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☆ James Webb Space Telescope reveals birth of a star in a cosmic hourglass
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The cosmic chaos caused by a very young star has been captured in the latest enchanting image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The protostar the image centers around is hidden from view in the neck of a dark, hourglass-shape cloud of gas and dust. The thicker the layer of dust, the less blue light is able to escape, creating pockets of orange. As a result, the protostar dominates the space, taking much of the material for itself,” according to the news release. Webb, which first began sharing new perspectives on the universe in July, is an international partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

☆ ISS: American spacewalkers Cassada and Rubio ventured outside the space station Tuesday
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —The first in a series of end-of-the-year spacewalks kicked off Tuesday morning outside the International Space Station. First-time spacewalkers and NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio began their excursion outside the space station at 9:14 a.m. 🔧🌏 pic.twitter.com/kM1tw7ng50 — International Space Station (@Space_Station) November 15, 2022The hardware was delivered to the space station on November 9 aboard a Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft, which safely delivered its cargo despite only one of its two solar arrays deploying after launch. This hardware will allow for the installation of more rollout solar arrays, called iROSAs, to give the space station a power boost. The thin orange pieces have been placed in different parts of the helmet, which has already been tested on orbit by the astronauts inside the space station.

For more than 70 days this summer, a marine heatwave cooked the waters of the western Mediterranean. "We've been witnessing marine heatwaves during the last 20 years," said Garrabou, who's also coordinator of the T-MEDNet marine monitoring network. A 2016 marine heatwave along Chile's southern coast caused huge algae blooms that wiped out fish farms and cost the aquaculture industry some $800 million, said scientist Kathryn Smith with the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. As the world warms, marine heatwaves are expected to become more frequent, according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Though economists have yet to account fully for the impacts of marine heatwaves, recent experience has many concerned.

☆ Listen to the haunting audio of Earth's magnetic field released by the European Space Agency
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The European Space Agency released five minutes of haunting audio from Earth's magnetic field. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyThe European Space Agency this week released five minutes of haunting, crackling audio — revealing what Earth's magnetic field sounds like. Researchers from the Technical University of Denmark took magnetic signals, measured by ESA's Swarm satellite mission dedicated to surveying the magnetic field, and converted them to sound. "The rumbling of Earth's magnetic field is accompanied by a representation of a geomagnetic storm that resulted from a solar flare on 3 November 2011, and indeed it sounds pretty scary," Nielsen added. Representatives of the European Space Agency and of the Technical University of Denmark did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

☆ Europe's space agency is turning to Elon Musk's SpaceX after anti-Russian sanctions left it scrambling for rockets
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets will be used in two launches by the European Space Agency. The agency's boss has previously warned that the rest of the world's space tech is falling behind SpaceX. "In response to EU sanctions against our enterprises, Roscosmos is suspending cooperation with European partners in organizing space launches," it announced at the time. The ESA's choice of SpaceX rockets comes soon after a payment dispute over Musk's Starlink service in Ukraine, which has provided key internet access during the war while normal infrastructure has been offline. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider on the ESA's use of Falcon 9 rockets.

☆ Apollo, Gemini astronaut James McDivitt dies at age 93
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Astronaut and commander James McDivitt shows several days' beard growth during the Apollo 9 mission while onboard the Lunar Module "Spider" in Earth orbit, March 6, 1969. NASA/Handout via REUTERSWASHINGTON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - James McDivitt, a former U.S. astronaut who commanded some of NASA's earliest and most ambitious missions in space, died in his sleep last week at age 93, NASA said in a statement on Monday night. The fourth mission under Project Gemini, a precursor to NASA's Apollo program, marked McDivitt's first flight to space. McDivitt later joined two astronauts as commander of the Apollo 9 mission, a crucial debut flight test of NASA's Lunar Module that would later land astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Joey Roulette Editing by Bill BerkrotOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Watch SpaceX splashdown the Crew-4 astronauts for NASA after a six-month stay at the space station
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

SpaceX is set to return its fourth operational crew mission from the International Space Station on Friday, with the quartet of astronauts due to splash down in the company's capsule off the coast of Florida. The company's Crew Dragon spacecraft "Freedom" is scheduled to undock from the ISS at 12:05 p.m. ET to begin the trip back to Earth, with splashdown expected at around 4:55 p.m. Crew-4 includes NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren and Jessica Watkins, as well as European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. The mission launched in April for a six-month stay on the orbiting research laboratory.

