Washington DC (SPX) Apr 22, 2022
On April 18, NASA decided to move forward with plans to complete the deployment of the Lucy spacecraft's stalled, unlatched solar array. The spacecraft is powered by two large arrays of solar cells that were designed to unfold and latch into place after launch. One of the fan-like arrays opened as planned, but the other stopped just short of completing this operation. Through a combination

Plainsboro NJ (SPX) Apr 22, 2022
A puzzling process called magnetic reconnection triggers explosive phenomena throughout the universe, creating solar flares and space storms that can take down mobile phone service and electrical power grids. Now scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have detailed a roadmap for untangling a key aspect of this puzzle that could deepen insig

Kirtland AFB NM (AFRL) Apr 22, 2022
In honor of Earth Day, the Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, is highlighting its efforts toward harnessing the Sun's energy, converting it to radio frequency, or RF, and beaming it to the Earth providing a green power source for the U.S. and allied forces. Key technologies need to be developed to make such a challenging process a reality. In response to this challenge, AFRL for

This year’s ESA/JRC International Summer School on Global Navigation Satellite Systems will take place in July, at Kraków in the South of Poland.

Week in images: 18-22 April 2022

Discover our week through the lens

Cambridge MA (SPX) Apr 21, 2022
In some of the most crowded parts of the universe, black holes may be tearing apart thousands of stars and using their remains to pack on weight. This discovery, made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, could help answer key questions about an elusive class of black holes. While astronomers have previously found many examples of black holes tearing stars apart, little evidence has been

Leiden, Netherlands (SPX) Apr 22, 2022
Mercury harbors water ice in the shadows of the steepest craters around its poles. But it is unclear how those water molecules ended up on Mercury. Now a new simulation shows that incoming minor bodies such as asteroids, comets and dust particles carry enough water to account for all the ice sheets present. The study could form the basis for new research on water in exoplanetary systems. Publica

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Apr 22, 2022
Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL), a leading provider of daily data and insights about Earth, has announced that Planet's PlanetScope and SkySat data have joined the European Space Agency (ESA) Third Party Missions portfolio, enabling ESA to utilize Planet data for scientific, research, and pre-operational Earth Observation based applications development. Through distribution under the ESA Earthnet Pro

Westminster CO (SPX) Apr 22, 2022
Maxar Technologies (NYSE:MAXR) has announced a strategic investment in Blackshark.ai, a leading provider of AI-powered geospatial analytics services. The partnership represents Maxar's commitment to innovation within its 3D Earth Intelligence product portfolio. The Blackshark.ai platform processes petabytes of satellite imagery in hours, and it detects and segments objects, roads, vegetati

Beijing (XNA) Apr 21, 2022
China's cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-3 separated from the country's space station core module Tianhe and redocked with the module on Wednesday. Tianzhou-3 detached from the rear docking port of Tianhe at 5:02 a.m. (Beijing Time), moved to the module's front port and completed a computer-orchestrated rendezvous and docking at 9:06 a.m., according to the China Manned Space Agency. It also