Copernical Team
Astronomers calculate genesis of Oort cloud in chronological order
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A team of Leiden astronomers has managed to calculate the first 100 million years of the history of the Oort cloud in its entirety. Until now, only parts of the history had been studied separately. The cloud, with roughly 100 billion comet-like objects, forms an enormous shell at the edge of our solar system. The astronomers will soon publish their comprehensive simulation and its consequences in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
The Oort cloud was discovered in 1950 by the Dutch astronomer Jan Hendrik Oort to explain why there continue to be new comets with elongated orbits in our solar system. The cloud, which starts at more than 3000 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun, should not be confused with the Kuiper belt.
The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission - Presenting Hera
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Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two briefcase-sized Cubesats - Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary - Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos and Dimorphos, an asteroid pair typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth.
Planetary defence requires planetary cooperation. Hera is set to rendezvous with the asteroid pair NASA announces two new missions to Venus
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NASA announced two new missions to Venus on Wednesday that will launch at the end of the decade and are aimed at learning how Earth's nearest planetary neighbor became a hellscape while our own thrived.
"These two sister missions both aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world, capable of melting lead at the surface," said Bill Nelson, the agency's newly-confirmed administrator Government fund will support new ideas for cleaning up space
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Space firms are being invited to apply for a share of up to 800,000 pounds in funding from the UK Space Agency to develop ideas for space debris removal missions.
One of the biggest global challenges facing the space sector is orbital congestion and space debris. There are currently an estimated 900,000 pieces of space debris including old satellites, spent rocket bodies and even tools dro Worms on a mission to research muscle loss in space
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Today hundreds of tiny worms are being flown to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of an experiment to understand more about human muscle loss and how to prevent it.
Led by scientists from Nottingham and Exeter University, with hardware designed by Oxford-based Kayser Space, a research team aims to determine the causes of muscle changes during spaceflight and find ways to mitiga TMC Technologies wins contract to support NASA's IV&V Program
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TMC Technologies of West Virginia, a leading-edge technology services firm, is proud to announce it has been awarded a five-year, Blanket Purchase Agreement, with a ceiling value of $24 million, by NASA to provide advanced systems and software engineering services in support of the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility, home of NASA's IV&V Program in Fairmont, Galileo satellites’ last step before launch
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Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation constellation is set to grow. Later this year the first two out of 12 ‘Batch 3’ Galileo satellites will be launched by Soyuz from French Guiana. Their last step on the way to launch is situated beside sand dunes on the Dutch coast: the ESTEC Test Centre, which is Europe’s largest satellite test facility.
NASA picks Venus as hot spot for two new robotic missions
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NASA is returning to sizzling Venus, our closest yet perhaps most overlooked neighbor, after decades of exploring other worlds.
The space agency's new administrator, Bill Nelson, announced two new robotic missions to the solar system's hottest planet, during his first major address to employees Wednesday.
NASA to explore divergent fate of Earth's mysterious twin with Goddard's DAVINCI+
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Although Earth and Venus are similar in size and location, they are very different worlds today. While Earth has oceans of water and abundant life, Venus is dry and fiercely inhospitable. Although it's somewhat closer to the Sun - about 70 percent of Earth's distance - Venus is much hotter, with temperatures at the surface high enough to melt lead. The scorched landscape is obscured by clouds of NASA selects 2 missions to study Venus
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NASA has selected two new missions to Venus, Earth's nearest planetary neighbor. Part of NASA's Discovery Program, the missions aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world when it has so many other characteristics similar to ours - and may have been the first habitable world in the solar system, complete with an ocean and Earth-like climate.
These investigations are the final