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School is also back in session for ESA astronaut Andrea Mogensen (right) and NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins. Together with European Astronaut Centre engineer Robin Eccleston (far left), the trio are taking part in this year’s Pangaea field training campaign to become better field scientists.

With all eyes set on the Moon, the three-week campaign has increasingly focussed on lunar geology. Now in its fourth edition, the course kicked off this week with background lessons by top planetary scientists on identifying rock samples of interest for exploration.

In this image Andreas and his fellow students use a microscope to analyse samples.  

Later,

Beijing (XNA) Sep 09, 2021
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has developed a satellite for pursuing sustainable development. The satellite, SDGSAT-1, has already passed the round-the-clock and multi-load coordinated observation. It is expected to provide advanced, open and shared data resources for monitoring and evaluating the sustainable development index representing the interaction between human and nature.

Warwick UK (SPX) Sep 09, 2021
New ways of tackling the threat that space junk in our skies poses are being explored by University of Warwick scientists, as they pioneer new research that could help the UK fulfil its ambition to become a responsible spacefaring nation. Scientists at a new Centre for Space Domain Awareness are to focus attention on threats to the technology filling the skies above our heads in anticipati

Harwell UK (SPX) Sep 09, 2021
The UK branch of D-Orbit signed a euro 2,197M contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for phase 1 of the development and in-orbit demonstration of a "Deorbit Kit" as part of ESA's Space Safety Programme (S2P). The decommissioning kit proposed by D-Orbit is a self-contained suite of equipment that can be tailored to space vehicles of any size to enable them to perform a propulsive de

Charlottesville VA (SPX) Sep 09, 2021
new set of receivers installed on antennas at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have achieved first light. With it, they set a new record for the longest wavelengths visible with the radio array. The achievement has opened a window on the Universe previously inaccessible at the telescope, thanks to an international team of engineers, including engineers from the National Ra

Geneva, Switzerland (SPX) Sep 09, 2021
In order to better understand the history and evolution of the Milky Way, astronomers are studying the composition of the gases and metals that make up an important part of our galaxy. Three main elements stand out: the initial gas coming from outside our galaxy, the gas between the stars inside our galaxy - enriched with chemical elements -, and the dust created by the condensation of the metal

Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Sep 09, 2021
The Earth's global climate system fluctuates in 11-year and 3, 5-year cycles find Yizhak Feliks, Justin Small and Michael Ghil. The study was published in Climate Dynamics on July 15th. The 11-year near-periodicity recalls that of the solar cycle, which climate-sceptics for decades have argued plays a major role in global warming. But the fluctuations between the Earth's climate system and

Tucson AZ(SPX) Sep 09, 2021
With scientists beginning to more seriously consider constructing bases on celestial bodies such as the moon, the idea of space mining is growing in popularity. After all, if someone from Los Angeles was moving to New York to build a house, it would be a lot easier to buy the building materials in New York rather than buy them in Los Angeles and lug them 2,800 miles. Considering the distan

London, UK (SPX) Sep 09, 2021
On 16 August, Exotrail signed a contract with US-based aerospace company YORK SPACE SYSTEMS for the delivery of one ExoMGTM - cluster2, a product configuration from Exotrail high thrust and flexible electric propulsion product family, for delivery by Q2 2022. ExoMGTM - cluster2 system will be integrated onboard YORK SPACE SYSTEMS S-Class platform for a satellite mission aiming to orbit the

Tempe AZ (SPX) Sep 09, 2021
By all appearances, the universe beyond Earth is a vast, lonely, and sterile space. Yet, wherever humans may travel, an abundance of microbial life will follow. In a first study of its kind, lead author Jiseon Yang at the Arizona State University Biodesign Institute, Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics, and her colleagues characterized different bacterial populations isolated o