Copernical Team
New crew on the block
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ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen with his Crew-7 colleagues on arrival at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, 20 August. Landslides at the foot of Olympus Mons
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ESA’s Mars Express has turned its trusty High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) towards Mars’s most imposing volcano, revealing its dramatic surroundings and turbulent past.
India's historic cut-price Moon mission set for touchdown
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India readied Wednesday to become the first nation to land a spacecraft on the Moon's south pole, days after a Russian probe crashed in the same region.
The latest attempted Moon landing is a historic moment for the world's most populous nation, as it rapidly closes in on milestones set by global space powers.
Chandrayaan-3, which means "Mooncraft" in Sanskrit, is scheduled to touch down shortly after 6:00 pm India time (1230 GMT) near the little-explored lunar south pole.
"India reaches for the Moon", The Times of India front-page headline read Wednesday, with the hoped-for lunar landing dominating local news. "It's D-Day for Moon Mission", The Hindustan Times said.
A previous Indian effort failed in 2019, and the latest attempt comes just days after Russia's first Moon mission in almost 50 years, destined for the same region, crashed on the lunar surface.
Sustainability is often an afterthought in space exploration—that needs to change as the industry grows, say researchers
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Aotearoa New Zealand is the latest country to enter the expanding and competitive international space market.
In the aerospace strategy and national space policy, the government lays out how it intends to grow the domestic space sector by launching rockets and satellites and promoting Earth observation research.
The documents indicate the government's general priorities in "protecting New Zealand's national interests" and the "responsible use of space".
Sustainability is a focus in both strategy and policy but is used interchangeably in three different contexts:
- To "sustain" the economic development of the industry
- to describe the benefits of aerospace technology for sustainability efforts, like monitoring climate change
- to describe the environmental impacts of aerospace activities, largely focused on space debris, while reducing emissions (though the latter is largely a concern for the aviation industry, not space).
When a part from India's recent rocket launch landed on Australian shores last month, it captured people's attention—and delivered a reminder that Earth's orbits are teeming with the discards of human endeavors in space.
Penetrating radar aboard the Chang'E-4 rover reveals layers of the moon's history
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A team of space scientists at the Planetary Science Institute, working with colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen University and the University of Aberdeen, has used data from China's Chang'E-4 rover to learn more about the history of the moon. In their study, reported in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, the group analyzed lunar-penetrating radar (LPR) data sent back from the rover.
China's Chang'E-4 rover has been wandering around on the far side of the moon since 2018. And during its meanderings, it has been sending radio signals downward using its LPR device.
Study explains how part of the nucleolus evolved
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Inside all living cells, loosely formed assemblies known as biomolecular condensates perform many critical functions. However, it is not well understood how proteins and other biomolecules come together to form these assemblies within cells.
MIT biologists have now discovered that a single scaffolding protein is responsible for the formation of one of these condensates, which forms within Approaching the Ridgetop - "Bermuda Triangle" Ahead: Sols 3923-3925
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Earth planning date: Friday, August 18, 2023: The Gediz Vallis Ridge has been a long-term, and, at times, seemingly impossible goal of the Curiosity Rover mission. Our path to it has repeatedly been diverted from our first difficult climb onto the Greenhugh Pediment way back in 2020, our dead-end foray onto and across the pediment through a steep side ravine of the Gediz Vallis, ultimately block Local governments urged to boost remote sensing capabilities
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A senior environmental expert has called on local governments along the Yangtze River to improve their remote sensing-based aquatic ecological monitoring capabilities, as China plans to introduce an environmental evaluation and assessment mechanism that no longer focuses on pollution control in the basin of Asia's longest watercourse.
Based on pilot programs this year and the next, the nat Planet Labs secures deal with an Asian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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In a recent development in the realm of Earth observation technology, Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL) revealed that they have clinched a contract to offer their global daily monitoring solution to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Asia. This high-value deal comes with a seven-figure annual contract value, emphasizing the significance of the collaboration.
For those unfamiliar with the industry b US Space Force boosts resilience with Capella Federal's satellite services contract
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The satellite realm experienced a significant development as Capella Federal, a prominent subsidiary of Capella Space, secured a contract for Proliferated Low Earth Orbit Satellite-Based Services (PLEO) via the U.S. Space Systems Command (SSC). This landmark contract facilitates a faster collaboration process between Capella, SSC, and the U.S. Space Force, aiming to widen the availability of rou 
