Copernical Team
China's space propaganda blitz endures at slick new planetarium
China has opened the doors on what it bills as the world's largest planetarium, a slick new Shanghai facility showcasing the nation's recent extra-terrestrial exploits while notably downplaying those of space pioneers like the United States.
Beijing has spent much of this year bombarding the public with news of the country's rising space prowess, part of a larger propaganda blitz highlighting Chinese achievements under the ruling Communists to mark the party's 100th anniversary.
In recent months, China has landed a spacecraft on Mars, set loose a rover to explore it, and sent the first astronauts to a Chinese space station.
Scale-model replicas of spaceships from these and other missions figure prominently at the new Shanghai Planetarium, along with paeons to China's rapid scientific advancement, and clips of President Xi Jinping addressing the nation's taikonauts.
"This year we had several astronauts go to space, which is a source of pride for China," said a woman surnamed Zhou, who brought her young daughter.
Week in images: 26 - 30 July 2021
Week in images: 26 - 30 July 2021
Discover our week through the lens
World's first re-progammable commercial satellite set to launch
The European Space Agency will on Friday launch the world's first commercial fully re-programmable satellite, paving the way for a new era of more flexible communications.
Unlike conventional models that are designed and "hard-wired" on Earth and cannot be repurposed once in orbit, the Eutelsat Quantum is based on so-called software-defined technology that allows users to tailor the communications to their needs—almost in real-time.
"When a satellite is launched, demand and markets can change over time," Elodie Viau, the agency's telecommunications and applications director, told AFP recently.
"A satellite that is not 'fixed' and can adapt to customers gives us better prospects."
A successful launch would pave the way for mass production of the satellites, which have so far been one-offs.
The Quantum will be part of the payload for an Ariane 5 rocket due to launch from the Guiana Space Centre in Latin America between 21:00 and 22:30 GMT on Friday.
In addition to the Quantum, to be operated by Paris-based Eutelsat, the rocket will also deploy a conventional satellite for Brazil's Embratel.
Because it can be reprogrammed while orbiting in a fixed position 35,000 kilometres (22,000 miles) above the Earth, the Quantum can respond to changing demands for data transmission and secure communications during its 15-year lifetime, ESA said.
Airbus completes integration of 3rd Copernicus Sentinel-2
Airbus has finished the integration of the Copernicus Sentinel-2C satellite. It is the third of its kind and will now be shipped to Munich to undergo extensive environmental tests to prove its readiness for space. The test campaign will last until March 2022.
The data gathered by Sentinel-2 satellites are used for monitoring land use and changes, soil sealing, land management, agriculture, SwRI team zeroes in on source of the impactor that wiped out the dinosaurs
The impactor believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs and other life forms on Earth some 66 million years ago likely came from the outer half of the main asteroid belt, a region previously thought to produce few impactors.
Researchers from Southwest Research Institute have shown that the processes that deliver large asteroids to Earth from that region occur at least 10 times more frequentl Earthly rocks point way to water hidden on Mars
A combination of a once-debunked 19th-century identification of a water-carrying iron mineral and the fact that these rocks are extremely common on Earth, suggests the existence of a substantial water reservoir on Mars, according to a team of geoscientists.
"One of my student's experiments was to crystalize hematite," said Peter J. Heaney, professor of geosciences, Penn State. "She came up Clays, not water, are likely source of Martian lakes
Where there's water, there's life. That's the case on Earth, at least, and also why scientists remain tantalized by any evidence suggesting there's liquid water on cold, dry Mars. The Red Planet is a difficult place to look for liquid water: While water ice is plentiful, any water warm enough to be liquid on the surface would last for only a few moments before turning into vapor in Mars' wispy a Redwire to demonstrate In-Space Additive Manufacturing on ISS for Lunar operations
Redwire reports that it is launching new manufacturing hardware to the International Space Station (ISS) that will demonstrate additive manufacturing processes using lunar regolith simulant. This demonstration is critical to advancing the ability to develop a permanent presence for humankind on the Moon using in-situ resources.
This will be the first time that lunar regolith simulant has b Space company in search for professionals
Despite the exceptional economic situation caused by the pandemic, space industry is showing an upward trend. New ways of working, new ways of collaboration and new, hybrid events promote digital technologies for worldwide communication and data transmission and thus also increase the demand for future-oriented solutions.
Such as made possible by the space company TESAT in Backnang near St Inmarsat unveils the communications network of the future
Inmarsat has unveiled plans for ORCHESTRA, the communications network of the future. In the largest ever transformation of its current world-class services, Inmarsat ORCHESTRA will bring together existing geosynchronous (GEO) satellites with low earth orbit satellites (LEO) and terrestrial 5G into an integrated, high-performance solution.
Whether for a ship in a crowded port, an aircraft p 
