Copernical Team
100 days of the Minerva mission
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti was launched to the International Space Station on 27 April as a part of Crew-4 for her second mission, Minerva. One hundred days in, mission Minerva is still going strong. From completing cutting-edge research in the world's only orbiting laboratory to sharing daily life on the Space Station via TikTok, it's all in a day's work for an ESA astronaut.
Inspired by the Roman goddess of wisdom, the handicrafts and the arts, the name Minerva is a homage to the competence and sophisticated craftmanship of the women and men all over the world who make human spaceflight possible. It also embodies the toughness and discipline that is required of us, and the wisdom we wish to demonstrate, as we consolidate and expand human presence in space. All these qualities and more have been on display during these first 100 days of the mission.
Making strides in health
Throughout mission Minerva, Samantha has played a vital role in a large number of scientific experiments on the Space Station, both from European states and international partners.
Image: Pure gold pin for space testing
Although this pure gold pin is not much bigger than the tip of a pencil, it is the "pulsing heart" of ESA's Low Earth Orbit Facility, LEOX. Part of the Agency's Materials and Electrical Components Laboratory, based at ESA's ESTEC technical center in the Netherlands, this test facility is vital for developing materials capable of withstanding the highly-erosive individual oxygen atoms prevailing at the top of the atmosphere, the result of standard oxygen molecules of the same kind found just above the ground being broken apart by powerful ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
All missions that orbit less than about 1,000 km above Earth's surface must be designed to resist atomic oxygen. To realistically simulate the low-Earth orbit environment, the LEOX atomic oxygen facility generates atomic oxygen traveling at 7.8 km/s.
Atomic oxygen is not easy to generate on Earth, because it is so reactive. This means that the materials used to make the simulator must be as robust as the materials flown in space. This sturdy gold pin is used to inject tiny pulses of oxygen gas molecules into a vacuum chamber, where the molecules are split into atoms using a powerful laser.
SpaceWorks RED-Rescue delivers goods key to survival in wartime
SpaceWorks successfully demonstrated RED-Rescue, its new, low-cost solution in delivering life-saving food, supplies and equipment to downed or isolated Airmen. The flight test was conducted in March near Albuquerque, NM.
The U.S. Air Force had recently challenged industry to develop capabilities that provide on-demand and cost-efficient delivery of Personnel Recovery Kits (PRKs) to downed Madrid Flight On Chip project wraps up design process
After more than three and a half years of project, Madrid Flight On Chip (MFoC) successfully culminates providing an important milestone for the implementation of advanced technological products and introduces disruptive changes in the design and verification of complex space systems. The researchers, engineers and technicians of the consortium organizations have positioned Madrid at the forefro No trace of dark matter halos
Dwarf galaxies are small, faint galaxies that can usually be found in galaxy clusters or near larger galaxies. Because of this, they might be affected by the gravitational effects of their larger companions. "We introduce an innovative way of testing the standard model based on how much dwarf galaxies are disturbed by gravitational ,tides' from nearby larger galaxies", said Elena Asencio, a PhD Astrophysicists observe one of the most powerful short gamma-ray bursts ever
The collision of two distant neutron stars released one of the most powerful short gamma-ray bursts ever recorded, scientists say.
The collision marked the first time scientists have recorded millimeter-wavelength light from a fiery explosion to be caused by the merger of a neutron star with another star. It was observed on Nov. 6, 2021.
The observation was made with the Atacama A cosmic tango points to a violent and chaotic past for distant exoplanet
If you close your eyes and imagine a system of planets orbiting a distant star, what do you see?
For most people, such thoughts conjure up systems that mirror the Solar System: planets orbiting a host star on near-circular orbits - rocky planets closer in, and giants such as Jupiter in the icy depths.
However, the more we study the cosmos, the more we begin to realise planetary syste A molecule of light and matter
Theoretically, this effect has been predicted for a long time, but now scientists at the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ) at TU Wien, in cooperation with the University of Innsbruck, have succeeded in measuring this exotic atomic bond for the first time. This interaction is useful for manipulating extremely cold atoms, and the effect could also play a role in the formation Perseid meteor shower peaks Aug. 12, but the full Moon may spoil the show
The Perseid meteor shower, one of Earth's biggest, is set to peak with best viewing starting Aug. 11.
The annual meteor shower will peak the next day, but this year the full moon may interfere with visibility, according to NASA.
"Sadly, this year's Perseids peak will see the worst possible circumstances for spotters," NASA astronomer Bill Cooke said in a statement.
"Most o NASA's Perseverance cores 12th sample, team assessing rover's coring bit
Images and data downlinked Thursday from Perseverance show that we've successfully cored, sealed, and stored our 12th sample of the mission. As the team always does, images of several sample collection system components were taken after completion of the coring activity.
In those images, two small pieces of debris were visible - a small object on the coring bit (stored in the bit carousel)