Expedition Space: Space Launch, Events, News

Where is the center of the Egg Nebula? Emerging from a cosmic egg, the star in the center of the Egg Nebula is casting away shells of gas and dust as it slowly transforms itself into a white dwarf star. The Egg Nebula is a rapidly evolving pre- planetary nebula spanning about one light year. It lies some 3,000 light-years away toward the northern constellation Cygnus. Thick dust blocks the center star from view, while the dust shells farther out reflect light from this star. Light vibrating in the plane defined by each dust grain, the central star, and the observer is preferentially reflected, causing an effect known as polarization. Measuring the orientation of the polarized light for the Egg Nebula gives clues to location of the hidden source. Taken by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2002, this image is rendered in artifical "Easter-Egg" colors coded to highlight the orientation of polarization. via NASA https://ift.tt/5uABIpY

Fainter stars in the zodiacal constellation Capricornus are scattered near the plane of the ecliptic in this field of view. The two brightest ones at center aren't stars at all though, but the planets Mars and Saturn. Taken on the morning of April 4, the telescopic snapshot captured their tantalizing close conjunction in a predawn sky, the pair of planets separated by only about 1/3 of a degree. That's easily less than the apparent width of a Full Moon. Can you tell which planet is which? If you guessed Mars is the redder one , you'd be right. Above Mars, slightly fainter Saturn still shines with a paler yellowish tinge in reflected sunlight. Even at the low magnification, Saturn's largest and brightest moon Titan can be spotted hugging the planet very closely on the left. via NASA https://ift.tt/9lkbriN

by Jeff Foust WASHINGTON — The White House released a first look at its budget proposal for fiscal year 2022 that includes an increase in funding for NASA, particularly Earth science and space technology programs. The 58-page budget document , released April 9, outlines the Biden administration discretionary spending priorities. It provides only high-level details, though, with a full budget proposal expected later in the spring. For NASA, the White House is proposing an overall budget of approximately $24.7 billion in fiscal year 2022, an increase of about 6.3% from the $23.271 billion the agency received in the final fiscal year 2021 omnibus spending bill. The document does not provide a full breakout of NASA spending across its various programs, but does highlight increases in several areas. NASA’s Earth science program, which received $2 billion in 2021, would get $2.3 billion in 2022, a 15% increase. The funding, the document states, would be used to “initiate the next gener...

by Brian Berger SEOUL, South Korea — Japanese camera maker Nikon has acquired a controlling stake in U.S. startup Morf3D , an aerospace supplier that has produced 3D-printed metallic flight hardware for Boeing satellites and helicopters. The deal gives Tokyo-based Nikon a foothold in the flourishing satellite industry. “Morf3D has proven leadership in metal additive technology, a strong innovation pipeline and highly specialized aerospace manufacturing qualifications,” said Nikon vice president Yuichi Shibazaki in a statement on April 6. “This combination [of the two companies] is well-aligned with Nikon’s vision for accelerating industrialization of AM [additive manufacturing] through innovation, and we look forward to working together to deliver exciting next-generation AM solutions to customers globally.” Additive manufacturing, also known casually as 3D printing or rapid prototyping, is a process that Morf3D uses to solve what it calls “complex design and manufacturing chal...

by Jeff Foust WASHINGTON — A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut arrived at the International Space Station April 9, a few hours after its launch from Kazakhstan. A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 3:42 a.m. Eastern, placing the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft into orbit. That spacecraft docked with the station’s Rassvet module at 7:05 a.m. Eastern after a two-orbit approach to the station. The Soyuz brought to the station NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov. They will remain on the station through at least October as part of the Expedition 65 crew. Novitsky, commander of the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, will return to Earth in October on that spacecraft. However, both Dubrov and Vande Hei may remain on the station for up to a year if Roscosmos decides to fly spaceflight participants on the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft in October. Those spaceflight participants — likely a director an...

Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial wonder was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mechain. Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend and colleague Charles Messier as M106. Modern deep telescopic views reveal it to be an island universe - a spiral galaxy around 30 thousand light-years across located only about 21 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way. Along with a bright central core, this stunning galaxy portrait, a composite of image data from amateur and professional telescopes, highlights youthful blue star clusters and reddish stellar nurseries tracing the galaxy's spiral arms. It also shows off remarkable reddish jets of glowing hydrogen gas. In addition to small companion galaxy NGC 4248 at bottom right, background galaxies can be found scattered throughout the frame. M106, also known as NGC 4258, is a nearby example of the Seyfert class of active g...

by Jeff Foust WASHINGTON — The new chief executive of OneWeb says the company is still pursuing some kind of navigation capability for its broadband satellite constellation, although a full-fledged service may have to wait until a second-generation system. Neil Masterson, a former executive with Thomson Reuters who was named chief executive of OneWeb when it emerged from bankruptcy in November 2020 , said the company was planning to demonstrate a navigation service later this year, working with unnamed British organizations. The British government, along with Indian telecom company Bharti Global, acquired OneWeb out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year. “We expect to have a demo capability available later this year, and we’re working with certain bodies in the U.K. to advance our thinking there and help design that,” he said during a session of the Satellite 2021 LEO Digital Forum April 7. “We think that there’s something that can be done with the existing Gen 1 design. It’s a bit p...

by Sandra Erwin WASHINGTON — The Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a new report released April 8 projects that by 2040 China will be the most significant rival to the United States in space, competing on commercial, civil and military fronts. The report projects widespread access to space technologies by many nations and increasing use of on-orbit manufacturing and logistics services. Global Trends 2040 is a quadrennial unclassified forecast written by the ODNI’s advisory panel, the National Intelligence Council. It looks at the trends and dynamics that are likely to shape the national security environment over the next 20 years. With regard to space, the report makes several predictions: By 2040, an increasing number of countries will be participating in space exploration as part of international cooperative efforts.   These countries will acquire national prestige, opportunities for scientific and technical advancement and potential economic benefits. ...