Copernical Team
Could we really deflect an asteroid heading for Earth? An expert explains NASA's latest DART mission
A NASA spacecraft the size of a golf cart has been directed to smash into an asteroid, with the intention of knocking it slightly off course. The test aims to demonstrate our technological readiness in case an actual asteroid threat is detected in the future.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) lifted off aboard a SpaceX rocket from California on November 23, and will arrive at the target asteroid system in September, next year.
The mission will travel to the asteroid Didymos, a member of the Amor group of asteroids.
Earth from Space: Kainji Lake
Kainji Lake, a reservoir on the Niger River in western Nigeria, is featured in this true-colour image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.
ESA helps Greece to boost its space investments
Ambitious plans to expand the nascent space industry in Greece – enabling the digital transformation of society while creating jobs and generating prosperity – have received a fillip from ESA.
ISRO rife with speculation about human space mission centre, IN-SPACe shift
With speculations and rumours abounding on shifting of its human space mission centre and the headquarters of private sector space regulator Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), officials of the Indian space agency are worried lot. Serving and retired senior officials of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), speaking on the condition of anonymity, told
FCC Validates SES Phase I Accelerated C-band Clearing and Relocation Certification
SES, the leader in global content connectivity solutions, announces the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has validated the certification of SES's Phase I accelerated C-band clearing and relocation activities, a critical step to help meet the Commission's objectives to quickly roll out 5G services across the United States. With the help of trusted partners across the U.S., SES h
Orbital harmony limits late arrival of water on TRAPPIST-1 planets
Seven Earth-sized planets orbit the star TRAPPIST-1 in near-perfect harmony, and U.S. and European researchers have used that harmony to determine how much physical abuse the planets could have withstood in their infancy. "After rocky planets form, things bash into them," said astrophysicist Sean Raymond of the University of Bordeaux in France. "It's called bombardment, or late accretion,
New opportunities to study ions in space
Comets have an environment of plasma which contains a large number of ions with low energies. It is necessary to understand these low-energy ions' properties in order to understand the physical processes occurring around the comet. As low-energy ions are difficult to measure Sofia Bergman devised a new method to analyze measurements of these ions around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in h
For the curious there's always room for seconds
As we head into a long weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, Curiosity will take advantage of some extra time at the Zechstein drill location to conduct even more science. The team has been busy these past two days planning 6 sols (plus a soliday) on Mars, which will give the rover plenty of work to do while the team takes a break from planning later this week. While most of us w
Rocket Lab Announces Neutron Development Update to be Provided on December 2, 2021
Rocket Lab USA will provide the first major update on the development of the Neutron launch vehicle on December 2, 2021 at 8:00 am EST. The virtual event will be streamed live via Rocket Lab's YouTube channel, which can be accessed at that time at https://youtu.be/A0thW57QeDM. Join Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck as he reveals new details about Neutron's unique design, materials, pro
Rocket industrial park put into operation in Wuhan
The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited (CASIC) said that it completed the construction of an intelligent satellite production line and a rocket industrial park in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. Located in the Wuhan National Aerospace Industry Base, both the production line and the industrial park went into operation, said Liu Shiquan, general manager of the CASIC.