A huge construction project at the Deep Space Communication Complex in Australia has been delayed by weather, but the NASA antenna dish is expected to be raised on Thursday. The dish will help talk to the fleet of spacecraft NASA expects to launch in the next 10 – 15 years. In other NASA news, a Clemson University proposal has received a $200,000 per year grant (for a maximum of three years) for a project that aims to “close the loop” when it comes to astronauts’ waste, exploring how human waste could be used to make food, fertilizer, and vitamins in space.
The Cassini spacecraft continues to produce images of Saturn and its moons in more detail than before, with a new image of the moon Dione coming out today.
Huge NASA deep space dish to be lifted into place outside Canberra
A giant crane is being used to place a saucer-shaped dish weighing more than 100 tonnes at Canberra’s Deep Space Communication Complex this morning. In a logistical effort taking several hours, the 125-tonne, 34-metre diameter antenna dish was to be lifted onto its base structure at Tidbinbilla at about 5:30am …
NASA releases gorgeous image of Saturn’s moon Dione
NASA today released a new image of Dione, one of Saturn’s many moons, as the spacecraft responsible for the shots moved into the next phases of its assignment. The visible light photograph displays the many craters and ice cliffs on Dione’s surface. The Cassini spacecraft, named for the Italian …
Nasa awards $200,000 grant to a research project aimed at turning astronaut poo into food
The space agency is attempting to find a solution to this problem, in awarding a $200,000 (£127,600) a year grant to a project aimed at creating a ‘closed loop’ system on a spacecraft – one that could use astronauts’ waste into food, fertiliser, supplements or other useful materials for a long space flight …
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