Four astronauts - three from the US and one from Japan - have launched from Florida on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The crew rode to orbit in a rocket and capsule provided by the SpaceX company.
It's only the second time the firm has supplied the service.
The US space agency Nasa has said it is now entering a new era in which routine astronaut journeys to low-Earth orbit are being conducted by commercial providers.
The four individuals making their way up to the ISS are the Americans Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and the highly experienced Japanese space agency (Jaxa) astronaut Soichi Noguchi.
Nov 15, 2020
NASA Gets Ready to Bring Rock Samples from this Planet to Earth
In a historical development, world's premier space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is going to attempt to bring Mars rock samples back to Earth. The samples will be brought back to Earth in order to help NASA scientists to study about the surface of the Red Planet.
An independent review report was released by US-based NASA hinting the agency is all set to undertake its Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign to bring rock samples from the Red Planet.
The agency established the MSR Independent Review Board (IRB) to evaluate its early concepts for a groundbreaking, international partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) to return the first samples from another planet.
After a thorough review of the agency's planning over the past several years, the IRB unanimously believes that NASA is now ready to carry out the MSR program, the next step for robotic exploration of Mars.
SpaceX Launch of Crew on First Operational Mission Delayed
NASA and high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX announced a 24-hour weather delay of their planned launch of four astronauts into orbit for NASA's first full-fledged human mission using a privately owned spacecraft.
The liftoff time slipped due to forecasts of gusty, onshore winds over Florida -- remnants of Tropical Storm Eta -- that would have made a return landing for the Falcon 9 rocket's reusable booster stage difficult.
SpaceX's newly designed Crew Dragon capsule, dubbed "Resilience" by its crew, was rescheduled for launch atop the Falcon 9 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.
The crew for the flight to the International Space Station includes three American astronauts -- Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and the mission commander, Mike Hopkins, a U.S. Air Force colonel who is to be sworn into the fledgling U.S. Space Force once aboard the orbiting laboratory.
The fourth crew member is Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi, making his third trip to orbit after flying on the US space shuttle in 2005 and a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2009.
Nov 14, 2020
New Sentinel Satellites to Check the Pulse of Earth
Yet more Sentinel satellites are to be built for the EU's Copernicus Earth observation network.
Contracts have been announced with industry to procure spacecraft that can provide information on a range of parameters - from the extent of Arctic sea-ice to the condition of soils in drought-hit regions of the world.
The new satellites are expected to launch towards the decade's end.
This depends, however, on sufficient further funding being identified.
Copernicus, with its Sentinel spacecraft, represents arguably the most ambitious EO programme in the world right now.
While a number of commercial concerns are launching larger numbers of satellites to map the Earth, none is investing in so wide a range of high-fidelity sensor types.
Nov 12, 2020
India's Quest for its Own SpaceX Hits a Milestone
Bengaluru startup Pixxel aims to launch a constellation of Earth observation small satellites whose data can have multiple applications in agriculture and other sectors. Its first satellite was good to go on a Soyuz rocket this month, but the launch was put off to March next year because the main satellite riding on the Russian vehicle wasn't ready.
Makers of small satellites have to piggyback on rockets that have large payloads.
Hence the emergence of dozens of startups developing small-satellite launches vehicles. US-based Rocket Lab has already proved its viability, launching its 15th commercial payload last month with 10 small satellites. Its next mission later this month aims to deploy 30 small satellites.
OTT Platforms, News Sites Now under I&B
In a move much anticipated, a notification signed by President Ram Nath Kovind brings over-the-top (OTT) platforms like online news portals and streaming services under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
While Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar had assured in 2019 that the Centre would not curb media freedom, he had stressed the need for a regulatory mechanism for the digital media, just as the one for other mediums like the print and electronic.
Nov 11, 2020
Researcher Developing Novel System for Nuclear Waste Repositories
A Texas A&M professor, in collaboration with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, received a Department of Energy grant to develop a system in engineered barriers to isolate and contain nuclear fuel waste.
Nuclear power plants have supplied about 20% of the United States' annual electricity generation since 1990, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But that energy creates high-level radioactive waste that has to be stored.
Yong-Rak Kim, professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been awarded a U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Energy University Program grant to develop a novel system in engineered barriers to permanently isolate and contain nuclear fuel waste. Kim is collaborating with researchers from Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
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