Copernical Team
Want to explore Neptune? Use Triton's atmosphere to put on the brakes
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Aerobraking is commonly used to slow down spacecraft when they arrive at various planetary systems. It requires a spacecraft to dip into the atmosphere of a celestial body in the planetary system, such as a moon or the planet itself, and use the resistance from that atmosphere to shed some of its velocity. That slow-down would then allow it to enter an orbit in the planetary system without carrying the extra fuel required to do the maneuvers through powered flight, thereby saving weight on the mission and reducing its cost.
Unfortunately, saying the orbital dynamics of such a maneuver are complicated is an understatement. But ultimately, for any aerobraking to be viable, someone has to do the math. And that's just what Jakob Brisby and Jame Lyne, a graduate student and professor at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, did for some of the least visited planetary systems in the solar system—Neptune.
'Ring of fire' solar eclipse will slice across Americas on Saturday with millions along path
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NASA's Roman mission gears up for a torrent of future data
Webb captures an ethereal view of NGC 346
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Image:
NGC 346 (MIRI image) Measuring nutrition in crops from space
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With many people around the world suffering from various forms of malnutrition it’s important that the absolute basics such as rice, soya and wheat are as nourishing as possible. ESA-funded research shows that the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission and the Italian Prisma mission could be used to monitor the nutritional content of staple crops. This could, for example, help farmers take appropriate steps to boost the quality of their crops as they grow.
France's Arianespace launches 12 satellites into space
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The French-based Arianespace successfully launched a rocket with 12 satellites into space.
Arianespace's 100-foot-tall Vega rocket took off from Kourou, French Guiana on Sunday and deployed the satellites into space about one hour later in the rocket's first mission of 2023.
The European Space Agency said the package of satellites included an Earth-observing THEOS-2 satellite and Plot thickens in hunt for ninth planet
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A pair of theoretical physicists are reporting that the same observations inspiring the hunt for a ninth planet might instead be evidence within the solar system of a modified law of gravity originally developed to understand the rotation of galaxies.
Researchers Harsh Mathur, a professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University, and Katherine Brown, an associate professor of physics Bumping to a Better Position: Sols 3973-3974
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Earth planning date: Monday, October 9, 2023: After the drive this weekend, Curiosity has arrived at another light-toned band that we hope to evaluate for drilling before solar conjunction begins next month. We have some light-toned, slightly nodular rocks in our workspace serving as potential drill target candidates.
The goal today at the start of planning was to do contact science with A Boom, crackle, pop: Sounds of Earth's crust
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If you could sink through the Earth's crust, you might hear, with a carefully tuned ear, a cacophany of booms and crackles along the way. The fissures, pores, and defects running through rocks are like strings that resonate when pressed and stressed. And as a team of MIT geologists has found, the rhythm and pace of these sounds can tell you something about the depth and strength of the rocks aro Surrey Satellite joins forces with the Air and Space Institute
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Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) is delighted to announce a partnership with centre of excellence and training provider, The Air and Space Institute. SSTL's Head of Customer Training Stu Jones is pictured (right) with ASI's Assistant Principle Ross Tarnowski (left), visiting ASI's soon to be completed dedicated Aerospace building in Newark, Notts.
By joining forces with ASI, SSTL 
