Tag: Astrophysics
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NASA confirms work stoppage on James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope is seen during a sunshield deployment test in 2019 at Northrop Grumman’s facility in Redondo Beach, California. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn NASA and Northrop Grumman are “suspending integration and testing operations” on the James Webb Space Telescope in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a decision that officials said is likely to…
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NASA to consider WFIRST launch options after mission passes key review
Artist’s illustration of the WFIRST spacecraft. Credit: NASA NASA expects to select a launch vehicle next year to carry the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope — a multibillion-dollar flagship astrophysics observatory targeted for cancellation by the Trump administration — into space in 2025 after the mission passed a key review last month, agency officials said.…
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NASA uplinks final command to deactivate Spitzer telescope
Artist’s concept of the Spitzer Space Telescope seen against the infrared sky. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC) NASA declared the Spitzer Space Telescope’s 16-year mission complete Thursday after sending final commands for the spacecraft to enter hibernation as it drifts farther from Earth. The Spitzer Space Telescope, one of NASA’s original four “Great Observatories,” studied the…
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Government watchdog warns of another JWST launch delay
The James Webb Space Telescope is pictured during a sunshield deployment test in October 2019 at a Northrop Grumman facility in Redondo Beach, California. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn The James Webb Space Telescope is at risk of another launch delay beyond the mission’s current target launch date in March 2021, the Government Accountability Office said this…
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NASA prepares to shut down one of its ‘Great Observatories’
Artist’s concept of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, backdropped by an image of the infrared sky. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA will say goodbye to the Spitzer Space Telescope this week after more than 16 years observing the most distant galaxies ever detected, planets orbiting other stars, and star-forming clouds of dust and gas. Spitzer, one of NASA’s four…
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Astronauts finish repairs to space station cosmic ray detector
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 1:40 p.m. EST (1840 GMT) after end of spacewalk. STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION This view was captured by a helmet camera on one of the astronauts on Saturday’s spacewalk. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now During a fourth spacewalk Saturday to wrap up repairs of the coolant system in a $2…
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New discoveries from NASA’s TESS mission include potentially habitable exoplanet
Artist’s illustration of TOI 700 d, the first Earth-sized habitable-zone planet discovered by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Scientists crunching data from NASA’s orbiting TESS planet-hunting observatory have discovered a potentially habitable Earth-sized world circling a star a bit more than 100 light-years from the sun, the first such…
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SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites, tests design change for astronomers
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket streaks downrange to the northeast from Cape Canaveral Monday night with 60 Starlink satellites for the company’s planned global Internet network. Credit: SpaceX Sixty more satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink global Internet network streaked into orbit Monday night from Cape Canaveral, including one spacecraft to test an experimental dark coating to address…
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Soyuz launches Italian radar satellite, ESA exoplanet telescope
A Soyuz ST-A rocket lifted off at 0854:20 (3:54:20 a.m. EST) Wednesday from the Guiana Space Center in South America. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG A package of five satellites, including an Italian radar reconnaissance craft and a European Space Agency exoplanet science probe, soared into orbit Wednesday from French Guiana aboard…
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Live coverage: Soyuz launches from French Guiana
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana with the first COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation, or CSG 1, radar surveillance satellite for ASI, the Italian space agency. The European Space Agency’s Characterizing Exoplanet Satellite, or CHEOPS, will fly as a secondary payload on the mission, along with three CubeSats. Text…