West Lafayette IN (SPX) Dec 01, 2022
Michelle Thompson is a geologist. But while "geo" means earth, she studies things that are decidedly unearthly, or at least extraterrestrial: the moon and asteroids. "I study space weathering: how space environments affect tiny mineral particles on planetary surfaces," said Thompson, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences in Purdue University

Vilnius, Lithuania (SPX) Dec 01, 2022
French aerospace lab ONERA (Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aerospatiales) has signed a contract with NanoAvionics, a space mission integrator and satellite manufacturer, for the procurement of two 8U and 6U nanosat platforms, dedicated to ONERA 's FlyLab mission. The contract includes the supply of all the components necessary for the operation of the satellites, but also the in

Boston MA (SPX) Dec 01, 2022
In May 2022, the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) payload onboard a small CubeSat satellite was launched into orbit 300 miles above Earth's surface. Since then, TBIRD has delivered terabytes of data at record-breaking rates of up to 100 gigabits per second - 100 times faster than the fastest internet speeds in most cities - via an optical communication link to a ground-based receiver in Califo

Paris, France (SPX) Dec 01, 2022
Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) (Paris:ETL) has selected Thales Alenia Space (Thales 67 % and Leonardo 33 %) to build a next-generation highly flexible, software-defined satellite (SDS). The Flexsat (for flexible satellite) will be based on Thales Alenia Space's cutting-edge 'Space Inspire' (INstant SPace In-orbit REconfiguration) product line, enabling seamless reconfigurati

Beijing (XNA) Dec 01, 2022
The six Chinese astronauts from the Shenzhou XIV and Shenzhou XV missions marked a historic moment on Wednesday as they met inside the country's Tiangong space station. It was the first time that six Chinese were in a space station at the same time and the first in-orbit gathering of two Chinese crews. After about two hours of preparatory work following the docking of the Shenzhou XV

Houston TX (SPX) Dec 01, 2022
The Artemis I mission management team met to review the overall status of the flight test and polled "go" for Orion to depart from its distant retrograde orbit, where it has been since Nov. 25. Orion will conduct a burn to depart the orbit at 3:53 p.m. CST Thurs., Dec. 1 and begin its trek back toward Earth. "We are continuing to collect flight test data and buy down risk for crewed flight

London, UK (SPX) Dec 01, 2022
Pulsar Fusion, a UK rocket company that has seen its advanced space engines tested in the UK and Switzerland earlier this year, has been awarded funding from the UK Space Agency to develop 'Integrated nuclear fission-based power systems for electric propulsion' The project will be supported by Southampton and Cambridge Universities and Nuclear AMRC. Pulsar Fusion, based in Bletchley, Buck

Jiuquan, China (XNA) Dec 01, 2022
China has made breakthroughs in the development of the new-generation crewed spaceship, new-generation manned carrier rocket, moon lander, and moon landing spacesuit, stepping closer to its moon landing goal, according to the China Manned Space Agency on Monday. China has completed key technology research and validation of the manned lunar exploration project, forming a moon landing implem

Image: Pillars of Creation (NIRCam and MIRI composite image)