Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 05, 2024
Muon Space, a leader in space systems, today unveiled Muon Halo, a comprehensive solution designed to enhance the deployment and performance of low Earth orbit (LEO) small satellite constellations. This integrated hardware and software suite aims to streamline mission processes, from design to operation, ensuring quicker launches and improved functionality in space. The company also disclo

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Apr 05, 2024
In a significant step towards enhancing global IoT connectivity and Earth Observation, D-Orbit has sealed a launch agreement with Turkish New Space pioneer, Plan-S. The partnership entails the deployment of eight 6U satellites across two missions scheduled between late 2024 and early 2025, utilizing D-Orbit's ION Satellite Carrier for effective constellation placement. Matteo Lorenzoni, D-

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 05, 2024
In a significant event set for April 8, 2024, NASA will deploy three Black Brant IX sounding rockets from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to investigate the influence of solar eclipses on the upper atmosphere. The APEP mission seeks to examine the atmospheric response to the transient absence of sunlight. Launches are timed at 2:40 p.m., 3:20 p.m., and 4:05 p.m. EDT, coinciding with stag

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 05, 2024
by Lauren Biron for Berkeley News Berkeley CA (SPX) Apr 05, 2024 A revolutionary view into the cosmos is now possible thanks to the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) and its array of 5,000 robotic observers perched atop a mountaintop telescope. These robotic eyes have made it possible to gaze 11 billion years back in time, offering unprecedented insights into the universe's early day

Boulder CO (SPX) Apr 05, 2024
New Horizons is healthy and speeding across the Kuiper Belt, nearing a distance of 60 times as far from the Sun as Earth is! The spacecraft continues to collect round-the-clock data on our Sun's cocoon in the galaxy, called the heliosphere, and transmit that data, as well as the final data from our flyby of Kuiper Belt object (KBO) Arrokoth, back to Earth. Since I last wrote in this

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 05, 2024
Marking a significant milestone, NASA's NEOWISE mission has unveiled its tenth year of data collection, showcasing an ongoing infrared survey that sheds light on the dynamic changes of celestial bodies over extended periods. This survey, pivotal in the realm of time-domain astronomy, aids in observing the fluctuation in brightness of distant stars and the activities of remote black holes. Specif

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 05, 2024
After months of receiving gibberish data from Voyager 1, NASA engineers have isolated the problem to a corrupted memory segment in the spacecraft's computer. The anomaly, affecting the flight data subsystem (FDS)-integral for preparing the spacecraft's science and engineering data for Earth transmission-has hindered readable data transmissions since November last year. In a diagnostic move

 

For the first time, potential signs of the rainbow-like ‘glory effect’ have been detected on a planet outside our Solar System. Glory are colourful concentric rings of light that occur only under peculiar conditions.

 

Data from ESA’s sensitive Characterising ExOplanet Satellite, Cheops, along with several other ESA and NASA missions, suggest this delicate phenomenon is beaming straight at Earth from the hellish atmosphere of ultra-hot gas giant WASP-76b, 637 light-years away.

 

Seen often on Earth, the effect has only been found once on another planet, Venus. If confirmed, this first extrasolar glory will reveal

Video: 00:29:37

Pablo Álvarez Fernández, one of ESA's five astronaut candidates currently undergoing basic astronaut training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, shares his experiences in astronaut training, his favourite lessons, and his view on the future of space exploration. Also, stay tuned to hear his favourite space-related quote and movie!

This is Episode 5 of our ESA Explores podcast series introducing the ESA astronaut class of 2022, recorded in November 2023.

Music and audio editing by Denzel Lorge. Cover art by Gaël Nadaud.

Access all ESA Explores podcasts.

Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image features part of Victoria, a state in southeast Australia.