Munich, Germany (SPX) Oct 17, 2022
Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), astronomers have discovered the heaviest element ever found in an exoplanet atmosphere - barium. They were surprised to discover barium at high altitudes in the atmospheres of the ultra-hot gas giants WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b - two exoplanets, planets which orbit stars outside our Solar System. This unexpected discovery

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 17, 2022
Using computer simulations, scientists based at NASA have pieced together the story of how the dwarf planet Haumea, found in the Kuiper Belt of icy worlds beyond the orbit of outermost planet Neptune, became one of the most unusual objects in the solar system. Nearly the size of Pluto, Haumea is strange in several ways. It spins faster, by far, than anything else of its size, whirling on i

Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 17, 2022
You stand in Jezero crater, Mars, at a minute to midnight. By the light of the stars and Mars's two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, you can just make out the shape of the looming delta. Nothing moves; the wind tonight is too low to even push a sand grain over. All is peaceful and quiet. Then, out of nowhere, comes an alien, mechanical whirring noise... and a misshapen head rises up out of the dar

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 17, 2022
NASA's first asteroid sample return spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx, fired its thrusters for 30 seconds on Sept. 21 and nudged its trajectory toward Earth. The resulting course correction keeps the vehicle on track to deliver a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023, completing a seven-year mission. The delivery itself, however, is not a simple parcel drop on Earth's front doorstep: NA

Washington DC (SPX) Oct 17, 2022
NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts aboard the Dragon spacecraft safely splashed down Friday off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, completing the agency's fourth commercial crew mission to the International Space Station. The international crew of four spent 170 days in orbit. NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, and Jessica Watkins and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cr

Washington (AFP) Oct 14, 2022
Elon Musk said Friday that SpaceX would not be able to pay for Starlink satellite internet in Ukraine indefinitely, while the US military confirmed it was communicating with the billionaire's company about funding for the key network. The discussions come as Musk has been embroiled in public spats with Ukrainian leaders who were angered by his controversial plan for de-escalating the conflic

Washington DC (UPI) Oct 14, 2021
The International Space Station Crew-4 returned to Earth on Friday in the Dragon Freedom capsule after almost six months in space, landing off the coast of Florida. Splashdown occurred at 4:55 p.m. EDT after NASA and Space X mission controllers canceled the attempt Thursday due to weather concerns in the recovery area off Jacksonville. The descent took about five hours, aided at

Daytona Beach FL (SPX) Oct 17, 2022
What if vehicles could be assembled in space without human supervision? What if autonomous spacecraft could conduct routine maintenance and inspections on satellites, while flying in orbit around the Earth? Dr. Hever Moncayo, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University associate professor of Aerospace Engineering, believes all of this is possible, and he's helping push the technology that will ac

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 17, 2022
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has been selected by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to supply solar panels that will power NASA's shoe-box-sized mobile robots as part of the Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Explorers (CADRE) program. The solar panels will use Rocket Lab's inverted metamorphic multi-junction (IMM) solar cells that are more efficient and lighter weight