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Jul 31, 2020

Successful Launch Sends Perseverance on Seven-Month Journey to Mars

Posted by in category: space

The team controlling NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover has received telemetry (detailed spacecraft data) down from the spacecraft and has also been able to send commands up to the spacecraft, according to Matt Wallace, the mission’s deputy project manager. The team, based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, has confirmed that the spacecraft is healthy and on its way to Mars.

Wallace provided a more detailed update on two issues during launch operations:

First, the proximity of the spacecraft to Earth immediately after launch was saturating the ground station receivers of NASA’s Deep Space Network. This is a known issue that we have encountered on other planetary missions, including during the launch of NASA’s Curiosity rover in 2011. The Perseverance team worked through prepared mitigation strategies that included detuning the receivers and pointing the antennas slightly off-target from the spacecraft to bring the signal within an acceptable range. We are now in lock on telemetry after taking these actions.

Jul 30, 2020

The Two Forms of Mathematical Beauty

Posted by in categories: mathematics, space

Mathematicians typically appreciate either generic or exceptional beauty in their work, but one type is more useful in describing the universe.

Jul 30, 2020

Astrophysicists observe long-theorized quantum phenomena

Posted by in categories: energy, quantum physics, space

At the heart of every white dwarf star—the dense stellar object that remains after a star has burned away its fuel reserve of gases as it nears the end of its life cycle—lies a quantum conundrum: as white dwarfs add mass, they shrink in size, until they become so small and tightly compacted that they cannot sustain themselves, collapsing into a neutron star.

This puzzling relationship between a white dwarf’s mass and size, called the mass-radius relation, was first theorized by Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar in the 1930s. Now, a team of Johns Hopkins astrophysicists has developed a method to observe the phenomenon itself using collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and a recent dataset released by the Gaia Space Observatory. The combined datasets provided more than 3,000 white dwarfs for the team to study.

A report of their findings, led by Hopkins senior Vedant Chandra, is now in press in Astrophysical Journal and available online on arXiv.

Jul 30, 2020

NASA launches Mars 2020 rover mission

Posted by in category: space

The next Mars rover mission, Perseverance, is on its way to the Red Planet to look for signs of ancient life and collect samples for return to Earth.

Jul 30, 2020

NASA’s Perseverance rover leaves Earth bound for Mars

Posted by in category: space

United Launch Alliance teams have started the countdown for launch of an Atlas 5 rocket Thursday from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. The two-hour launch window opens at 7:50 a.m. EDT (1150 GMT).

LIVE COVERAGE: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/28/atlas-5-av-088-mission-status-center/

Jul 30, 2020

Astronomers Find Stream of Early Universe Stars, Torn Apart

Posted by in category: space

Astronomers have discovered a mysterious stream of ancient stars at the distant edges of the galaxy: a strange stellar breed so unlike any we’ve seen before, they may very well be the last of their kind.

This unusual collection of stars – called the ‘Phoenix stream’, after the Phoenix constellation in which they are visible – is what’s known as a stellar stream: an elongated chain of stars that used to exist in a spherical form, known as a globular cluster.

Continue reading “Astronomers Find Stream of Early Universe Stars, Torn Apart” »

Jul 29, 2020

The first interplanetary helicopter, Ingenuity, is ready for liftoff on a 7-month voyage to Mars

Posted by in category: space

Read more about the aeronautical innovators at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory & NASA Ames Research Center who worked together to prepare for NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover’s #CountdownToMars: https://go.nasa.gov/2CQLLeA

Jul 29, 2020

China’s Mars probe Tianwen-1 leaves Earth’s gravitational field, sends back photo of Earth, moon: CNSA

Posted by in category: space

Photo: courtesy of china national space administration

Tianwen-1, China’s first Mars probe, has smoothly flown more than 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth, leaving Earth’s gravitational field, and entering planned interplanetary orbit, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Tuesday.

According to a press release the CNSA provided to the Global Times on Tuesday, the spacecraft is operating properly. Flight control and data communication is underway in an orderly and clear fashion.

Jul 29, 2020

Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

Posted by in category: space

Use this interactive launch guest packet to learn more about the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover launch and download all the printable resources available for launch.

Jul 29, 2020

Say “Bon Voyage” to our Mars Perseverance Rover!

Posted by in category: space

We’re going back to Mars! NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover will be launching soon for its seven-month journey to the Red Planet to search for signs of ancient life. And it’s bringing along a friend: a little helicopter named Ingenuity! Ingenuity will test the first powered flight on Mars.

Join us in wishing Perseverance and Ingenuity “bon voyage” on their #CountdownToMars! https://go.nasa.gov/2CJHidq

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