The enormous spacecraft that will head to Jupiter's moon Europa uses four large reaction wheels to help keep it oriented.
Space Exploration
Nov 23, 2022
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On 22 September, around midday, ESA's Integral spacecraft went into emergency Safe Mode. One of the spacecraft's three active 'reaction wheels' had turned off without warning and stopped spinning, causing a ripple effect ...
Space Exploration
Oct 19, 2021
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A year ago tomorrow, a failure on the Integral spacecraft meant it fired its thrusters for likely the last time. In the days since, the spacecraft in Earth orbit has continued to shed light on the violent gamma ray universe, ...
Space Exploration
Jul 19, 2021
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Scientists from Kyushu University and Kumamoto University in Japan have developed a new catalyst capable of assisting three key reactions for using hydrogen in energy and industry. Inspired by three types of enzymes in nature, ...
Materials Science
Jun 10, 2020
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113
Zipping through the sky 250 miles up is a shoebox-sized bundle of detectors and electronics named Dellingr. The namesake of the mythological Norse god of the dawn, Dellingr is among a new breed of spacecraft known as a CubeSat. ...
Space Exploration
Oct 24, 2018
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Mission managers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, this week lowered the orbit of the nearly 12-year-old CloudSat satellite following the loss of one of its reaction wheels, which control its orientation ...
Space Exploration
Feb 26, 2018
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(Phys.org)—A large international team of researchers working with data sent back from NASA's Kepler space telescope has found evidence of 20 previously unknown, promising exoplanets. In their paper uploaded to the arXiv ...
NASA's Dawn spacecraft is preparing to observe Ceres on April 29 from an "opposition" position, directly between the dwarf planet's mysterious Occator Crater and the sun. This unique geometry may yield new insights about ...
Space Exploration
Apr 27, 2017
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For more than four decades, an unremarkable building in an industrial estate on the edge of Warrington, UK, has played a crucial role in the success of most European space missions with moving parts – which means nearly ...
Space Exploration
May 20, 2015
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More than 1,000 exoplanets have now been discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope, announced NASA this month, and the figure continues to climb.
Astronomy
Jan 13, 2015
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