Copernical Team
Why Juice is coming back to Earth
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ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) returns to Earth on 19–20 August 2024, to complete the world's first Lunar-Earth gravity assist. Flight controllers will guide the spacecraft past the Moon and then Earth itself, ‘braking’ the spacecraft. This manoeuvre may seem counterintuitive but will allow Juice to take a shortcut via Venus on it's way to Jupiter.
Juice has already travelled more than 1000 million km to the giant planet but it still has a long way to go even though Jupiter is on average ‘just’ 800 million km away from Earth. Join us as we explain why
Mars-bound payload on way to Florida for 1st launch of Blue Origin New Glenn
The Mars-bound twin spacecraft for NASA's ESCAPADE mission were packed up in California to be shipped out to Florida this week ahead of what would be the first ever launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral.
ESCAPADE stands for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, and the mission's purpose is to orbit Mars and observe plasma and magnetic fields around the planet to help understand what processes strip atoms from Mars' magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. That could help explain why Mars' atmosphere is so thin, and how it may have evolved over time.
The two small satellites, dubbed Blue and Gold, were built by Rocket Lab in California for NASA and the University of California Berkeley's Space Science Laboratory.
They will soon arrive at Kennedy Space Center where they will head to a cleanroom for post-transport inspections and tests. Eventually, they will be encapsulated for launch on New Glenn from Blue Origin's pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex 36, something Blue Origin officials state will happen before the end of the year.
Senegal's first satellite successfully launched
Senegal's first satellite has been successfully launched into orbit, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said, adding the move marked a major step towards the West African country's "technological sovereignty".
The GAINDESAT-1A satellite was launched at 18:56 GMT Friday from the Vandenberg base in California, Faye wrote in a post on X late Friday.
"The result of five years of hard work by our engineers and technicians, this advance marks a major step towards our technological sovereignty," Faye said.
"I would like to express my pride and gratitude to all those who made this project possible," he added.
Senegal's public broadcaster RTS said the satellite was designed and manufactured by Senegalese engineers, in partnership with the French Montpellier University Space Centre (CSUM).
The broadcaster said a Falcon 9 rocket took off from Vandenberg base and launched a number of satellites, including the GAINDESAT-1A, into orbit.
RTS said the satellite will collect data for various state agencies including the Directorate for Water Resources Management and Planning (DGPRE) and the National Civil Aviation and Meteorology Agency.
© 2024 AFP
Rare 'Supermoon Blue Moon' begins Monday; 1st of 4 upcoming supermoons
Sky gazers across the United States and the rest of the world have a treat in store next week when a rare "Supermoon Blue Moon" will come into view, one of four on tap in the coming months.
The upcoming supermoon event begins at 2:26 p.m. EDT on Monday and will last for three days, according to NASA.
A supermoon is defined as a new or full Moon that occurs when the Moon is within China Deploys First Batch of Qianfan Satellites to Enhance Global Mobile Connectivity
On August 6, the China National Space Agency successfully launched 18 communication satellites, the initial group of the Qianfan network, using a Long March 6A rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province. These satellites have been positioned in their designated orbit, marking a significant step toward expanding mobile communication services globally.
The Qianfan con GovMilSpace 2025 to Highlight Crucial Government and Military Space Collaborations
The SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition is set to debut GovMilSpace 2025, a significant new addition aimed at enhancing collaboration between government, military, and space industry leaders. This forum will complement the established SATELLITE show, recognized globally as the premier event for the satellite and space sectors.
As space and cybersecurity increasingly become cornerstones of Starship: Unpacking the Complexities of SpaceX's Two-Stage Vision
SpaceX's Starship program stands as one of the most ambitious endeavors in the history of space exploration. Envisioned as a fully reusable spacecraft capable of carrying humans and cargo to destinations such as the Moon, Mars, and beyond, Starship represents a significant leap in space travel technology. However, the journey to achieving this vision is far from straightforward, and the technica Webb data suggests our model of the universe may hold up after all
We know many things about our universe, but astronomers are still debating exactly how fast it is expanding. In fact, over the past two decades, two major ways to measure this number - known as the "Hubble constant" - have come up with different answers, leading some to wonder if there was something missing from our model of how the universe works.
But new measurements from the powerful Ja Carbon Mapper Coalition launches Tanager-1 to track methane and CO2
The Carbon Mapper Coalition has launched its inaugural satellite, Tanager-1, aboard the SpaceX Transporter-11 Rideshare mission. Developed by Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) in collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the satellite's deployment marks an important step forward in global efforts to monitor and reduce methane and CO2 emissions.
Tanager-1 is the first in a series of s China successfully launches new Yaogan 43A remote sensing satellites
China has launched a new group of remote-sensing satellites using a Long March 4B carrier rocket, as confirmed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. The launch took place on Friday afternoon at 3:35 pm from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, located in Sichuan province, southwestern China.
The payload, known as the Yaogan 43A satellites, was developed by the China Academy o