to play catchup to SpaceX as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. SpaceX launched its first crewed test flight of its Crew Dragon on May 30, 2020, so Starliner's launch will come just over four years since that flight.
Wilmore and Williams came within two hours of launch back on May 6.
Space industry faces new limits on hazardous chemicals
Health and environmental challenges and regulations in ESA Member States regarding the use of hazardous chemicals are set to further impact space programmes, the space sector and its supply chains.
Webb finds most distant known galaxy
Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have found a record-breaking galaxy observed only 290 million years after the big bang.
Over the last two years, scientists have used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to explore what astronomers refer to as Cosmic Dawn – the period in the first few hundred million years after the big bang where the first galaxies were born. These galaxies provide vital insight into the ways in which the gas, stars, and black holes were changing when the universe was very young. In October 2023 and January 2024, an international team of
German cabinet signs off plans to allow carbon capture
The German cabinet on Wednesday signed off on plans to authorise carbon capture as part of a drive to reduce CO2 emissions, but climate campaigners slammed the move as illusory and impractical. The government wants to approve the technology to help counter emissions in heavily polluting industries, such as the cement and lime industries, according to the Economy Ministry. Under a planne
Metaspectral and Armada Partner for Remote Real-Time AI Analysis of Hyperspectral Imagery
Metaspectral, a company specializing in computer vision and remote sensing through deep learning and hyperspectral imagery, has announced a partnership with Armada, a leader in edge computing technology. "Through this partnership, we can bring real-time AI analysis of hyperspectral imagery to remote areas by leveraging Armada's physical data processing and connectivity infrastructure capab