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27.07.2021 Christiane Helling directs ÖAW space research : The Institute for Space Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) is getting a new director. Astrophysicist Christiane Helling succeeds long-time director Wolfgang Baumjohann, who is retiring. Helling prevailed over her three competitors in a public hearing.
14.07.2021 ESA and NASA agree to collaborate on climate change : The U.S. space agency NASA and the European Space Agency ESA are joining forces in the fight against climate change. A strategic partnership has been agreed to ensure that data from Earth observation satellites is "used to advance science and ultimately for the greatest benefit of humankind," ESA announced Tuesday.
13.07.2021 Watch the grass grow with "SatGrass : Only from space can you see all 1.34 million hectares of grassland in Austria. How the data from ESA's Copernicus mission can be used for agriculture and agricultural policy is being investigated in the "SatGrass" project.
12.07.2021 Geoinformation for efficient relief operations : Geoinformatics experts in Salzburg are extracting indispensable knowledge for humanitarian aid activities from earth observation data. Thanks to BMK/FFG funding, this information can be tailored to the requirements of a wide range of aid and rescue missions in the future.
07.07.2021 NASA mission "Europa Clipper" relies on red-white-red technology : NASA plans to launch the "Europa Clipper" mission in 2024 to explore Jupiter's moon Europa and search for traces of life there. The U.S. space agency is relying on technology from Vienna to prepare for this: the transport on Earth will take place in a mobile clean room from the Viennese space technology company RUAG Space Austria, which also supplied the special equipment for rotating and turning the probe. This equipment is the second direct order from NASA, the company announced.
30.06.2021 Space heat shield from Austria enables Internet in the Arctic : Tomorrow, Thursday, another 36 small Internet satellites of the British-Indian company OneWeb will be launched into space. By the end of the year, this will bring fast Internet to the Arctic. The satellites are being protected by Thermalisolation from Austria.
29.06.2021 Impact researcher: Austria needs cameras for meteor watching : In Austria, around ten fisheye cameras will be on the lookout for fireballs from space in the future, Viennese impact researcher Christian Köberl told APA ahead of a conference on "Asteriod Day 2021" on June 30. Their videos can be used to determine where a cosmic chunk of rock may have landed and where it came from. It will also make it possible to estimate how many medium-sized, potentially dangerous objects are orbiting in the solar system.
28.06.2021 Cheops discovers unique exoplanet : In Nature Astronomy, an international team including the Graz Institute for Space Research (IWF) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences presents unusual details of a planet in the Nu2 Lupi star system, brought to light by chance by the ESA CHEOPS space telescope.
24.06.2021 464 Austrians want to become ESA astronauts : 22,589 people have submitted applications to become astronauts to the European Space Agency (ESA). The numbers after the application deadline on June 18 are not yet final, but already significantly exceed those of the last such call (2008) when 8,413 interested people registered. Among the all-aspirants are 464 Austrians, 115 of whom are women. More than 7,100 applications have been received from France, ESA announced on Wednesday.
24.06.2021 Who could see and hear the Earth in outer space : Like Earth's inhabitants, any life forms on other planets might wonder if they are alone in the vastness of space. In her new analysis in the journal Nature, Austrian astrophysicist Lisa Kaltenegger shows that since humanity has been attracting attention by sending radio waves, an estimated 29 potentially habitable planets could either see Earth as it passes the sun or hear us.
22.06.2021 Using satellites and drones to detect slow slope movements early on : Mountain slopes can move in the millimeter and centimeter range over millennia without being noticed. In some cases, however, such so-called deep slope movements accelerate or trigger secondary events such as rockfalls or landslides. In a three-year research project, Austrian researchers have now tested whether satellites or drones and innovative remote sensing methods can be used to detect such slope movements at an early stage.
21.06.2021 Artificial intelligence improves prediction of solar storms : In a recent "Space Weather" study, an international team led by the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) and the Institute of Space Research (IWF) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences was able to combine established models of the solar wind with new machine-learning algorithms to significantly improve the prediction of space weather.
10.06.2021 New James Webb space telescope to peek into early universe : The space agencies of Europe, the United States and Canada plan to soon learn more about the early universe with their new James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope will be used to observe the first galaxies formed after the Big Bang, NASA Science Director Thomas Zurbuchen said Tuesday. According to the information, the telescope will offer a kind of glimpse into the past 13.5 billion years ago, going back a lot further than its predecessor Hubble.
19.02.2021 First helicopter flight on Mars takes off with small Austro-participation : Following yesterday's landing of the Mars rover "Perseverance" on February 18, a helicopter drone is now to lift into the thin atmosphere of the Red Planet. In the absence of a satellite positioning system such as GPS, the "Ingenuity" drone must navigate itself using camera images. One of the developers of the camera-based system's algorithm is Stephan Weiss, a Swiss national working at the University of Klagenfurt.
17.02.2021 Virtual exploration of Mars with the help of Austrian technology : After seven months of travel through space, NASA's Mars rover "Perseverance" lands on the red planet on February 18, 2021. Part of the mission is the visualization tool PRo3D, developed by the Austrian research centers VRVis and Joanneum Research, which is used to virtually explore 3D reconstructions of the Martian surface.a
08.02.2021 RUAG Space protects Europe's exoplanet hunter from extreme temperatures in space : The Vienna-based space company RUAG Space will be responsible for thermal insulation on the PLATO (Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) satellite mission. With the telescope, the European Space Agency ESA is dedicated to the targeted search for Earth-like planets that may harbor life. The launch is planned for 2026: The two-ton satellite will be transported to the Kourou spaceport in a high-tech container from Vienna.
27.01.2021 Artificial intelligence could detect clouds of smoke from space : Silicon Austria Labs and FH Hagenberg collaborate to bring artificial intelligence on board a satellite. The joint experiment to detect smoke clouds from space could contribute to early warning systems for forest fires in the future, which - exacerbated by the climate crisis - have a massive impact on society.
27.01.2021 EU project: 2020 was warmest year in Europe since records began : Das Jahr 2020 war in Europa so warm wie kein anderes seit Beginn der Aufzeichnungen. Weltweit gesehen sei 2020 genauso warm gewesen wie das bisherige Rekordjahr 2016. Das teilte der europäischen Copernicus-Klimawandeldienst in London mit. Mit dem Jahr 2020 wurde der Auswertung zufolge außerdem die wärmste bisher aufgezeichnete Dekade beendet.
26.01.2021 Cheops space telescope discovered mysterious planetary constellation : Researchers have discovered an unusual planetary system with the Cheops space telescope. The six planets orbit the star TOI-178, which is more than 200 light-years away, in a harmonic rhythm, according to the Universities of Bern and Geneva.
19.01.2021 OEAW "travel guide" to the most inhospitable planets : The climate is changing, resources are becoming scarce. No wonder mankind is longing for a new place, a new planet. The gaze is directed toward Mars. But before you sigh longingly, you should also know the dangers in space. Space researcher Luca Fossati from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OEAW) has presented five planets that are pretty much the opposite of livable in a "Best of Evil".
15.01.2021 New ESA chief: Europe must be at the forefront of rockets : Europe needs to be back at the forefront of the rocket market, according to the future director general of the European Space Agency (ESA). "We have to be at the forefront in launchers. The pressure is high, it is extremely high," Josef Aschbacher said at ESA's New Year's press conference in Paris.