Stuttgart, Germany (SPX) Apr 14, 2022
Johannes Kepler Observatory - this will be the name of the new research observatory of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR). Work is currently underway to put the facility into operation at the Empfingen Innovation Campus. The observatory is a core research facility for the DLR Institute of Technical Physics. In future, it will be used to determine the tra

Paris (ESA) Apr 14, 2022
With help from a cryocooler, Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument has dropped down to just a few degrees above the lowest temperature matter can reach and is ready for calibration. The James Webb Space Telescope will see the first galaxies to form after the Big Bang, but to do that its instruments first need to get cold - really cold. On 7 April, Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) - a joint d

Baltimore MD (SPX) Apr 14, 2022
Astronomers have identified a rapidly growing black hole in the early universe that is considered a crucial "missing link" between young star-forming galaxies and the first supermassive black holes. They used data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to make this discovery. Until now, the monster, nicknamed GNz7q, had been lurking unnoticed in one of the best-studied areas of the night sky,

Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Apr 14, 2022
An international effort led by astrophysicists at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, and the Technical University of Denmark, have identified a distant object with properties that lie in-between those of a galaxy and those of a so-called quasar. The object can be seen as the ancestor of a supermassive black hole, and it was born relatively soon after the Big Bang. Simulations ha

Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 14, 2022
Drilling is on hold while the rover focuses on driving, so the sampling team is off studying the data we have acquired so far. What kind of information do we get from the drill, and how do the rocks we have drilled so far compare to each other? One of the first things we look at is how difficult it was for the drill to make progress through the rock. The rover has a rotary percussive drill

Houston TX (SPX) Apr 14, 2022
Have you ever felt off-balance after being on amusement rides or gotten motion sickness on a boat? Astronauts feel something similar that can be more intense when they return to Earth from space. Once they land, their whole body - including muscles, bones, inner ear, and organs - starts readjusting to Earth's gravity. Astronauts often report feeling dizzy, lightheaded, nauseated, and off-b

Washington DC (SPX) Apr 14, 2022
NASA will provide coverage of spacewalks Monday, April 18, and Thursday, April 28, as Russian cosmonauts venture outside the International Space Station to activate a new robotic arm attached to the Nauka module. Coverage for both spacewalks will begin at 10 a.m. EDT each day on NASA Television, the NASA app, and agency's website. Each spacewalk is scheduled to begin around 10:25 a.m.

Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Apr 14, 2022
When astronauts leave their crew quarters at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for their lunar mission, NASA's Artemis II crew will ride in a new set of wheels: A fleet of shiny crew transportation vehicles provided by Canoo Technologies Inc., will take them to Launch Pad 39B for their historic ride aboard the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The fleet will consist of

Alameda CA (SPX) Apr 14, 2022
Astra Space, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASTR) and LeoStella LLC ("LeoStella") has announced a contract for Astra to provide multiple Astra Spacecraft Engines for LeoStella satellites. Astra is expected to begin delivering the propulsion systems later this year and into 2023. LeoStella designs and manufactures operational satellites cost effectively and at scale. Astra's Spacecraft Engine has demonstrat

Paris (AFP) April 14, 2022
The European Space Agency on Wednesday ended cooperation with Russia on three missions to the Moon due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, following a previous decision to do the same for a Mars mission. The ESA said it would "discontinue cooperative activities" on Luna-25, 26 and 27, a series of Russian lunar missions on which the European agency had aimed to test new equipment and technology.