Copernical Team
Astronaut crew returning to Earth after six months on ISS
NASA's Crew-3 mission was returning home to Earth on Thursday after six months aboard the International Space Station.
The SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft with NASA astronauts Kayla Barron, Raja Chari, and Tom Marshburn, as well as European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer undocked from the orbital laboratory overnight.
Their 23.5 hour journey back should see them splash down off the coast of Florida at 12:43 am on Friday (0443 GMT).
They leave behind the one Italian and three American astronauts of Crew-4, and three Russian cosmonauts.
NASA's Psyche spacecraft starts processing at Kennedy Space Center
Bound for an asteroid of the same name, the orbiter is undergoing final preparations for its August launch.
Since its arrival on April 29, the Psyche spacecraft has moved into the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where technicians removed it from its protective shipping container, rotated it to vertical, and have begun the final steps to prepare the spacecraft for launch. In the coming months, crews will perform a range of work including reinstalling solar arrays, reintegrating a radio, testing the telecommunications system, loading propellants, and encapsulating the spacecraft inside payload fairings before it leaves the facility and moves to the launch pad.
Lunar soil has the potential to generate oxygen and fuel
Soil on the moon contains active compounds that can convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and fuels, scientists in China report May 5 in the journal Joule. They are now exploring whether lunar resources can be used to facilitate human exploration on the moon or beyond.
Nanjing University material scientists Yingfang Yao and Zhigang Zou hope to design a system that takes advantage of lunar soil and solar radiation, the two most abundant resources on the moon. After analyzing the lunar soil brought back by China's Chang'e 5 spacecraft, their team found the sample contains compounds—including iron-rich and titanium-rich substances—that could work as a catalyst to make desired products such as oxygen using sunlight and carbon dioxide.
Based on the observation, the team proposed an "extraterrestrial photosynthesis" strategy. Mainly, the system uses lunar soil to electrolyze water extracted from the moon and in astronauts' breathing exhaust into oxygen and hydrogen powered by sunlight.
NASA to Discuss Webb Telescope Alignment, Instrument Setup
NASA will hold a media teleconference at 11 a.m. EDT on Monday, May 9, to discuss progress toward preparing the James Webb Space Telescope for science operations. 'Spot the difference' to help reveal Rosetta image secrets
Today, ESA and the Zooniverse launch Rosetta Zoo, a citizen science project that invites volunteers to engage in a cosmic game of 'spot the difference'. By browsing through pictures collected by ESA's Rosetta mission, you can help scientists figure out how a comet's surface evolves as it swings around the Sun.
New study reveals the effect of extended space flight on astronauts' brains
Long-duration space flight alters fluid-filled spaces along veins and arteries in the brain, according to new research from Oregon Health & Science University and scientists across the country.
The study published today in the journal Scientific Reports.
"These findings have important implications as we continue space exploration," said senior author Juan Piantino, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics (neurology) in the OHSU School of Medicine. "It also forces you to think about some basic fundamental questions of science and how life evolved here on Earth."
The research involved imaging the brains of 15 astronauts before and after extended tours of duty on the International Space Station.
Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to measure perivascular space—or the space around blood vessels—in the brains of astronauts prior to their launch and again immediately after their return. They also took MRI measurements again at one, three and six months after they had returned. Astronauts' images were compared with those taken of the same perivascular space in the brains of 16 Earth-bound control subjects.
Comparing before and after images, they found an increase in the perivascular spaces within the brains of first-time astronauts, but no difference among astronauts who previously served aboard the space station orbiting earth.
BRICS to use big data to achieve sustainable development goals
The Chinese Academy of Sciences will enhance dialogue and collaboration with peers from BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - to use big data as a tool to achieve sustainable development, scientists said during the BRICS Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development, which began on Tuesday.
Entrusted by CAS President Hou Jianguo, Zhang Yaping, vice-president of NASA's EMIT will map tiny dust particles to study big climate impacts
Blown by wind across continents and oceans, dust does more than make skies hazy, congest lungs, and leave a film on windshields. Also known as mineral dust or desert dust, it can influence weather, hasten snowmelt, and fertilize plants on land and in the ocean. Particles from North Africa can travel thousands of miles around the globe, sparking phytoplankton blooms, seeding Amazonian rainforests Kacific launches all-in-one CommsBox for disaster relief
Kacific Broadband Satellites Group is launching an innovative emergency connectivity solution, CommsBox, designed to provide broadband service in emergency or disaster zones rapidly.
Kacific CommsBox is a transportable, all-in-one satellite communications product that can be rapidly deployed in disaster zones when other communication channels fail. The turnkey solution is designed to meet All the science in half the time: Sols 3464-3465
We have cleared the "Greenheugh pediment" and the mix of sandy, steep, and rough terrain that challenged our drives up and down it. However, we are finding that as we make our way up Mount Sharp along a new route, some of the same driving gremlins are with us.
Yesterday's drive made it just about all the way to its endpoint, but Curiosity encountered higher than expected tilts as she attem 
