Copernical Team
NASA, USGS map minerals to understand Earth makeup, climate change
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NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will map portions of the southwest United States for critical minerals using advanced airborne imaging. Hyperspectral data from hundreds of wavelengths of reflected light can provide new information about Earth's surface and atmosphere to help scientists understand Earth's geology and biology, as well as the effects of climate change.
The resear Broccoli gas: A better way to find life in space
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Broccoli, along with many other plants and microorganisms, emit gases to help them expel toxins. Scientists believe these gases could provide compelling evidence of life on other planets.
These types of gases are made when organisms add a carbon and three hydrogen atoms to an undesirable chemical element. This process, called methylation, can turn potential toxins into gases that float saf Amazon's Project Kuiper will now launch with ULA rockets
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Amazon announced on Wednesday that Project Kuiper will launch prototype satellites on the first flight of United Launch Alliance's (ULA) new Vulcan Centaur rocket in 2023.
The goal of Project Kuiper is to launch a series of 3,236 satellites into low earth orbit to provide broadband access to areas of the globe that lack high-speed internet.
"We couldn't be more excited to join th Earth from Space: Mississippi River
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Mississippi River, one of the longest rivers in North America, is featured in this multi-temporal radar image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission.
Nano-material diet means safer, slimmer satellites
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A miniscule special ingredient blended with satellite materials could lead to significant mass savings for future missions. An ESA project with Adamant Composites in Greece tested how the addition of graphene – microscopic flakes of carbon just a single atom thick, combining robust strength with electrical conductivity – plus other nano-sized materials has the potential to optimise a satellite’s thermal and electrical properties.
Seeing how a spacecraft dies
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Seeing how a spacecraft dies
NASA's Lucy spacecraft prepares to swing by Earth
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On Oct. 16, at 7:04 a.m. EDT, NASA's Lucy spacecraft, the first mission to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, will skim the Earth's atmosphere, passing a mere 220 miles (350 kilometers) above the surface. By swinging past Earth on the first anniversary of its launch, Lucy will gain some of the orbital energy it needs to travel to this never-before-visited population of asteroids.
The Trojan asteroids are trapped in orbits around the sun at the same distance as Jupiter, either far ahead of or behind the giant planet. Lucy is currently one year into a twelve-year voyage. This gravity assist will place Lucy on a new trajectory for a two-year orbit, at which time it will return to Earth for a second gravity assist. This second assist will give Lucy the energy it needs to cross the main asteroid belt, where it will observe asteroid Donaldjohanson, and then travel into the leading Trojan asteroid swarm.
#MeToo in space: We must address the potential for sexual harassment and assault away from Earth
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A new dawn of space exploration is upon us. NASA aims to land the first woman and person of color on the moon by the end of 2025, and send a crew on a year-and-a-half long mission to Mars in the 2030s.
To ensure a safe and pleasurable journey to the final frontier, national agencies such as NASA and private companies such as SpaceX must address both the technical and human factors associated with working and living in space. Yet, the realities of sexuality and intimacy in space are mostly omitted.
How will people be able to live for prolonged periods of time in the isolated, confined and extreme conditions of spacecrafts and other planets? How will people navigate falling in love, having sex and beginning and ending relationships under such conditions? How will people deal with the stress, limited choice of intimate partners and issues related to consent? And how will sexual harassment or assault be prevented or addressed?
US opts to not rebuild renowned Puerto Rico telescope
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The National Science Foundation announced Thursday that it will not rebuild a renowned radio telescope in Puerto Rico, which was one of the world's largest until it collapsed nearly two years ago.
Protecting Mars Sample Return spacecraft from micrometeorites requires high-caliber work
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Micrometeorites are a potential hazard for any space mission, including NASA's Mars Sample Return. The tiny rocks can travel up to 50 miles per second. At these speeds, "even dust could cause damage to a spacecraft," said Bruno Sarli, a NASA engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Sarli leads a team designing shields to protect NASA's Mars Earth Entry System from micrometeorites and space debris. Recently, he traveled to a NASA lab designed to safely re-create dangerous impacts to test the team's shields and computer models.
Set far away from residents and surrounded by dunes, the Remote Hypervelocity Test Laboratory at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, has supported every human spaceflight program from the Space Shuttle to Artemis. The lab also supports testing for the International Space Station, Commercial Crew, and Commercial Resupply programs.
The lab uses two-stage light gas guns to accelerate objects to speeds that simulate micrometeorite and orbital debris impacts on spacecraft shielding. The first stage uses gun powder as a propellent the way a standard gun does.
