Nasa’s PACE ocean-monitoring satellite all set to be launched on Tuesday

NEW DELHI: Nasa‘s PACE spacecraft is set to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Tuesday at 1.33 am EST (12.03 pm IST). PACE, which is short for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem, aims to map the colors of the ocean and help scientists gauge the health … Read more

This robotic, solar-powered plane might be NASA’s new way to explore Mars

Last week, the Ingenuity Mars helicopter made its final flight, far exceeding the expectations of a mission that began nearly three years ago. Now, NASA may be looking at a fixed-wing aircraft to hit the red planet’s skies next. In 2021 the Perseverance rover landed on Mars carrying a small helicopter under its belly named … Read more

Launch day is finally close for these students and their teensy, climate-measuring satellite

Daniel Dolomont, Muneeb Azher, Victoria Vaters and C-CORE vice-president of remote sensing Desmond Power are just a few members of the big team behind the Killick-1 cube satellite. (Submitted by Memorial University) A team of students at Memorial University is counting down to blast-off.  The group of engineers designed and built their own satellite, with a plan … Read more

New study investigates threat of ‘watermelon snow’ to mountain glaciers

The Rocky Mountains conjure up images of grey rugged peaks capped with white. But within the upper reaches of the harsh mountain landscapes, a rosier hue often blooms. Watermelon snow, also known as glacial blood, is caused by algae that turns the snow a startling shade of red. The algae blooms in summer, forming on … Read more

Lunar lander issue complicates privately-led U.S. moon mission

A robotic lander built by a private company suffered a technical problem on its way to the moon on Monday, threatening to upend the first U.S. soft lunar landing in over 50 years. The issue with the lander’s propulsion system followed a successful launch of a new Vulcan rocket debuted by a joint venture of … Read more

How artificial intelligence can help beavers fight floods, droughts and wildfires

A few years ago, a couple of Google employees reached out to a Minnesota scientist with an unusual proposal: What if they could teach computers to spot beaver habitats from space?  “They wanted to know if I thought it was possible to find beaver wetlands from aerial imagery myself, and then if that could be … Read more

After US, India second country to send dedicated satellite to study black holes | India News

SRIHARIKOTA: Isro ushered in the New Year with the successful launch of XPoSat (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite), India’s first satellite to conduct research on black holes and other celestial objects. Workhorse PSLV placed the satellite on its 60th flight in a 650km orbit. The final stage of PSLV-C58 then turned into an orbital experimental module (POEM) … Read more

This UBC grad has discovered thousands of likely planets across our cosmos

At 30 years old, Michelle Kunimoto already has more than 3,000 planet candidates under her belt. Inspired by science fiction and curiosity, the University of British Columbia astronomy graduate is passionate about searching for exoplanets — bodies orbiting stars outside our own solar system. She’s currently leading a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) hunting for them. … Read more

Isro to begin New Year with XPoSat launch; 10 other payloads to go on POEM

BENGALURU: India’s space activity in 2024 is expected to start with a launch on the very first day, with Isro having begun the last leg of pre-launch preparations to put into space X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) on a PSLV, whose last stage will host 10 other payloads after injecting the main satellite.Multiple Isro officials confirmed … Read more

Mini-satellite constructed by N.B. university students set to orbit Earth

A group of New Brunswick university students is one step closer to launching a mini-satellite into space. Satellite Violet is named after New Brunswick’s provincial flower and is about the size of a loaf of bread. It successfully passed the testing phase at the Canadian Space Agency in Montreal and is headed to the International Space Station … Read more