Satellite imagery captured the devastating damage left behind from the 7.2-magnitude earthquake on Saturday (Aug. 14).
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Launch of lunar CubeSat moved from Virginia to New Zealand
Artist’s illustration of the CAPSTONE spacecraft near the moon. Credit: NASA/Rocket Lab/Advanced Space/Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems
The launch of a miniature trailblazer probe for NASA’s planned Gateway lunar space station has been moved from Rocket Lab’s new launch pad in Virginia to the company’s spaceport in New Zealand, officials recently announced.
NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, mission will test deep space navigation and communications technology in the vicinity of the moon. CAPSTONE will also demonstrate maneuvers to enter and operate in a near rectilinear halo orbit, an elliptical orbit around the moon that will be home to the Gateway, a critical piece of NASA’s architecture to return humans to the lunar surface.
The Gateway is a mini-space station NASA intends to use as a staging point for crewed lunar landings later in the 2020s.
Rocket Lab won a $9.95 million NASA contract in February 2020 to launch the CAPSTONE mission aboard the company’s Electron rocket, with an extra boost from Rocket Lab’s Photon propulsion platform to send the small spacecraft toward the moon.
At the time, NASA and Rocket Lab said CAPSTONE would take off from a new Electron launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia, in early 2021. Rocket Lab announced Aug. 6 that CAPSTONE is now slated to launch from the company’s operational launch base on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand in the fourth quarter of 2021.
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Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Vega rocket with Airbus’s Pléiades Neo 4 commercial Earth observation satellite and four secondary payloads. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
Arianespace’s live video webcast begins at approximately 0130 GMT (9:30 p.m. EDT), and will be available on this page.
Watch Black Holes Grow, Galaxies Fall
Thousands of people congregated on the tarmac at Kabul's international airport amid mass evacuations
On its Next run, LIGO Will be Able to Probe 8 Times as Much Space
These images show the liftoff of a Northrop Grumman Antares rocket on Aug. 10 from Wallops Island, Virginia, kicking off an unpiloted resupply mission carrying more than 8,000 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station.
A 139-foot-tall (42.5-meter) Antares rocket lifted off at 6:01 p.m. EDT (2201 GMT) on Aug. 10 from pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, co-located with NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
Twin RD-181 engines powered the Antares launcher off the ground with 864,000 pounds of thrust. The mission carried a Cygnus supply ship into orbit in pursuit of the International Space Station, where it arrived Aug. 12.
The launch marked the 15th flight of an Antares rocket since 2013. Read our full story for details on the launch.
5,000 possible alien worlds in less than 4 years for NASA planet-hunting mission
Multiple exploding stars may have seeded the solar system with material required to form planets.
SpaceX paused Starlink launches to give its internet satellites lasers
A Soyuz-2.1b rocket emerges from a hangar at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Monday for rollout to Site 31. Credit: Roscosmos
A Russian Soyuz rocket rolled out to a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Monday, moving into position for liftoff Thursday with 34 more satellites for OneWeb’s broadband internet network.
Ground teams transferred the Soyuz-2.1b rocket from its hangar, known by the Russian acronym MIK, to the Site 31 launch complex at Baikonur.
With a Fregat upper stage and 34 OneWeb satellites enclosed in its payload fairing, the Soyuz launcher rode a rail car to the launch pad at the Russian-operated spaceport in Kazakhstan. Once at the pad, the rocket was raised vertical and gantry arms rotated into position around the launcher.
Work planned over the next few days include final inspections of the launch vehicle, configuring of the first stage engine ignitor system, and removal of the thermal blanket covering the Soyuz payload fairing.
On Thursday, Russian managers are expected to give approval to load kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the Soyuz rocket. The countdown Thursday will target liftoff at 6:23 p.m. EDT (2223 GMT).
In photos: The astronauts of Expedition 65 to the International Space Station
With 11 crewmembers, two SpaceX Crew Dragon missions and a Russian module mishap, it's been a busy mission! See photos of the Expedition 65 crew in action.
A new Assessment of the World’s Climate is out. The News Isn’t Good
In 2014, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). As with previous reports, AR5 contained the latest findings of Climate Change experts from all relevant disciplines, as well as projections about the near future. In short, the AR5 and its predecessors were assessments of the impact anthropogenic Climate Change was having on the planet and how we could avoid worst-case scenarios.
On Aug. 9th, 2021, the IPCC released a report titled Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis. Combining the latest advances in climate science and multiple lines of evidence, this first report paints a rather bleak picture of the remainder of the 21st century. At the same time, it presents a call to action and shows how mitigation strategies and reducing greenhouse gas emissions will ensure a better future for all.
The Working Group I report is the first installment of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), which will be completed and released to the public by 2022. As with previous reports, it provides a summary of global warming trends and assesses the likely impact by region. But this time around, the report focuses more heavily on recommendations for curbing carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases.
