Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–February 28, 2014. NASA’s aerospace industry partners continue to meet milestones under agreements with the agency’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP), as they move forward in their development of spacecraft and rockets that will transport humans to destinations in low-Earth orbit. Blue Origin, Boeing Space Exploration, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC)[Read More…]
Space
NASA’s Kepler Mission Announces a Planet Bonanza, 715 New Worlds
An artist’s rendition shows NASA’s Kepler space telescope. Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—February 26, 2014. NASA’s Kepler mission announced Wednesday the discovery of 715 new planets. These newly-verified worlds orbit 305 stars, revealing multiple-planet systems much like our own solar system. Nearly 95 percent of these planets are smaller than Neptune, which is[Read More…]
First Copernicus Satellite at Launch Site
Sentinel-1 arrival EU–(ENEWSPF)–25 February 2014. The Sentinel-1A radar satellite has arrived at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana to be prepared over the coming weeks for launch on 3 April. Its launch will mark a new shift in Earth observation, focusing on operational missions to support users for decades to come.[Read More…]
How to Catch a Satellite
Netting a derelict satellite EU–(ENEWSPF)–21 February 2014. Standard space dockings are difficult enough, but a future ESA mission plans to capture derelict satellites adrift in orbit. Part of an effort to control space debris, the shopping list of new technologies this ambitious mission requires is set for discussion with industry[Read More…]
NuSTAR Takes First Peek into Core of Supernova
BERKELEY–(ENEWSPF)–February 20, 2014. Astronomers for the first time have peered into the heart of an exploding star in the final minutes of its existence. Superimposed images of the Cas A supernova remnant taken by NASA’s Chandra and NuSTAR orbiting telescopes. Red and green are X-ray emissions detected by Chandra of[Read More…]
ESA Selects Planet-hunting PLATO Mission
Searching for exoplanetary systems EU–(ENEWSPF)–20 February 2014. A space-based observatory to search for planets orbiting alien stars has been selected today as ESA’s third medium-class science mission. It is planned for launch by 2024. The PLATO – Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars – mission was selected by ESA’s Science[Read More…]
A Good Year to Find a Comet
Comet P/2014 C1 seen from Argentina EU–(ENEWSPF)–13 February 2014. A team of European astronomers has found a previously unknown comet, detected as a tiny blob of light orbiting our Sun deep in the Solar System. Europe’s Teide Observatory Tenerife Asteroid Survey team has been credited with discovering comet P/2014 C1,[Read More…]
Prehistoric Cave Pigment to Shield ESA’s Solar Probe
Solar Orbiter EU–(ENEWSPF)–13 February 2014. A pigment once daubed onto prehistoric cave paintings is set to protect ESA’s Solar Orbiter mission from the Sun’s close-up glare. Burnt bone charcoal will be applied to the spacecraft’s titanium heatshield using a novel technique. Solar Orbiter, due for launch in 2017, will carry[Read More…]
Galileo Works, and Works Well
Four-satellite constellation EU–(ENEWSPF)–10 February 2014. The in-orbit validation of Galileo has been achieved: Europe now has the operational nucleus of its own satellite navigation constellation in place – the world’s first civil-owned and operated satnav system. In 2011 and 2012 the first four satellites were launched into orbit. Four is[Read More…]
Gaia Comes Into Focus
Gaia calibration image EU–(ENEWSPF)–6 February 2014. ESA’s billion-star surveyor Gaia is slowly being brought into focus. This test image shows a dense cluster of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. Once Gaia starts making routine measurements, it will generate truly enormous amounts of[Read More…]
