Astronomy

#Roman
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, the ‘mother of the Hubble Space Telescope,’ the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will have a field of view at least 100 times greater than Hubble, potentially measuring light from a billion galaxies in its lifetime.

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/

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#SpaceTelescope

Varda Space Industries’ spacecraft, W-1, successfully landed at the Utah Test and Training Range on February 21, 2024. This marks the first time a commercial company has landed a spacecraft on United States soil.

A camera installed inside W-1 captured the entire reentry in this first-of-its-kind video.

You’ll witness W-1 orbiting Earth in LEO, smooth separation from Rocket Lab’s satellite bus, and its trajectory as it reenters Earth’s atmosphere at speeds over Mach 25 before safely deploying its parachute and landing.

This successful launch and reentry was possible through Varda Space Industries’ partnership with Rocket Lab, SpaceX, the U.S. Air Force, NASA, and the FAA.

Space is open for manufacturing.

Water molecules have been detected on the surface of an asteroid for the first time, revealing new clues about the distribution of water in our solar system.

Scientists studied four silicate-rich asteroids using data gathered by the now-retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a telescope-outfitted plane operated by NASA and the German Aerospace Center.

Observations by SOFIA's Faint Object InfraRed Camera (FORCAST) instrument showed that two of the asteroids — named Iris and Massalia — exhibit a specific wavelength of light that indicated the presence of water molecules at their surface, a new study reports.