https://phys.org/space-news/space-exploration en-us Space exploration news and updates. Space missions and science news. Planet exploration and more. Space exploration has always captivated our imagination, offering the promise of discovering new worlds and pushing the boundaries of human capability. As commercial space travel becomes more accessible, individuals with various underlying health conditions—including heart failure—may soon be among those venturing beyond Earth's atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-scientists-heart-lung-potential-health.html Space Exploration Fri, 21 Jun 2024 00:00:01 EDT news638094713 Teams of NASA researchers put their next-generation technologies to the microgravity test in a series of parabolic flights that aim to advance innovations supporting the agency's space exploration goals. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-generation-nasa-technologies-flight.html Space Exploration Thu, 20 Jun 2024 14:55:03 EDT news638114101 Drones are being raced against the clock at Delft University of Technology's "Cyber Zoo" to test the performance of neural-network-based AI control systems planned for next-generation space missions. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-drone-neural-network-ai-space.html Space Exploration Thu, 20 Jun 2024 10:48:15 EDT news638099289 As space travel becomes more common, it is important to consider the impacts of space flight and altered gravity on the human body. Led by Dr. Ana Diaz Artiles, researchers at Texas A&M University are studying some of those impacts, specifically effects on the eye. The findings are published in the journal npj Microgravity. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-impacts-space-astronauts-eye-health.html Space Exploration Wed, 19 Jun 2024 12:25:14 EDT news638018711 In the coming decade, more people will go to space than ever before as human spaceflight enters a new era. NASA, the European Space Agency and other governmental agencies are partnering to develop crewed missions beyond the moon. At the same time, these agencies are collaborating with private companies using new technologies to drive down the price of space exploration. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-astronauts-medicine-thousands-miles-earth.html Space Exploration Wed, 19 Jun 2024 11:52:04 EDT news638016721 A late scrub due to weather on June 18 means it will have been at least 12 days since SpaceX last lit up the Space Coast sky with a rocket launch, the longest run between launches in more than a year. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-high-delay-spacex-cape-canaveral.html Space Exploration Wed, 19 Jun 2024 08:52:16 EDT news638005932 It's been 11 days since SpaceX last lit up the Space Coast sky with a rocket launch, the longest run between launches in more than a year. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-spacex-missions-cape-canaveral-tonight.html Space Exploration Tue, 18 Jun 2024 16:27:02 EDT news637946821 After months of driving, Perseverance has finally arrived at "Bright Angel," discovering oddly textured rock unlike any the rover has seen before. The team now plans to drive up the slope to uncover the origin of this rock sequence and its relationship to the margin unit. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-perseverance-popcorn-planet-mars.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Tue, 18 Jun 2024 15:28:52 EDT news637943330 NASA and Boeing are targeting a June 26 return to Earth of the Boeing Starliner from the International Space Station, officials said Tuesday. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-boeing-starliner-earth-june.html Space Exploration Tue, 18 Jun 2024 15:17:40 EDT news637942656 NASA aims to construct a lunar base through the Artemis program, a manned lunar exploration initiative. However, the practical reality of what the general public envisions for the space base differs somewhat from well-known science fiction movies. To build a base on the moon using abundant and diverse construction materials, significant transportation costs are involved. All these materials must be launched from Earth using rockets. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-laying-foundation-lunar-base-elucidating.html Space Exploration Tue, 18 Jun 2024 12:46:35 EDT news637933593 The NASA-led Artemis-3 mission will place the first human boots on the surface of the moon since Apollo 17's Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt left the lunar surface in December 1972. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-nations-moon.html Space Exploration Tue, 18 Jun 2024 12:40:01 EDT news637931350 NASA's LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) imaged China's Chang'e 6 sample return spacecraft on the far side of the moon on June 7. Chang'e 6 landed on June 1, and when LRO passed over the landing site almost a week later, it acquired an image showing the lander on the rim of an eroded, 55-yard-diameter (about 50 meters) crater. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-nasa-lro-china-spacecraft-lunar.html Space Exploration Mon, 17 Jun 2024 15:32:02 EDT news637857121 Will future humans use warp drives to explore the cosmos? We're in no position to eliminate the possibility. But if our distant descendants ever do, it won't involve dilithium crystals, and Scottish accents will have evaporated into history by then. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-warp-generate-gravitational.html Space Exploration Mon, 17 Jun 2024 14:18:03 EDT news637852681 Humanity is on the verge of entering a new era of space exploration, with the Artemis III mission planning to return humans to the moon in 2026, for the first time in 50 years. Not only will Artemis see a woman and a person of color walk on the lunar surface for the first time, but the week-long mission to the south pole of the moon will begin a period of longer and longer stays in space. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-cells-grown-microgravity-3d-medicine.html Space Exploration Mon, 17 Jun 2024 14:01:33 EDT news637851684 NASA said June 14 that the Boeing Starliner and its crew will now return to Earth from the International Space Station no earlier than Saturday, June 22. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-nasa-delays-boeing-starliner-home.html Space Exploration Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:23:47 EDT news637835023 NASA's Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, is sending science data again. