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Orbital Sidekick: Bringing Hyperspectral Imaging from the Garage to the Pentagon – Breaking Defense

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221116_ESA_hyperspectral_image

All Domain, Space Hyperspectral satellite imagery can provide detailed information about the composition of terrestrial objects. (European Space Agency) WASHINGTON The first space-based hyperspectral imaging sensor built by San Francisco-based startup Orbital Sidekick, founded in 2016, literally flew from CEO and co-founder Dan Katz’s garage to the International Space Station as an experiment for the … Read more

Helicopter on Mars calls home after lengthy communications blackout – Spaceflight Now

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Helicopter on Mars calls home after lengthy communications blackout - Spaceflight Now

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopters navigation camera captured the aircraft in the shadows during its 52nd flight on April 26, 2023. This image was finally received after Ingenuity was out of communication for 63 days. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech. NASA engineers are preparing the miniature Mars helicopter Ingenuity for its 53rd flight to the surface of the Red … Read more

Astro-tourism in search of eclipses, meteor showers and dark skies elusive from Earth

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Astro-tourism in search of eclipses, meteor showers and dark skies elusive from Earth

For years, small groups of astronomy enthusiasts have traveled the world in pursuit of the rare solar eclipse. They’ve embarked on mid-ocean cruises, taken flights in the path of eclipses, and even traveled to Antarctica. In August 2017, millions of people in the United States witnessed a total solar eclipse visible from Oregon to South … Read more

Moorhead’s astronomy professor can now operate the telescope from his couch

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a large black telescope with attached camera is shown

MOORHEAD A professor in the Physics and Astronomy department at Minnesota State University’s Moorhead is sleeping a lot more these days and doing more work at the same time. Matt Craig now has the ability to operate the telescope at the MSUM Regional Science Center near Buffalo River State Park from his home in Moorhead. … Read more

The Outer Worlds is a warning of the corporate space age we’re heading towards

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The Outer Worlds: Standard -...

What if you could just escape, not just to a new city or a new country, but to a new planet? Would it be far enough from everything? Would you finally be free? Obsidian Entertainment’s 2019 video game “The Outer Worlds” asks and answers just that question – and it just might make you glad … Read more

The Outer Worlds is a warning of the corporate space age we’re heading towards

by
The Outer Worlds: Standard -...

What if you could just escape, not just to a new city or a new country, but to a new planet? Would it be far enough from everything? Would you finally be free? Obsidian Entertainment’s 2019 video game “The Outer Worlds” asks and answers just that question – and it just might make you glad … Read more

Satellites discover ‘invisible’ auroras shining in infrared in Earth’s atmosphere

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Is an aurora still that impressive if it’s invisible? THE northern Lights, also known as auroras, are well known for their stunning displays of shimmering color, a delight to the human eye. They are also extremely interesting to science, as they are created by intense charged particles streaming in from the sun and interacting with … Read more

Unexpected chemical detectives: Surprise ALMA discovery aids search for protoplanets

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Chemical tests of protoplanets

Located in the constellation Sagittarius, the young star HD 169142 hosts a giant protoplanet embedded in its dusty, gas-rich protoplanetary disk. This artist’s conception shows the Jupiter-like planet interacting with and heating nearby molecular gas, driving the observed outflows into several emission lines, including those from shock-tracing molecules such as SO and SiS, and the … Read more

ESA’s Euclid mission has set off to explore the dark universe

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ESA's Euclid mission has set off to explore the dark universe

Saturday 1 July (Canada Day!), the ESA Euclid space telescope lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. This next-generation astrophysics mission will spend the next few weeks flying to the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point, where it will spend the next six years observing a third of the sky. During that time, Euclid will observe billions … Read more