Aerospace & Defence
Online course on spaceflight draws upon personal experience
An online course led by Sweden’s history-making astronaut Christer Fuglesang is offering students the chance to learn from a personal perspective on space travel, and earn a certificate. Human Spaceflight: An Introduction is a massive open online course (MOOC) from KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The five-week programme begins on Monday January 23; free enrolment via edX is open to students and professionals worldwide.
A tale of two pulsars' tails
In two studies, international teams of astronomers suggest that recent images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory of two pulsars—Geminga and B0355+54—may help shine a light on the distinctive emission signatures of pulsars, as well as their often perplexing geometry. Pulsars are a type of neutron star that are born in supernova explosions when massive stars collapse.
Mapping the skies for Earth-like exoplanets
EU-funded scientists have helped to confirm the existence of Earth-like exoplanets and issued weather reports from planets 1 000 light years away. It is worth remembering every now and again just how special our home planet truly is. Thanks to its solid outer crust and its propitious position at a distance from the sun where liquid water can exist, it is – and as far as we know uniquely - capable of supporting life.
Hall-effect sensors used for Mars Rover robotic arm
TT Electronics has announced that its sensors will be used in the NASA mission to the planet Mars in 2020. The robustness of the company’s Hall-effect sensors enables them to withstand the harsh environments found on Mars. The Hall-effect sensors from TT Electronics are key components in NASA’s new Mars 2020 Rover that will be landing on the surface of the red planet in 2021.
Astronauts upgrade station with latest batteries
Spacewalking astronauts hooked up batteries Friday on the International Space Station's sprawling power grid. NASA reported that all three lithium-ion batteries were up and running, a successful start to the space agency's long-term effort to upgrade the aging solar power system. Before venturing out, Commander Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson got a hand from a robot that took care of most of the grunt work—Dextre, a hulking mach...
NASA selects Psyche and Lucy as Discovery missions
The Psyche mission, a journey to a metal asteroid, has been selected for flight under NASA’s Discovery Program, a series of lower-cost, highly focused robotic space missions that are exploring the solar system. Psyche includes prominent roles for Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) professors Maria Zuber (leading the Gravity investigation), Richard Binzel (asteroid composition expert), and Benjamin Weiss...
Resistant epoxy meets NASA outgassing standards
Certified to meet ASTM E595 NASA low outgassing standards, Master Bond EP46HT-2AO Black is well suited for the aerospace, electronic, optoelectronic industries and can be used vacuum environments. This two component system blends thermal stability with a high strength profile for a variety of bonding, sealing and encapsulation applications.
Glass plates enable discovery of the birth of black holes
The University of Leicester is providing a type of X-ray mirror to the French space agency, CNES, for the Chinese-French satellite ‘SVOM’ which is designed to discover and study Gamma-Ray Bursts from newly formed black holes. SVOM will be launched into orbit in 2021. The mirror will become part of the X-ray telescope, which is essential in precisely locating these new discoveries.
Our 'technosphere' now weighs 30 trillion tonnes
An international team led by University of Leicester geologists has made the first estimate of the sheer size of the physical structure of the planet’s technosphere – suggesting that its mass approximates to an enormous 30 trillion tonnes. The technosphere is comprised of all of the structures that humans have constructed to keep them alive on the planet.
Collaboration developing ESA's next-gen launcher
A long-standing collaboration between Dassault Systèmes and Airbus Safran Launchers has been confirmed. More than 700 engineers, including partners, are working on the development of Ariane 6, the European Space Agency’s next-gen launcher, across multiple sites in Europe.