Science

Alien vistas: the universe as seen by Gaia. (Courtesy: ESA/Gaia/DPAC; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO/A. Moitinho) Earth is “well-hidden” to extraterrestrial observers using photometric microlensing to hunt for habitable planets that might support life, an international team of researchers has concluded. The findings could also help to narrow down the best areas of the galaxy to
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LAUREL, Md. — A NASA spacecraft collided with a moon orbiting a near Earth asteroid Sept. 26 in a demonstration of a technology that could one day be used to protect the Earth from a hazardous object. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft hit Dimorphos, an asteroid about 160 meters across orbiting the larger
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PARIS — NASA has revised and expanded a set of objectives it will use to guide its architecture for lunar and Mars exploration after receiving volumes of feedback from commercial and international partners. The agency released the revised list of 63 objectives to coincide with a presentation by the agency’s deputy administrator, Pam Melroy, at
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WASHINGTON — A NASA spacecraft is on course to deliberately collide with a small asteroid Sept. 26 to test how that technique could be used to deflect a potentially hazardous asteroid. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft, launched last November, is on a trajectory to collide with Dimorphos, a small asteroid orbiting the larger
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TAMPA, Fla. — U.K.-based Avanti Communications is seeking more partnerships to grow its footprint after securing its first major deal to use another regional satellite operator’s capacity. Avanti announced a five-year partnership with Turkey’s Turksat Sept. 13 that pools more than 100 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) of Ka-band capacity between them across Africa and the Middle East.
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After completing the NROL-91 mission, ULA will start vacating SLC-6 and consolidate operations at SLC-3 WASHINGTON — A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket is scheduled to launch a National Reconnaissance Office mission Sept. 24 from Space Launch Complex-6 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. This will be Delta 4’s final launch from the
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PARIS — One part of an instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope is out of service temporarily, although project officials are confident it will not be a long-term problem. NASA announced Sept. 20 that it had stopped using one of four observing modes on the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on JWST after a mechanism that
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Proof-of-principle study: Researchers have demonstrated that smartphones are capable of detecting blood-oxygen saturation levels down to 70%. Subjects place their finger over the camera and flash of a smartphone, which uses a deep-learning algorithm to decipher blood-oxygen levels from the resulting video. (Courtesy: Dennis Wise/University of Washington) Blood-oxygen saturation (SpO2), the percentage of haemoglobin in
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PARIS — NASA said it completed all the objectives of a Space Launch System tanking test Sept. 21 despite the reoccurrence of liquid hydrogen leaks. The day-long test at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B involved filling the SLS core stage and upper stage with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants, carrying out the “kickstart
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PARIS — Arkisys, a Southern California startup developing robotic infrastructure for on-orbit commerce, announced plans Sept. 21 for a spaceflight demonstration of a key technology. In 2023, Arkisys plans to launch Applique, a universal interface adapter designed to connect any spacecraft payload, using a variety of common interface standards and protocols. Funding for the mission comes
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PARIS — SpinLaunch, a company developing a launch system that uses a centrifuge as a first stage, raised $71 million to continue work on that system and a line of satellites. SpinLaunch, based in Long Beach, California, announced Sept. 20 it raised the funding in a Series B round led by ATW Partners, with the
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