Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 27, 2021
After a successful test run in May, a NASA campaign is deploying aircraft, a research vessel and several kinds of autonomous ocean robots to study small ocean whirlpools, eddies and currents. Using instruments at sea and in the sky, the Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE) team aims to understand the role these ocean processes play in vertical transport, the movement of heat, nutrien

Washington DC (UPI) Oct 27, 2021
Verizon announced on Tuesday that it will use a satellite communications system that's being put together by Amazon to expand broadband Internet access to rural areas of the United States. In announcing the partnership, the companies said the plan is intended to bring access to unserved and underserved U.S. communities. Amazon is planning to send more than 3,200 satellites into orbit

West Lafayette IN (SPX) Oct 27, 2021
Much of the space junk orbiting Earth won't clean up itself - or tell you how it got there. Purdue University's Carolin Frueh and her team are investigating what causes spacecraft to become space junk. Their findings are revealing ways to prevent spacecraft from breaking apart into thousands of pieces of debris that pose a threat to space stations and satellites. Since 1957, there have bee

London, UK (SPX) Oct 27, 2021
From developing our space tracking capabilities and promoting international efforts in space sustainability, to finding novel ways of removing space debris - the UK is leading the way to ensure the Earth's orbit can continue to be used now and in the future. Orbital congestion and space debris remains one of the biggest global challenges facing the space sector. There are currently an esti

Beijing (XNA) Oct 27, 2021
China successfully launched a new satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province Sunday. The satellite, Shijian-21, was launched at 9:27 a.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-3B carrier rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully. The satellite will be mainly used to test and verify space debris mitigation technologies. This launch

Troy NY (SPX) Oct 27, 2021
Inspired by a concept for discovering exoplanets with a giant space telescope, a team of researchers is developing holographic lenses that render visible and infrared starlight into either a focused image or a spectrum. The experimental method, detailed in an article appearing in Nature Scientific Reports, could be used to create a lightweight flexible lens, many meters in diameter, that could b

Washington DC (Sputnik) Oct 27, 2021
Elon Musk's SpaceX company has upgraded the toilet system on the Crew Dragon spacecraft after running into several problems during previous launches, media reported. "For Crew-3, we've fixed this problem in the tank by essentially making it an all-welded structure with no longer a joint in there that can come unglued and become disconnected", the Spaceflight.now portal quoted Gerstenmaier

Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 27, 2021
NASA's Cold Atom Lab is a first-of-its-kind physics laboratory operating in Earth orbit. About the size of a mini-fridge, it hosts multiple experiments that explore the fundamental nature of atoms by cooling them down to nearly absolute zero (the coldest temperature matter can reach). The ultracold atoms provide a window into the quantum realm, where matter exhibits strange behaviors that underp

Dubai UAE (SPX) Oct 27, 2021
In a contex of increased momentum around space exploration, Airbus Defence and Space, Air Liquide and ispace Europe have announced the joint creation of EURO2MOON. This non-profit organisation will be dedicated to promoting a better use of lunar natural resources, while accelerating the cis-lunar economy and federating industrial efforts across Europe. Bringing in complementary exper

Houston TX (SPX) Oct 27, 2021
NASA's SpaceX Crew-3 mission is set to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon on Sunday, Oct. 31. The mission includes three NASA astronauts - mission Commander Raja Chari, Pilot Tom Marshburn, and Mission Specialist Kayla Barron - as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer, who will also serve as a mission specialist. Ab