☆ SpaceX capsule splashes down, returning 4 astronauts from Space Station
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Oct 14 (Reuters) - The fourth long-duration astronaut team launched by SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS) safely returned to Earth on Friday, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida after nearly six months of research aboard the orbital outpost. The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Freedom, carrying three U.S. NASA astronauts and an Italian crewmate from the European Space Agency, parachuted into the sea at the conclusion of a five-hour autonomous flight home from the ISS. Camera shots from inside the crew compartment showed the four strapped in their seats, garbed in helmeted white-and-black spacesuits. Applause from the SpaceX flight control center in suburban Los Angeles was heard over the webcast. During their 170 days aboard the space station, the crew orbited Earth 2,720 times - about once every 90 minutes - to log some 72 million miles (116 million km) in space, according to NASA.

☆ NASA astronauts returning from space station on SpaceX capsule delayed by weather
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The astronauts — NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins, as well as Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti with the European Space Agency — were scheduled to depart from the space station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Thursday morning. Aerospace company SpaceX developed the Crew Dragon spacecraft under a $2.6 billion contract with NASA as part of the Commercial Crew Program. SpaceX renewed orbital human spaceflight capabilities from US soil in 2020 with the launch of its Demo-2 mission, which carried two NASA astronauts to the space station. The Crew-4 astronauts’ return to Earth comes less than a week after the Crew-5 astronauts arrived on a separate SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. Since SpaceX developed the Crew Dragon under a fixed-price commercial contract, however, it retains ownership over the vehicle.

☆ US Navy may analyze underwater audio recordings of Nord Stream gas pipelines' suspected attack, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The US has considered analyzing underwater audio recordings of the Nord Stream pipelines' damage, per CNN. It depends in part on the quality of Sweden and Denmark's sound recordings, sources told CNN. The Navy told CNN it was prepared to help investigations into the Nord Stream pipeline damage. Satellite images taken above the Nord Stream pipelines at the time of the event are difficult to examine because of cloudy weather, according to the European Space Agency. Examining underwater audio of the explosions could provide crucial information for the investigation, the sources told CNN.

☆ Mexican senator files criminal complaint against energy minister, Pemex CEO over methane leak
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Stefanie Eschenbacher | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Opposition Senator Xochitl Galvez, who sits on committees for the environment and energy, filed the complaint to the attorney general's office against Energy Minister Rocio Nahle, Pemex CEO Octavio Romero and Angel Carrizales, who heads environmental regulator ASEA. Reuters sought comment from Nahle, Romero and Carrizales through the press teams at the energy ministry, Pemex and the regulator. Reuters also contacted Nahle, Romero and Carrizales via email and Twitter without response. The methane leak at the Zaap-C platform, which first appeared on Dec. 8, was uncovered by researchers led by Itziar Irakulis Loitxate from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. The criminal complaint filed by Galvez on Wednesday is the third complaint the senator has submitted in recent weeks after Reuters reports on Pemex methane leaks.

☆ Crop monitoring startup PlanetWatchers used this 11-slide pitch deck to raise a $11 million Series A from Seraphim Space and help farmers get paid after extreme weather events.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A crop monitoring startup just raised a $11 million Series A from Seraphim Space. We got an exclusive look at the 11-slide redacted pitch deck it used to raise the funds. A startup helping to insure the agriculture industry through crop monitoring has raised a $11 million Series A from Seraphim Space. London-based PlanetWatchers has developed an analytics platform for crops, which it can monitor at any time and regardless of weather. The means PlanetWatchers can give accurate data to insurance companies no matter the weather, he added.

