Tag: Incredible Technology

How AI-powered lasers could help with space debris

NeRD

Low-Earth orbit is teeming with space junk. This increasingly cluttered area of space could benefit from a network of lasers that nudge objects at risk of colliding with satellites or spacecraft into safer orbits, according to new research. While space debris has been a concern for decades, efforts to address this junk have only recently started receiving serious investment. The latest early-stage idea is to mount artificial intelligence-powered lasers on satellites or other dedicated platforms and have them monitor space debris objects. When an object is suspected to be on…

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All aboard! Train tugs Artemis 2 moon rocket parts to the NASA launch center (photos, video)

NeRD

Rocket pieces for the first human moon mission in 50 years glided into their launch center via rail. NASA‘s massive rocket booster segments, too large to ship by other means, safely arrived at a Florida railyard for a “turning point” in launching Artemis 2 and four astronauts around the moon late next year, agency officials stated on Sept. 25. The boosters will support the agency’s powerful Space Launch System rocket during the moon mission’s launch in 2024. The SLS, the most powerful rocket ever built, will nevertheless require help from…

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Spain’s new cubesats will fly in space like a flock of geese

NeRD

Europe’s next launch will send a trio of CubeSats to Earth’s orbit that mimic birds flying in formation. The endeavor, dubbed Advanced Nanosatellite Systems for Earth-observation Research, or ANSER, consists of three shoebox-sized satellites that will monitor Iberian waters as if they are a single, standard-sized satellite. Launching on an Arianespace Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Guiana Space Center on Oct. 4, the CubeSats will operate about 500 kilometers (310 miles) above Earth, maintaining an optimum distance of 10 km (6.2 miles) apart from each other. Notably, however, the spacecraft will…

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NASA delays launch of Psyche asteroid mission by 1 week, to Oct. 12

NeRD

We’ll have to wait another week to see NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission take flight. Psyche had been scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Oct. 5. But that’s no longer the plan; the mission team has pushed the liftoff back to Oct. 12. “The change allows the NASA team to complete verifications of the parameters used to control the Psyche spacecraft’s nitrogen cold gas thrusters,” NASA officials wrote in an update on Thursday evening (Sept. 28). “The parameters were…

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Heating and cooling space habitats isn’t easy – one engineering team is developing a lighter, more efficient solution

NeRD

China, India and the U.S. have all achieved landing on the Moon in the 2020s. Once there, their eventual goal is to set up a base. But a successful base – along with the spacecraft that will carry people to it – must be habitable for humans. And a big part of creating a habitable base is making sure the heating and cooling systems work. That’s especially true because the ambient temperature of potential places for a base can vary widely. Lunar equatorial temperatures can range from minus 208 to 250 degrees Farenheit (minus 130 to 120…

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Next stop, Europa? Nano subs to get test beneath Antarctic ice in 2026

NeRD

Submarines, it turns out, could have a big future in space exploration. The subsurface oceans of the Jupiter moon Europa and Saturn satellite Enceladus are perhaps the most tantalizing places in the solar system in the search for alien life. But these water bodies remain out of reach, hundreds millions of miles away and beneath thick icy crusts. Now, a European collaboration aims to break through some of the technological and physical barriers in the way of future exploration of icy moons and their waters, using Antarctica as a proving…

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