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Copernical Team
Water rich asteroids came from far outside the asteroid belt
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Meteorite crater discovered in French winery
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World's first 3D-printed rocket Terran 1 is ready for its maiden flight
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NASA, SpaceX delay Sunday Crew-6 flight until Monday
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Treating lunar soil to create fertilizer for growing plants on the moon
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![Credit: Solsys Mining Farming on the moon](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/farming-on-the-moon.jpg)
Sooner or later, settlers on the moon will have to become farmers. A new ESA Discovery project led by Norway's Solsys Mining is looking into the treatment of lunar soil to create fertilizer for growing plants.
The good news is that analysis of lunar samples returned to Earth in the past by moonwalkers and robots shows sufficient essential minerals are available for plant growth, apart from nitrogen compounds. The bad news is that lunar soil (or "regolith") compacts in the presence of water, creating problems for plant germination and root growth.
Hydroponic farming therefore offers a practical alternative; this type of agriculture involves feeding plant roots directly with nutrient-rich water, without the need for soil. The potential is still there however to put lunar regolith to work, on the basis of "in-situ resource utilization"—or living off the land.
The "Enabling Lunar In-Situ Agriculture by Producing Fertilizer from Beneficiated Regolith" project, led by Solsys Mining with Norway's Geotechnical Institute (NGI) and Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Space (CIRiS), involves studying a combination of mechanical, chemical and biological processes to extract mineral nutrients from the regolith.
SpaceX Dragon crewed flight to ISS pushed back 24 hours
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![From L-R, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, astronaut Sultan Al-Neyadi of the United Arab Emirates, mission commander Stephen Bowen of NASA and pilot Warren Hoburg of NASA speak to reporters in Cape Canaveral, Florida. From L-R, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, astronaut Sultan Al-Neyadi of the United Arab Emirates, mission commander Stephen Bo](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/from-l-r-russian-cosmo.jpg)
US space agency NASA and SpaceX on Tuesday pushed back by 24 hours the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket that is to carry four astronauts to the International Space Station.
NASA's Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, Russia's Andrey Fedyaev and Sultan al-Neyadi of the United Arab Emirates had been scheduled to blast off for the ISS at 2:07 am (0707 GMT) Sunday.
Liftoff of the SpaceX Dragon Crew-6 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida has now been rescheduled for 1:45 am Monday, NASA officials said.
Shaping the future of space telecommunications
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ESA is inviting everyone working on space-enabled telecommunications – whether they are based in a large firm, a small start-up company or an established research institution – to help shape the future by joining a conference.
Lockheed Martin gets $1BN contract for sea-based hypersonic strike capability
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Low power Ka-band transmitters on Earth observation satellites
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New transmitter design for small satellite constellations improves signal transmission
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