Video: Net successfully snares space debris
The RemoveDEBRIS satellite has successfully used its on-board net technology in orbit – the first demonstration in human history of active debris removal (ADR) technology.
Sep 19, 2018
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An artist's surreal view of Australia – created from satellite data captured 700km above Earth
There are more than 4,800 satellites orbiting Earth. They bristle with sensors – trained towards Earth and into space – recording and transmitting many different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation.
New study identifies possible ancestors of RNA
Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology may have made headway in helping determine the origin of life by identifying three different molecules that self-assemble to form a molecular structure with features characteristic ...
ELFIN to study how electrons get lost
Three hundred and ten miles above our planet's surface, near-Earth space is abuzz with action. Here begin the Van Allen Belts, a pair of concentric rings of fast-moving particles and intense radiation that extends more than ...
Could coal ash be a viable source of rare-earth metals?
Rare-earth elements, including neodymium and yttrium, are not actually rare – more common, in fact, in the Earth's crust than copper and tin. But, because they are scattered widely, and hard to separate from their surrounding ...
Was this huge river delta on Mars the place where its oceans finally disappeared?
For some time, scientists have known that Mars was once a much warmer and wetter environment than it is today. However, between 4.2 and 3.7 billion years ago, its atmosphere was slowly stripped away, which turned the surface ...
Water in small dust grains can explain large amounts of water on Earth
Water trapped in dust grains from which the Earth formed can explain the current large amount of water on Earth.
Cool ways of studying the cryosphere
One of the key elements of Earth's climate system is the cryosphere – the many forms of ice found on Earth. Two new NASA missions use different technologies to help scientists better understand how frozen water is affecting ...
What on Earth could live in a salt water lake on Mars? An expert explains
Tantalising new evidence has suggested that there may be a salty lake below a glacier on Mars. While brine at freezing temperatures does not sound like the most hospitable of environments, it is difficult to resist pondering ...
Wired Icelanders seek to keep remote peninsula digital-free
The passenger boat arrives at the bottom of Veidileysufjordur, a short inlet with a long name, to drop off backpackers for a multi-day trek. A weather-beaten group that's completed the trip waits to board, eager to get back ...
