Samara, Russia (Sputnik) Mar 19, 2021
Russia's Samara University has said that its pioneer ultra-light optics for nanosatellites will be sent to space for testing. "Ultralight optical systems for remote sensing of Earth, developed by scientists of the Samara University named after [famed Soviet rocket engineer Sergei] Korolev, will be tested in space aboard Russian nanosatellites Cube SX-HSE and Cube SX Sirius HSE," the univer

Baikonur, Kazakhstan (Sputnik) Mar 19, 2021
The Fregat booster-equipped Soyuz-2 carrier rocket will deliver 38 satellites from 18 countries into low-Earth orbit. The launch of the Soyuz-2 carrier rocket from the Baikonur space centre has been postponed until Sunday, Russian state space corporation Roscosmos' chief, Dmitry Rogozin, told Sputnik on Saturday. "There was a power surge and we decided not to risk it [the launch]," R

Vostochny Cosmodrome (SPX) Mar 19, 2021
By operating this fifth flight on behalf of OneWeb, Arianespace will bring the total fleet to 146 satellites in Low Earth Orbit. Arianespace is proud to share in the fulfilment of its customer's ultimate ambition: providing internet access for everyone, everywhere. Flight ST30, the second commercial mission performed by Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, w

London (Sputnik) Mar 19, 2021
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's Starlink, technically a division within SpaceX, has already launched over 1,300 small, low orbit satellites to deliver high-speed broadband internet to consumers, with service currently limited to the northwest US, adjacent parts of Canada, parts of the UK and other areas. The British Government has reportedly been in talks with Elon Musk's satellite ne

Paris (AFP) March 21, 2021
The largest asteroid to pass by Earth this year will swing closest on Sunday, giving astronomers a rare chance for a good look at a space rock that formed at the dawn of our solar system. While in astronomical terms this marks a close encounter with the asteroid - called 2001 FO32 - NASA says there is no threat of a collision with our planet "now or for centuries to come". The nearest

Lausanne (AFP) March 21, 2021
Leo pulls on a shiny, silver suit and places the helmet gingerly over his head before marching with the other budding astronauts towards their spaceship. "Going to Mars is really my dream," the eight-year-old said, jumping excitedly from foot to foot. While the world has been riveted by the escapades of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, a group of Swiss primary school children has been eag

Dublin, Ireland (SPX) Mar 19, 2021
Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have been shedding light on the enigmatic "spiders from Mars", providing the first physical evidence that these unique features on the planet's surface can be formed by the sublimation of CO2 ice. Spiders, more formally referred to as araneiforms, are strange-looking negative topography radial systems of dendritic troughs; patterns that resemble branch

Moscow (Sputnik) Mar 19, 2021
The spacecraft is due to be relocated by the crew to another port of the International Space Station as part of preparatory work for the crew's next mission. Sputnik is live from the International Space Station (ISS) as the Soyuz MS-17 space vehicle is being relocated from the station's Rassvet module to its Poisk module port. The operation is being conducted by an international crew, name

Washington (AFP) March 19, 2021
The White House announced Friday that President Joe Biden was tapping Bill Nelson, a former Democratic senator for Florida who once flew on a Space Shuttle and helped craft key space legislation as his NASA chief. The nomination appears to confirm Biden's interest in maintaining US leadership in space as NASA prepares to return to the Moon under the Artemis program, while pivoting towards co

Washington DC (SPX) Mar 19, 2021
The largest rocket element NASA has ever built, the core stage of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, fired its four RS-25 engines for 8 minutes and 19 seconds Thursday at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The successful test, known as a hot fire, is a critical milestone ahead of the agency's Artemis I mission, which will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on