Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 07, 2021
In August 2021, new testing equipment arrived at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in the form of a gravity offset table. NASA engineers will use the table to test robotic satellite servicing technologies that will one day operate in space. A gravity offset table is a large piece of granite used for testing space payloads in simulated zero-gravity conditions. Measu

Paris, France (SPX) Oct 07, 2021
Eutelsat Communications has exercised a call option on a portion of the latest OneWeb funding round subscribed by Bharti, for a consideration of $165 million, taking its shareholding from 17.6% to 22.9%. The transaction was undertaken on identical financial terms to Eutelsat's initial investment of $550 million announced in April and completed on 8 September. The completion of this latest

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 07, 2021
Exoplanet hunters have found thousands of planets, most orbiting close to their host stars, but relatively few alien worlds have been detected that float freely through the galaxy as so-called rogue planets, not bound to any star. Many astronomers believe that these planets are more common than we know, but that our planet-finding techniques haven't been up to the task of locating them. Mo

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 07, 2021
With Artemis, NASA will establish a long-term presence at the Moon, opening more of the lunar surface to exploration than ever before. This growth of lunar activity will require new, more robust communications, navigation, and networking capabilities. NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program has developed the LunaNet architecture to meet these needs. LunaNet will leverage

Tucson AZ (SPX) Oct 07, 2021
Scientists thought asteroid Bennu's surface would be like a sandy beach, abundant in fine sand and pebbles, which would have been perfect for collecting samples. Past telescope observations from Earth's orbit had suggested the presence of ??large swaths of fine-grain material called fine regolith that's smaller than a few centimeters. But when the spacecraft of NASA's University of Arizona

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 07, 2021
On Saturn's giant moon Titan, liquid methane and other hydrocarbons rain down, carving rivers, lakes and seas in a landscape of frozen water. The complex chemistry on this icy world could be analogous to the period when life first emerged on Earth, or it might yield an entirely new type of life. And even farther - light-years away in deep space, a black hole shreds the ultra-dense core of a dead

Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Oct 07, 2021
NASA has completed the design certification review (DCR) for the Space Launch System Program (SLS) rocket ahead of the Artemis I mission to send the Orion spacecraft to the Moon. The review examined all the SLS systems, all test data, inspection reports, and analyses that support verification, to ensure every aspect of the rocket is technically mature and meets the requirements for SLS's first f

Huntsville AL (SPX) Oct 07, 2021
NASA has announced the 60 teams from 22 states and Puerto Rico selected to compete in the 2022 Student Launch - one of seven Artemis Student Challenges. The nine-month challenge, managed by NASA's Southeast Regional Office of STEM Engagement and held at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, provides a realistic experience for middle school, high school, and college students to fol

Houston TX (SPX) Oct 07, 2021
NASA has reassigned astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada to the agency's SpaceX Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station as part of the Commercial Crew Program. Mann and Cassada will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, for the Crew-5 mission. Additional crew members will be announced later. Crew-5 is expected to launch no earlier than fall 2022 on a Falcon 9

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 07, 2021
Science fiction, which is perhaps more popular than it has ever been, would lead us to believe that space colonization is just a matter of time. The reality, however, is not as promising. The environment that awaits us outside of Earth's atmosphere, even when subjected to our most advanced technology, is brutal and forbidding. There is a long list of dangers associated with space that are