Given the predictions made in this latest report, especially where positive feedback mechanisms are involved, this should come as no surprise. “This report reflects extraordinary efforts under exceptional circumstances,” said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC, in a press release that accompanied the release of the AR6. “The innovations in this report, and advances in climate science that it reflects, provide an invaluable input into climate negotiations and decision-making.”
A total of 234 authors from 66 countries contributed to the creation of the Working Group I Report (31 coordinating authors, 167 lead authors, and 36 review editors) and 517 contributing authors. Originally scheduled for release in April of 2021, the report was delayed for several months by the COVID-19 pandemic, making the AR6 the only report that was the subject of a virtual approval session. As IPCC Working Group I Co-Chair Valérie Masson-Delmotte stated:
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin sues NASA over denied moon lander contract
Blue Origin is now suing NASA in its latest attempt to push back against the agency's decision to award SpaceX its moon lander contract.
Gale Crater on Mars: An Ancient Lake or Just Puddles?
A new study suggests that wind, not water, created the rock layers in Gale Crater, where the Curiosity rover roams.
The post Gale Crater on Mars: An Ancient Lake or Just Puddles? appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Saturn's rippling rings point to massive, soupy core hidden inside
Scientists used Saturn's famous rings as a seismograph to study processes in the planet's interior. The researchers found its core is like a soup consisting of rocks, ices and metallic fluids.
Astrophotography: How Long Can You Go?
While many astrophotographers follow the "rule of 500" (or 300), some experimentation can help find the right exposure time for your setup.
The post Astrophotography: How Long Can You Go? appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Can you Last a Year on Mars? NASA is Recruiting Crew for a Year-Long Analog Mission
Want to try living on Mars, but not sure you want to experience the nine-month flight time to get there? NASA is looking for applicants to serve as crew members for a one-year analog mission in a habitat to simulate life on the Red Planet, beginning in Fall 2022. All you have to do is get to Houston, Texas, and you’ll even get paid.
NASA is looking for “highly motivated individuals” to participate in the year-long test to see how astronauts might respond to the rigors of a long-duration, but Earth-based Martian simulation.
Requirements for applying is that you are a healthy, motivated U.S. citizen or permanent resident, age 30 to 55 years old, nonsmoker and proficient in English for effective communication between crew and mission control. Crew selection will follow standard NASA criteria for astronaut candidate applicants.
NASA will be doing a series of these analog missions – known as Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, and they hope to set up three one-year Mars surface simulations, with subsequent missions in 2024 and 2025. The simulations will be based at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, with four crew members for each simulation who will live and work in a 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed module, called Mars Dune Alpha. NASA says the analog missions will support research to develop methods and technologies to prevent and resolve potential problems on future human spaceflight missions to the Moon and Mars.
Mars Dune Alpha will be a 3D printed structure that will simulate a realistic Mars habitat to support long-duration, exploration-class space missions. Credit: NASA and ICON.“The analog is critical for testing solutions to meet the complex needs of living on the Martian surface” said Grace Douglas, lead scientist for NASA’s Advanced Food Technology research effort at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “Simulations on Earth will help us understand and counter the physical and mental challenges astronauts will face before they go.”
Astronomy Jargon 101: Doppler Shift
In this series we are exploring the weird and wonderful world of astronomy jargon! Watch out for today’s topic: doppler shift!
We’ve all heard the wailing of the ambulance as it rushes by. Not only does it get louder as it approaches, but changes in pitch. As the ambulance gets closer, the wailing shifts to a higher frequency. After it passes, it deepens again.
If you were to ride along with the ambulance, the wailing would stay exactly the same: not just the same loudness, but also the same pitch.
The difference is due to Doppler shift. When the ambulance is coming towards you, the sound waves coming out of the siren literally get squished – they get pressed together from the forward movement of the vehicle. When you squish sound waves together, they shift to higher frequencies, making a higher-pitched sound. The reverse happens on the way out.
What goes for sound goes for light. If a distant star is moving towards us, the light it emits gets shifted into higher frequencies. Those higher frequencies correspond to bluer light, hence the name blueshift for this kind of Doppler shift, and redshift for objects moving away from us.
Northern lights (aurora borealis): What they are and how to see them
Learn all about the northern lights, including the science behind their colors, the display's ancient history and how to see the phenomenon.
Mount Etna is 100 feet taller than it was 6 months ago
Satellite imagery reveals that Mount Etna has gotten 100 feet taller in the past six months.
Canadian radar satellites to help Ukraine fight off Russian invasion
Our cosmic block is full of neighbors that we know very little about, but scientists have come up with creative ways to get a peak at the layers of one particular type of planet.
Scientists hail 'the decade of Venus' with 3 new missions on the way
New research provides more details of the dinosaurs’ demise and the composition of the asteroid belt.
Watch Vega launch live
Tune in to ESA Web TV from 02:37 BST / 03:37 CEST on 17 August to watch the Vega launch live.
