Munich, Germany (SPX) Oct 31, 2023
Every now and then, luminous gas is seen swirling around Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Now, astronomers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) have succeeded in measuring the black hole mass from this motion - and it perfectly matches the measurement honoured with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2020, which has been refined ever since. The c

Chicago IL (SPX) Oct 31, 2023
The National Science Foundation has awarded $3.7 million to the University of Chicago for the first year of a grant that may provide up to $21.4 million for the final designs for a next-generation set of telescopes to map the light from the earliest moments of the universe-the Cosmic Microwave Background. Led by the University of Chicago and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the colla

Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 31, 2023
Data collected by NASA's Juno mission indicates a briny past may be bubbling to the surface on Jupiter's largest moon. NASA's Juno mission has observed mineral salts and organic compounds on the surface of Jupiter's moon Ganymede. Data for this discovery was collected by the Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) spectrometer aboard the spacecraft during a close flyby of the icy moon. The findin

Washington DC (UPI) Oct 30, 2023
SpaceX launched 23 Starlink Internet satellites into low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday in its second attempt after aborting the mission Sunday. The successful second launch attempt was the eighth flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-5, GPS III Space Vehicle 06, Imm

Morgantown WV (SPX) Oct 31, 2023
Research from West Virginia University students and faculty into how 3D printing works in a weightless environment aims to support long-term exploration and habitation on spaceships, the moon or Mars. Extended missions in outer space require the manufacture of crucial materials and equipment onsite, rather than transporting those items from Earth. Members of the Microgravity Research Team

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Oct 31, 2023
Small satellites are becoming increasingly compact and powerful. The technology of conventional radio channels is reaching its limits due to the rising number of satellites. Laser communications offers solutions for the efficient transmission of high data volumes without interfering with other channels. For this application, the German Aerospace Center Institute of Communications and Navigation,

Jiuquan (XNA) Oct 31, 2023
China's private space enterprises are hopeful that commercial rockets developed by them will be involved in the launch missions of the low-cost cargo transport vehicle for the country's space station, announced a senior official with the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) at a press conference on Wednesday. In proposals provided by space enterprises for China's space station low-cost cargo t

Graz, Austria (SPX) Oct 31, 2023
USound, the leading provider of advanced audio solutions from Austria, announced that it has been selected by Physical Synthesis, a US-based hardware startup that builds state-of-the-art musical instruments, for the completion of a challenging space project named "Blue Marble: Put a Musical Synthesizer in Space!". The project entails the design of a zero-gravity synthesizer that will be launched

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Oct 30, 2023
In the ever-evolving landscape of space technology, the role of robots in the assembly and maintenance of spacecraft is growing significantly. As reliance on robotic manipulators increases, the traditional methods of control are proving to be less efficient, particularly in complex assembly processes. In a recently published paper in Cyborg and Bionic Systems, researchers at Beijing Institute of