Beijing (XNA) Feb 26, 2021
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation's leading space contractor, announced on Wednesday that it plans to conduct the maiden flight of the Long March 6A carrier rocket before the end of this year. The State-owned conglomerate said in an annual report on its space activities that the medium-lift Long March 6A will consist of a 50-meter, liquid-propelled core booster and fo

Image: Launch rates are dramatically increasing

Video: 01:17:00

Watch the replay of the briefing to media representatives to learn more about the next spaceflight of ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

During the event, Samantha was joined by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher,  ESA Director of Human and Robotic Exploration David Parker, and Italian space agency president Giorgio Saccoccia.

Samantha is a member of ESA’s astronaut class of 2009. During her firsission ‘Futura’ in 2014t m–15, she spent 200 days in space, carrying out science and operations on the International Space Station as a flight engineer for Expeditions 42 and 43. She now looks forward to returning to the

Do you have fresh ideas on how Earth observation data can contribute to monitoring the effects brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic? If so, ESA and the European Commission have launched a new series of monthly challenges asking for innovative solutions on how satellite data can be used to help better understand the effects of the coronavirus on society, economy and the environment.

Munich, Germany (SPX) Mar 03, 2021
Understanding the changes happening to Earth and its delicate balance is of ever increasing importance. "With the Harmony mission, we have the opportunity to gain new insights into processes that take place within the Earth system. This represents a considerable scientific and technical challenge," says Alberto Moreira, Director of the German Aerospace Center Microwaves and Radar Institute.

San Francisco (AFP) March 3, 2021
Microsoft on Tuesday set the stage for a future in which long-distance coworkers can collaborate as though in the same room, using augmented reality glasses and cloud computing power. The US technology colossus launched Microsoft Mesh platform at its annual Ignite developers conference, which was a streamed event this year due to the pandemic. "One of the easiest ways to think about it i

Reading UK (SPX) Mar 03, 2021
The first observations of a space hurricane have been revealed in Earth's upper atmosphere, confirming their existence and shedding new light on the relationship between planets and space. Hurricanes in the Earth's low atmosphere are known, but they had never before been detected in the upper atmosphere. An international team of scientists led by Shandong University in China analysed

Washington DC (SPX) Mar 03, 2021
About 17 years ago, J. Martin Laming, an astrophysicist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, theorized why the chemical composition of the Sun's tenuous outermost layer differs from that lower down. His theory has recently been validated by combined observations of the Sun's magnetic waves from the Earth and from space. His most recent scientific journal article describes how these magne

Torun, Poland (SPX) Mar 03, 2021
An international team led by Prof. dr habil. Andrzej Niedzielski, an astronomer from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun (Poland), has discovered yet another three extrasolar planets. These planets revolve around the stars that can be called elder sisters of our Sun. You can read about the astronomers' success in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The prestigious European journal will pub

Washington DC (UPI) Mar 2, 2021
The Navy teamed up with NASA astronauts and engineers last week to test a technology that allows divers to work more efficiently underwater and could be used the next time astronauts return to the moon. Divers from the Naval Sea Systems Command's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving joined the NASA team at the Sonny Carter Training Facility in Houston between Feb. 24 and 26 to test the Navy