Universe Today
• Evan Gough
NASA has confirmed the Ultraviolet EXplorer (UVEX), setting its lifecycle cost at $590 million and committing to launch by January 2031. The ultraviolet telescope is expected to be about 100 times more powerful than GALEX, whose mission ended in 2013.
NASA
Latest source-backed stories
High activity
NASA has confirmed the Ultraviolet EXplorer (UVEX), setting its lifecycle cost at $590 million and committing to launch by January 2031. The ultraviolet telescope is expected to be about 100 times more powerful than GALEX, whose mission ended in 2013.
Four volunteers in NASA’s second Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog mission are scheduled to leave their habitat on Oct. 31 after 378 days in isolation at Johnson Space Center. The ground-based study simulates aspects of a Mars mission; separate underwater analog crews have also tested research and maintenance activities relevant to future exploration.
NASA’s Perseverance rover has detected and measured ultrafine dust particles on Mars, including particles collected on spacesuit materials. The findings sharpen a known human-spaceflight hazard: dust, moved by winds and storms, could expose future crews and equipment to particles small enough to warrant dedicated mitigation.
Radiation measurements aboard the uncrewed Orion spacecraft during NASA’s Artemis I mission found that cosmic radiation near the Moon exceeds levels in Earth orbit, though by less than scientists might have anticipated. The data add to the evidence needed to assess radiation exposure on future crewed lunar missions.
NASA’s ultraviolet space telescope mission has cleared a major review, advancing a project that still faces uncertainty over its launch and communications. The available report does not identify the mission or specify the issues behind those uncertainties.
NASA’s systems engineering team has detailed the mission architecture for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, a planned effort aimed at finding Earth-like worlds beyond the solar system. The work comes as exoplanet research has advanced substantially since the first exoplanet was discovered in 1995.
Four volunteers who spent more than a year living and working in a simulated Mars mission are due to leave their habitat on Saturday, Oct. Separately, analog astronaut Michaela Musilova led low-visibility underwater “spacewalks” to test astronaut safety and communications protocols—using terrestrial simulations to examine challenges crews may face during space missions.
High activity
NASA launched the first test flight of its Saturn I rocket on Oct. 27, 1961. The successful flight marked an early milestone in the development of the launch vehicles that would ultimately enable the United States’ crewed lunar program, including the Saturn V.
Create a free account to see more recent NASA stories and keep bookmarks in one place.
