London, UK (SPX) Jun 28, 2022
The UK's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has announced, during the 4th Summit on Space Sustainability, that it will begin to develop a number of initiatives to help protect our orbital environment. The UK government Plan for Space Sustainability includes a review of secondary legislation and associated regulations focussed on orbital constellations with a view to the upda

London, UK (SPX) Jun 28, 2022
Inmarsat, the world leader in global, mobile satellite communications, has issued a far-reaching report on sustainability in space calling on industry operators, national governments and regulators to take coordinated action to reduce space debris, enhance safety and better manage the expansion of mega constellations in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The report, produced in partnership with resear

Luxembourg (SPX) Jun 28, 2022
SES reports that SES-22 is currently being prepared for launch from SpaceX's Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 29, 2022 at 5:04 pm / 23:04 pm. Built by Thales Alenia Space, SES-22 will operate in the 135 degrees West orbital slot and will deliver TV and radio to millions of American homes and provide other critical data transmission services. SES-22 is e

Baltimore MD (SPX) Jun 28, 2022
In the American Wild West, high noon was a time for duels and showdowns. When it comes to the history of the universe, cosmic noon featured fireworks of a different sort. Some 2 to 3 billion years after the big bang most galaxies went through a growth spurt, forming stars at a rate hundreds of times higher than we see in our own galaxy, the Milky Way, today. When it launches by May 2027, NASA's

Paris (ESA) Jun 28, 2022
A beautiful sequence of 56 images taken by the monitoring cameras on board the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission as the spacecraft made its second close flyby of its destination planet Mercury on 23 June 2022. The compilation includes images from two monitoring cameras (MCAM) onboard the Mercury Transfer Module, which provides black-and-white snapshots at 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. The MCAMs

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 28, 2022
According to a new NASA laboratory experiment, rovers may have to dig about 6.6 feet (two meters) or more under the Martian surface to find signs of ancient life because ionizing radiation from space degrades small molecules such as amino acids relatively quickly. Amino acids can be created by life and by non-biological chemistry. However, finding certain amino acids on Mars would be consi

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 28, 2022
Scientists using data from NASA's Curiosity rover measured the total organic carbon - a key component in the molecules of life - in Martian rocks for the first time. "Total organic carbon is one of several measurements [or indices] that help us understand how much material is available as feedstock for prebiotic chemistry and potentially biology," said Jennifer Stern of NASA's Goddard Space Flig

Dulles VA (SPX) Jun 28, 2022
Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE: NOC) Cygnus cargo spacecraft successfully boosted the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS). Docked to the ISS since February, Cygnus fired its main onboard engine to adjust the orbit of the station to the desired altitude to support upcoming operations. The station orbits approximately 250 miles above earth and requires a periodic reboost. Th

Long Beach CA (SPX) Jun 28, 2022
Virgin Orbit (Nasdaq: VORB)'s launch system is in place at the Mojave Air and Space Port. The dress rehearsals are complete, and the company remains on track for its upcoming Straight Up launch, with a launch window opening on June 29 at 10 pm PDT. The launch will support the United States Space Force's STP-S28A mission and carry payloads for the Department of Defense (DOD) Space Test Prog

Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jun 28, 2022
A microwave oven-sized CubeSat dubbed CAPSTONE will blaze an untested, unusual yet efficient deep space route to the Moon that NASA is greatly interested in and future spacecraft may want to imitate. The destination for CAPSTONE - short for the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment - is a unique lunar orbit intended for?NASA's?Gateway, a mul