Barcelona, Spain (SPX) Sep 20, 2023
A study in the journal Cell sheds new light on the evolution of neurons, focusing on the placozoans, a millimetre-sized marine animal. Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona find evidence that specialized secretory cells found in these unique and ancient creatures may have given rise to neurons in more complex animals. Placozoans are tiny animals, around the size of a larg

Madison WI (SPX) Sep 20, 2023
Life on a faraway planet - if it's out there - might not look anything like life on Earth. But there are only so many chemical ingredients in the universe's pantry, and only so many ways to mix them. A team led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has exploited those limitations to write a cookbook of hundreds of chemical recipes with the potential to give rise to life. The

Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 20, 2023
With its crushing atmospheric pressure, clouds of sulfuric acid, and searing surface temperature, Venus is an especially challenging place to study. But scientists know that observing its surface can provide key insights into the habitability and evolution of rocky planets like our own. So to get a global perspective of Venus while staying well above its hellish atmosphere, NASA's VERITAS (Venus

Miami FL (UPI) Sep 20, 2023
A Rocket Lab launch of a next-generation radar satellite for Capella Space from New Zealand on Tuesday experienced an "anomaly" minutes into its flight, ending the mission. The issue occurred at stage separation of the two-stage Electron rocket at about 2 minutes 38 seconds after liftoff. No explanation was given during the live telecast of the launch. "The launch director has

Paris (ESA) Sep 20, 2023
At their closest point in orbit, Earth and Jupiter are separated by almost 600 million kilometres. At the time of writing, five months after launch, Juice has already travelled 370 million kilometres, yet in time it's only 5% of the way there. Why is it taking sooo long? The answer depends on a variety of factors that flight dynamics experts at ESA's Mission Control know well, from the amo

Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 20, 2023
Three billion years ago, amid one of the last wet periods on Mars, powerful debris flows carried mud and boulders down the side of a hulking mountain. The debris spread into a fan that was later eroded by wind into a towering ridge, preserving an intriguing record of the Red Planet's watery past. Now, after three attempts, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has reached the ridge, capturing the fo

Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 20, 2023
This week on Mars, Perseverance officially kicked off the Margin Campaign by arriving at Mandu Wall and performing the first abrasion of a rock within the marginal carbonate unit! Reaching this destination was no easy feat- it took Perseverance several attempts to successfully navigate a ~350 meter long path through a field of boulders, using a combination of autonomous and directed drives to do

Washington DC (SPX) Sep 20, 2023
On Sept. 17, NASA's OSIRIS-REx engineers slightly shifted the spacecraft's trajectory to refine the landing location of its sample capsule, which the spacecraft will deliver to Earth on Sept. 24. The spacecraft briefly fired its thrusters Sunday to change its velocity by 7 inches per minute (3 millimeters per second) relative to Earth. This final correction maneuver moved the sample capsul

Maui HI (SPX) Sep 20, 2023
Kayhan Space, the leading provider of high-performance software and solutions for space mission operations, has announced it has raised $7 million in an oversubscribed seed extension round to accelerate commercial delivery of the industry's first autonomous space traffic coordination (STC) framework, at the core of its all-new Pathfinder 3.0 spaceflight safety platform. Venture capital fir

Beijing (XNA) Sep 20, 2023
There is huge potential and there will be big opportunities in the field of space cooperation between China and South Africa as the two nations have recently decided to enhance their collaboration in this regard, observers said. Wang Yanan, chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, said that China wants to maintain and deepen its communications, exchanges and cooperation with other cou