Copernical Team
Tracking Carbon from the Ocean Surface to the Twilight Zone
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A seaward journey, supported by both NASA and the National Science Foundation, set sail in the northern Atlantic in early May-the sequel to a complementary expedition, co-funded by NSF, that took place in the northern Pacific in 2018.
The 2021 deployment of NASA's oceanographic field campaign, called Export Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing (EXPORTS), consists of 150 scientists an New Satellite Data Learning Tool Brings EO To The Next Generation
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A new UK Space Agency-backed online tool for learning satellite Earth Observation (EO) is now available for trial by higher education institutions.
Earth Blox aims to help inspire the UK's next generation of climate specialists and digital pioneers by giving them instant access to over 20 petabytes of global imagery - the capacity of around 20,000 home computers - without having to write a NASA's giant Webb telescope succeeds in key pre-launch test
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The world's largest and most powerful space telescope unfolded its giant golden mirror for the last time on Earth on Tuesday, a key milestone before the $10 billion observatory is launched later this year.
The James Webb Space Telescope's 21 feet 4 inch (6.5 meter) mirror was commanded to fully expand and lock itself into place, NASA said - a final test to ensure it will survive its million How to keep spacesuit ‘underwear’ clean?
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Spacewalking is a major highlight of any astronaut’s career. But there is a downside: putting on your spacesuit means sharing some previously-worn underlayers. A new ESA study is looking into how best to keep these items clean and hygienic as humans venture on to the Moon and beyond.
Webb’s golden mirror wings open one last time on Earth
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The world’s most powerful space science telescope has opened its primary mirror for the last time on Earth.
As part of the international James Webb Space Telescope’s final tests, the 6.5 meter (21 feet 4 inch) mirror was commanded to fully expand and lock itself into place, just like it would in space. The conclusion of this test represents the team’s final checkpoint in a long series of tests designed to ensure Webb’s 18 hexagonal mirrors are prepared for a long journey in space, and a life of profound discovery. After this, all of Webb’s many movable parts will
Space telescope's golden mirror wings open one last time on Earth
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For the last time while it is on Earth, the world's largest and most powerful space science telescope opened its iconic primary mirror. This event marked a key milestone in preparing the observatory for launch later this year.
As part of the NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's final tests, the 6.5-meter (21-foot, 4-inch) mirror was commanded to fully expand and lock itself into place, just like it would in space.
Understanding astronaut muscle wasting at the molecular level
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Researchers from the University of Tsukuba have sent mice into space to explore effects of spaceflight and reduced gravity on muscle atrophy, or wasting, at the molecular level.
Gravity is a constant force on Earth, which all living creatures have evolved to rely on and adapt to. Space exploration has brought about many scientific and technological advances, yet manned spaceflights come at a cost to astronauts, including reduced skeletal muscle mass and strength.
Conventional studies investigating the effects of reduced gravity on muscle mass and function have used a ground control group that is not directly comparable to the space experimental group. Researchers from the University of Tsukuba set out to explore the effects of gravity in mice subjected to the same housing conditions, including those experienced during launch and landing. "In humans, spaceflight causes muscle atrophy and can lead to serious medical problems after return to Earth," says senior author Professor Satoru Takahashi. "This study was designed based on the critical need to understand the molecular mechanisms through which muscle atrophy occurs in conditions of microgravity and artificial gravity.
Scientists catch exciting magnetic waves in action in the Sun's photosphere
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Researchers have confirmed the existence of magnetic plasma waves, known as Alfvén waves, in the Sun's photosphere. The study, published in Nature Astronomy, provides new insights into these fascinating waves that were first discovered by the Nobel Prize winning scientist Hannes Alfvén in 1947.
The vast potential of these waves resides in their ability to transport energy and information over very large distances due to their purely magnetic nature. The direct discovery of these waves in the solar photosphere, the lowest layer of the solar atmosphere, is the first step towards exploiting the properties of these magnetic waves.
The ability for Alfvén waves to carry energy is also of interest for solar and plasma-astrophysics as it could help explain the extreme heating of the solar atmosphere—a mystery that has been unsolved for over a century.
Elusive waves
Alfvén waves form when charged particles (ions) oscillate in response to interactions between magnetic fields and electrical currents.
Within the solar atmosphere bundles of magnetic fields, known as solar magnetic flux tubes, can form.
US space probe Osiris-Rex heads home with asteroid dust
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The US space probe Osiris-Rex on Monday left the orbit of the asteroid Bennu, from which it collected dust samples last year, to begin its long journey back to Earth.
The probe still has a vast distance to cover before it lands in the Utah desert on September 24, 2023.
Osiris-Rex is "now moving away over 600 miles an hour from Bennu, on its way home," Dante Lauretta, head of the mission NASA spacecraft begins 2-year trip home with asteroid rubble
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With rubble from an asteroid tucked inside, a NASA spacecraft fired its engines and began the long journey back to Earth on Monday, leaving the ancient space rock in its rearview mirror.
The trip home for the robotic prospector, Osiris-Rex, will take two years.