☆ Telescopes and satellites captured clouds and spider-like plumes of debris after NASA smashed a spacecraft into an asteroid
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

NASA's DART spacecraft successfully crashed into an asteroid on Monday night. The spacecraft took images of its impending doom until the very end, when it rammed into the targeted space rock: Dimorphos. LICIACube image showing the dusty aftermath of the DART impact. ASI/NASAThe tiny Italian satellite captured spider-like plumes of debris emanating from the targeted space rock, below. About three minutes post-crash, LICIACube flew within 35 miles of the asteroid Dimorphos, to survey the collision's aftermath.

☆ EXCLUSIVE Mexican regulator has no record of Pemex reporting methane leak, documents show
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Stefanie Eschenbacher | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

A fuel burner is seen at Mexico's state-run oil monopoly Pemex platform "Ku Maloob Zaap" in the Northeast Marine Region of Pemex Exploration and Production in the Bay of Campeche April 19, 2013. REUTERS/Victor Ruiz Garcia/File PhotoMEXICO CITY, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Mexico's environmental regulator has no records of state oil company Pemex reporting a methane leak last December at the country's top oil field, according to the regulator's response to a freedom of information request filed by Reuters. The methane leak at the Zaap-C platform, which first appeared on Dec. 8, was uncovered by researchers led by Itziar Irakulis Loitxate from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. The methane leak from the Zaap-C platform was not among the 5,235 incidents ASEA disclosed to Reuters in its response. Pemex, the world's most indebted oil company, has acknowledged in public statements the challenges it faces in maintaining and repairing ailing infrastructure.

A DART view of the Dimorphos asteroid right before impact. NASA via YouTubeThe DART spacecraft, which is about the size of a vending machine, crashed into Dimorphos at 7:14 p.m. "Oh my goodness," said Elena Adams, a DART mission systems engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. The DART mission is functioning as a proof of concept of asteroid deflection as a planetary defense strategy. Betts said he hopes the DART mission will continue to raise awareness about the importance of planetary defense.

The mission, known as DART, or the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, will attempt a method of planetary defense that could save Earth from an asteroid on a potential collision course with the planet. On Monday, the spacecraft will crash into Dimorphos at a blistering speed of around 4 miles per second, or 15,000 mph. Ground-based telescopes will be used to time Dimorphos' orbit and determine whether the mission was a success. The Applied Physics Lab built and manages the $325 million DART mission for NASA. Even if the DART mission fails, scientists will learn a lot from the experiment, said Andrea Riley, a program executive in NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

☆ Sierra Space weighs public offering to help fund space station, president says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Janet Kavandi, president of Sierra Space, scientist and astronaut, attends the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) space exploration conference in Paris, France, September 19, 2022. No private company has built a space station. "It is one of many considerations," Sierra Space President Janet Kavandi said of a public offering, speaking to Reuters at the International Astronautical Congress in Paris. Sierra Space hopes to have the first elements of the station in orbit by about 2027. "I don't think you can overstate its importance," Michael López-Alegría, Axiom's chief astronaut, said of getting their space station to market first.

☆ NASA's unprecedented DART mission will intentionally slam a spacecraft into an asteroid next week
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test will collide with an asteroid on September 26. NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 in November 2021, with the aim of nudging a space rock into a slightly tighter orbit around its companion asteroid. The $308 million spacecraft traveled 6.8 million miles from Earth to Dimorphos, a small asteroid orbiting the asteroid Didymos. NASA JPL DART Navigation TeamOn Monday, September 26, four hours before impact, DART will switch into autonomous mode, steering itself toward its target. An animation from behind as NASA's first planetary defense test mission, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, collides with the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos.