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-nasa-voyager-distant-spacecraft-earth.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Sat, 15 Jun 2024 10:40:01 EDT news637639628 NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is conducting normal science operations for the first time following a technical issue that arose in November 2023. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-voyager-science-instruments.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Fri, 14 Jun 2024 12:45:02 EDT news637587899 A spacewalk scheduled for two astronauts outside the International Space Station was canceled by NASA about an hour before it was to begin Thursday morning. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-nasa-cancels-spacewalk-iss-spacesuit.html Space Exploration Thu, 13 Jun 2024 16:43:06 EDT news637515785 New Curtin University research could change how space missions are conducted and lead to improvements in industries as diverse as environmental management, agriculture, disaster management and infrastructure inspection. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-approach-space-missions-heights.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Thu, 13 Jun 2024 14:12:03 EDT news637506721 NASA has set its sights on the moon, aiming to send astronauts back to the lunar surface by 2026 and establish a long-term presence there by the 2030s. But the moon isn't exactly a habitable place for people. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-space-weather-future-artemis-astronauts.html Space Exploration Thu, 13 Jun 2024 10:18:15 EDT news637492689 ESA's Hera asteroid mission and its two CubeSats interacted as if they were in space, within the foam pyramid-lined walls of the Agency's Maxwell test chamber in the Netherlands. The trio communicated together, sharing data and ranging information at the same time as their Hera mothership received commands from its mission controllers at the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-hera-cubesats-mission.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Thu, 13 Jun 2024 10:17:20 EDT news637492636 A pair of NASA astronauts are scheduled to do a 6.5 hour spacewalk on the morning of June 13 outside the International Space Station. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-astronauts-spacewalk-starliner-crew-staying.html Space Exploration Thu, 13 Jun 2024 07:10:01 EDT news637481004 Fine motor tasks under space conditions are particularly challenging and must first be trained on Earth. Scientists from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) are investigating whether a robotic exoskeleton that can simulate weightlessness is suitable for astronautical training. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-parabolic-flight-exoskeleton-fine-motor.html Space Exploration Wed, 12 Jun 2024 16:36:03 EDT news637428961 So far, scientists have found around 34,000 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) that could serve as humanity's stepping stone to the stars. These balls of rock and ice hold valuable resources as we expand throughout the solar system, making them valuable real estate in any future space economy. But the 34,000 we know of only make up a small percentage of the total number of asteroids in our vicinity—some estimates theorize that up to 1 billion asteroids larger than a modern car exist near Earth. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-mission-million-earth-asteroids-year.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Wed, 12 Jun 2024 16:32:03 EDT news637428721 Proba-3 is ESA's—and the world's—first precision formation flying mission. A pair of satellites will fly together relative to the sun so that one casts a precisely-controlled shadow onto the other, to create a prolonged solar eclipse in orbit. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-video-eclipse-satellite-proba.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Wed, 12 Jun 2024 16:10:06 EDT news637427174 During the Rodent Research-1 (RR-1) mission flown to the ISS in 2014, videos that were taken to observe the mice revealed an unusual behavior that researchers are still working to understand. Young (16-week-old) but not old (32-week-old) mice engaged in a high level of "running" behavior beginning within two weeks of launch, according to research in Scientific Reports in 2019. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-quirky-circling-behavior-mice-humans.html Space Exploration Wed, 12 Jun 2024 15:57:39 EDT news637426647 Production of Galileo Second Generation satellites advances at full speed after two independent Satellite Critical Design Review boards have confirmed that the satellite designs of the respective industries meet all mission and performance requirements. This achievement is another crucial milestone hit on time in the ambitious schedule to develop the first 12 satellites of the Galileo Second Generation fleet. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-green-galileo-generation-satellite.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Wed, 12 Jun 2024 10:45:34 EDT news637407929 How bad for your health is space travel? Answering this question will be crucial not just for astronauts aiming to go to Mars, but for a booming space tourism industry planning to blast anyone who can afford it into orbit. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-human-bodies-recover-space-tourist.html Space Exploration Tue, 11 Jun 2024 15:56:20 EDT news637340169 There are plenty of crazy ideas for missions in the space exploration community. Some are just better funded than others. One of the early pathways to funding the crazy ideas is NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts. In 2017 and again in 2021, it funded a mission study of what most space enthusiasts would consider only a modestly ambitious goal but what those outside the community might consider outlandish—landing on Pluto. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-pluto.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Tue, 11 Jun 2024 15:10:08 EDT news637337401 The first all-civilian space mission is shedding light on the potential health risks facing private astronauts. The takeaway is short-duration spaceflights appear to pose none that are significant. The study sample was small—four people who spent three days in low-earth orbit (LEO) on the 2021 Inspiration4 mission. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-short-commercial-space-flights-big.html Space Exploration Tue, 11 Jun 2024 13:43:34 EDT news637332211