Uruguay signs Artemis Accords for responsible space exploration

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Uruguay has joined the United States’ effort to establish widespread principles to guide space exploration. Uruguay’s foreign minister Omar Paganini signed the Artemis Accords on behalf of the South American country during the annual U.S.-Uruguay bilateral inter-ministerial dialogue on Feb. 15 in Washington, D.C. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson participated in the signing ceremony for the agency. “NASA welcomes Uruguay as the newest member of the Artemis Accords family,” Nelson said in a NASA statement. “The United States and Uruguay share a commitment to democracy and peace, and now, we expand…

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Discovery Alert: Glowing Cloud Points to a Cosmic Collision

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3 min read Discovery Alert: Glowing Cloud Points to a Cosmic Collision This illustration depicts the aftermath of a collision between two giant exoplanets. What remains is a hot, molten planetary core and a swirling, glowing cloud of dust and debris. Mark A. Garlick The Discovery:  A glowing cosmic cloud has revealed a cataclysmic collision. Key Facts: Even within our own solar system, scientists have seen evidence of giant, planetary collisions from long ago. Remaining clues like Uranus’ tilt and the existence of Earth’s moon point to times in our…

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30 Years Ago: Clementine Changes Our View of the Moon

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In 1994, a joint NASA and Department of Defense (DOD) mission called Clementine dramatically changed our view of the Moon. As the first U.S. mission to the Moon in more than two decades, Clementine’s primary objectives involved technology demonstrations to test lightweight component and sensor performance. The lightweight sensors aboard the spacecraft returned 1.6 million digital images, providing the first global multispectral and topographic maps of the Moon. Data from a radar instrument indicated that large quantities of water ice may lie in permanently shadowed craters at lunar south pole,…

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NASA Administrator to Discuss Science with Crew Aboard Space Station

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The International Space Station is pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly around of the orbiting lab that took place following its undocking from the Harmony module’s space-facing port on Nov. 8, 2021. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will discuss recent science research and technology demonstrations aboard the International Space Station at 10:35 a.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 21, with astronauts living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory. During the Earth-to-space call, leadership and the crew will discuss a tech experiment demonstrating the performance of a small robot remotely…

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Watch Russian Progress cargo ship arrive at the ISS early Feb. 17

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Russia’s robotic Progress 87 cargo ship will arrive at the International Space Station early Saturday morning (Feb. 17), and you can watch the action live. Progress 87 launched toward the orbiting lab on Wednesday night (Feb. 14), riding a Soyuz rocket into the sky from the Russian-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The freighter is scheduled to catch up to the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday at 1:12 a.m. EST (0612 GMT). Watch the rendezvous live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the space agency’s YouTube channel…

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Signing Our Names

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The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II mission received its latest makeover. Teams adhered the agency’s iconic “worm” logo and ESA (European Space Agency) insignia on the spacecraft’s crew module adapter on Sunday, Jan. 28, inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA/Rad Sinyak NASA’s iconic “worm” logo and ESA’s (European Space Agency) insignia are painted on the Orion spacecraft’s crew module adapter in this image from Feb. 1, 2024. The adapter houses electronic equipment for communications, power, and control, and includes…

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Rocket Propellant Tanks for NASA’s Artemis III Mission Take Shape

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All the major structures that will form the core stage for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for the agency’s Artemis III mission are structurally complete. Technicians finished welding the 51-foot liquid oxygen tank structure, left, inside the Vertical Assembly Building at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans Jan. 8. The liquid hydrogen tank, right, completed internal cleaning Nov. 14. NASA/Michael DeMocker As NASA works to develop all the systems needed to return astronauts to the Moon under its Artemis campaign for the benefit of all, the SLS (Space…

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ISS astronauts show what it’s like to capture a spacecraft with a robotic arm (video)

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Robot, meet spacecraft. A new video shows what it’s like to capture a visiting cargo ship at the International Space Station (ISS) — specifically, a Northrop Grumman Cygnus vehicle, which arrived Feb. 1 with vital supplies for the Expedition 70 crew. NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara worked together at the controls of the Canadarm2 robot arm, in the ISS wraparound Cupola window, to make the cosmic catch. Moghbeli posted the footage on X, formerly Twitter, on Feb. 13. Related: Private Cygnus cargo ship arrives at the ISS carrying…

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NASA Stennis Celebrates Milestone for Historic Autonomous Systems Mission

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2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Stennis Space Center and Sidus Space, Inc., marked another milestone February 15 for the Center’s first-ever in-flight autonomous systems software mission as a payload rider on the Sidus Space LizzieSatTM small satellite. “Each step brings us a step closer to deployment of ASTRA (Autonomous Satellite Technology for Resilient Applications) in space,” said Chris Carmichael, NASA Stennis Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ASL) Branch Chief. “We are excited with the progress as we continue to collaborate with Sidus Space on this…

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Watch India launch powerful weather satellite to orbit on Feb. 17

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India plans to launch a powerful weather satellite to orbit on Saturday morning (Feb. 17), and you can watch the action live. The INSAT-3DS satellite is scheduled to lift off atop a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) on Saturday at 7:00 a.m. EST (1200 GMT; 5:30 p.m. local India time) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India’s southeast coast. You can watch it live here at Space.com courtesy of the Indian Space Research Organisation, or directly via ISRO. Related: The latest news about India’s space program India’s INSAT-3DS weather and…

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