Washington DC (UPI) Jul 22, 2025
Scientists predicted that Tuesday will be a fraction of a second shorter than the average day as the Earth's rotation is moving faster. The international Earth Rotation and Reference System Service expects that Tuesday will be just 1.34 milliseconds shorter than the standard 24 hours. "We've known about the rotation of the Earth being variable for about a hundred years," said the

Washington DC (UPI) Jul 22, 2025
NASA's quest for a quieter supersonic jet passed an early test after its X-59 aircraft was able to taxi at low speed at a manufacturing plant in California. The space agency on Tuesday announced the latest milestone for NASA's X-59 that is part of its Quesst mission to test the possibility of a supersonic aircraft with more muted sonic booms that will allow less noisy flights over popul

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 22, 2025
York Space Systems announced that its parent company has signed an agreement to acquire ATLAS Space Operations, a U.S.-based leader in Ground Software as a Service (GSaaS) for satellite communications. The acquisition aims to bolster York's ability to deliver integrated, mission-ready systems by incorporating ATLAS's software-driven ground architecture. ATLAS will contribute to York's Gold

Paris, France (SPX) Jul 22, 2025
Vigil, the European Space Agency's upcoming space weather mission, will be the first satellite to maintain a continuous presence at the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 5 (L5), providing an unprecedented side view of solar activity. From this strategic location, Vigil will monitor the Sun's surface several days before the same regions rotate into Earth's direct line of sight. The mission is design

Paris (AFP) July 21, 2025
Since at least the time of the ancient Egyptians, people across the world have gazed up in awe at Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars blazing in the night sky. Now astronomers have discovered that this red supergiant, known to many as the hunter's shoulder in the Orion constellation, is being orbited by a much smaller companion star, a study said on Monday. It is not the first time B

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 22, 2025
NASA is preparing to launch the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) mission on July 22 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Led by the University of Iowa and supported by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), the mission aims to investigate how the Sun's and Earth's magnetic fields interact. SwRI contributed scientific leadership and d

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 23, 2025
Astronautical engineering is the branch of aerospace engineering that focuses on designing and developing the science of space exploration. However, its value does not start with rockets and satellites-it begins with concepts, words, and numbers. It starts with books.

With launch slated for August, the first MetOp Second Generation satellite, MetOp-SG-A1, which also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission, is currently undergoing final preparations for liftoff aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.