Paris (AFP) Nov 23, 2022
The European Space Agency named five new career astronauts Wednesday, as well as the world's first recruit with a disability and 11 other reserve astronauts who will have to wait for their chance to go to space. - Sophie Adenot - The 40-year-old French engineer has flown 3,000 flight hours as a helicopter test pilot. Her masters at MIT in the United States included work on how to des

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Nov 24, 2022
An international team of astronomers have turned a new technique onto a group of galaxies and the faint light between them - known as 'intra-group light' - to characterise the stars that dwell there. Lead author of the study published in MNRAS, Dr Cristina Martinez-Lombilla from the School of Physics at UNSW Science, said "We know almost nothing about intra-group light. "The brightes

Chicago IL (SPX) Nov 24, 2022
For centuries, no one knew if we were alone in the universe-or if there were even other planets like ours. But thanks to new telescopes and methods in the past decades, we now know there are thousands and thousands of planets out there circling faraway stars, and they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes-large and small, rocky and gaseous, cloudy or icy or wet. A study by scientists

Houston TX (SPX) Nov 24, 2022
On the eighth day of its mission, Orion continues to travel farther away from the Moon as it prepares to enter a distant retrograde orbit. The orbit is "distant" in the sense that it's at a high altitude from the surface of the Moon, and it's "retrograde" because Orion will travel around the Moon opposite the direction the Moon travels around Earth. Orion exited the gravitational sphere of

Umea, Sweden (SPX) Nov 24, 2022
In a new thesis from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and Umea University, unique methods for the analysis of radar data and simulations of meteoroids in the solar system are presented. The methods have been applied to confirm the existence of rare high-altitude meteors as well as to measure space debris from the Kosmos-1408 satellite. On November 25, Daniel Kastinen defends his doctoral t

Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 24, 2022
From the image Perseverance recently took at Yori Pass, we can see that there are gray rocks scattered on top of a tan colored rock surface below. What do these different colors tell us? As planetary geologists, our job is to figure out through physical and chemical observations the story that these rocks tell us about Yori Pass and its place within the delta in Jezero Crater. Color is one of th

Paris (ESA) Nov 24, 2022
The European Service Module is powering Orion around the Moon and back, providing propulsion, temperature control, electricity as well as storage and delivery for essential supplies such as fuel, water and air. This first Artemis mission is an uncrewed test mission, putting the spacecraft through its paces preparing to send astronauts forward to the Moon. After liftoff at 07:47 CET (06:47

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 24, 2022
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has been selected by NASA to launch the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission, as part of the agency's Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract. Rocket Lab will launch the TROPICS mission, which is part of NASA's Earth Syste

Washington DC (UPI) Nov 23, 2021
A SpaceX rocket carrying a communications satellite blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Tuesday night on a mission that will allow improved internet connectivity for passengers aboard ships and planes. The Eutelsat-10B satellite lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 atop the Falcon 9 rocket at 9:57 p.m. before assuming a super synchronous geostationary transfer orbit around the Ear

London (AFP) Nov 23, 2022
John McFall, who has become the first astronaut recruit with a disability, is a British doctor and former Paralympian who lost a leg in a motorbike accident. The 41-year-old has been selected by the European Space Agency for a special "parastronaut" programme and is set begin training early next year. Born in Frimley in southern England, McFall had his right leg amputated aged 19, which