☆ Saudi Arabia buys pair of SpaceX astronaut seats from Axiom
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Under the deal, two Saudi astronauts will ride SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule to the space station for a roughly weeklong stay early next year, the sources said. Officials with the Saudi Space Commission, Riyadh's space agency founded in 2018, were not immediately available to comment. The Saudi astronauts will join two previously announced Americans, retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and race car driver and investor John Shoffner, the sources said. For Axiom and other space companies, cutting deals with foreign governments is seen as vital to sustaining a business centered on putting people in space. Axiom's astronaut flight business is crucial experience for the company's broader goals of deploying its own private space station by mid-decade.

☆ Exclusive: Saudi Arabia buys pair of SpaceX astronaut seats from Axiom -sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Under the deal, two Saudi astronauts will ride SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule to the space station for a roughly weeklong stay early next year, the sources said. Officials with the Saudi Space Commission, Riyadh's space agency founded in 2018, were not immediately available to comment. The Saudi astronauts will join two previously announced Americans, retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and race car driver and investor John Shoffner, the sources said. Axiom launched its first private mission to the space station in April, sending a four-man crew to the space station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that included a Canadian investor and an Israeli businessman. Axiom's astronaut flight business is crucial experience for the company's broader goals of deploying its own private space station by mid-decade.

NASA's Perseverance rover has collected several "tantalizing" rock samples from an ancient river delta on Mars, setting the stage for an elaborate future mission that aims to retrieve the specimens and bring them back to Earth. Perseverance has been exploring the 28-mile-wide basin of Jezero Crater since it touched down on Mars in February 2021. The rover previously found igneous rocks, likely formed deep underground through volcanic processes, on the crater floor. Perseverance has collected 12 "scientifically compelling" rock cores to date, along with one sample of the Red Planet's atmosphere. Subsequent missions will send another spacecraft to Mars to collect the samples and ferry them back to Earth for more detailed analysis.

☆ Side-by-side photographic glass plates and James Webb images show how telescope technology has evolved since the 1800s
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-10 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, astronomers catalogued the universe on glass photographic plates. Compared to faint objects stamped on plates, the James Webb Space Telescope's images show dramatic improvements in telescope technology. The exposures were made on glass plates coated with photosensitive emulsions, with astronomers later developing the plates like film in a darkroom. Compared with Webb's infrared images, photographic plates of the same parts of the night sky show how developments in technology led to clearer and deeper views of the cosmos. Webb's clear views of interacting galaxies offer sharper detail than faint glass plate imagesA glass plate image of Stephan's Quintet taken in 1974, left.

☆ SpaceX and ULA set to launch robots into orbit next year that will grab space junk and fix satellites
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-27 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rogue Space Systems' robots will carry out different tasks, like fixing satellites and tackling space debris. Barry, a space robot built by Rogue Space Systems. Rogue Space Systems. Laura, a space robot built by Rogue Space Systems. Fred, a space robot built by Rogue Space Systems.

☆ Spacesuit battery glitch forces early end to Russian spacewalk
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-17 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Aug 17 (Reuters) - A Russian spacewalk outside the International Space Station ended hours earlier than planned on Wednesday after a cosmonaut discovered an electrical issue with his spacesuit, U.S. and Russian officials said. Artemyev returned to the airlock and connected his suit to the space station's power. Russian flight controllers opted to call off the spacewalk early once Denis Matveev, the other cosmonaut performing the spacewalk, gathered his tools and positioned the robotic arm they had been upgrading back into its normal position. Upon Matveev's return, the spacewalk ended after 4 hours, at 1:54 p.m. Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Chris Reese, Alex Richardson and Diane CraftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University, will be using the Webb telescope to do just that. The Webb telescope, a collaboration among NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, launched into space Dec. 25, 2021. The James Webb Space Telescope captured different wavelengths of light from an exoplanet known as WASP-96b, located more than 1,000 light-years away from Earth. Space Telescope Science Institute / NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScITelescopes like Webb can essentially peer back into the universe's history because it takes time for light to travel through space. Billed as the successor to the prolific Hubble Space Telescope, the Webb observatory is designed to study the earliest stars and galaxies in the universe.

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