Video: What is ESA's Moonlight initiative?
Thursday, 10 November 2022 15:06
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Going to the moon was the first step. Staying there is the next ambition.
ESA is a key partner in NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return people to the moon by the end of the decade. Dozens of other international public and private missions are setting their sights on the lunar surface in the coming years.
But to achieve a permanent and sustainable presence on the moon, reliable and autonomous lunar communications and navigation services are required.
This is why ESA is working with its industrial partners on the Moonlight initiative, to become the first off-planet commercial telecoms and satellite navigation provider.
Following their launch, three or four satellites will be carried into lunar orbit by a space tug and deployed one by one, to form a constellation of lunar satellites. The number and specification of these satellites are currently being defined.
The constellation's orbits are optimized to give coverage to the lunar south pole, whose sustained sunlight and polar ice make it the focus of upcoming missions.
Euclid completes thermal vacuum testing
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Video:
00:05:17
At the Thales Alenia Space test facility in Cannes, France, the massive door of the thermal vacuum chamber was opened after a month of rigorous testing of ESA’s Euclid mission to explore the dark Universe. In Cannes the fully integrated spacecraft was subjected to the conditions of space and its subsystems were fully tested for the first time. With the Euclid space telescope, scientists hope to learn more about dark matter and dark energy which could make up more than 95% of our Universe.
The film includes soundbites from ESA Euclid Mission and Payload Manager: Alexander Short and
US weather satellite, test payload launched into space
Thursday, 10 November 2022 13:16 Write a comment
A satellite intended to improve weather forecasting and an experimental inflatable heat shield to protect spacecraft entering atmospheres were launched into space from California on Thursday.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 satellite and the NASA test payload lifted off at 1:49 a.m. from Vandenberg Space Force Base, northwest of Los Angeles.
Developed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, JPSS-2 was placed into an orbit that circles the Earth from pole to pole, joining previously launched satellites in a system designed to improve weather forecasting and climate monitoring.
The NASA mission blog said there was no immediate data confirming deployment of the solar array that will power the satellite. "There may not be an issue, but we're monitoring closely as more telemetry data becomes available," the post said.
The array has five panels that were collapsed in an accordion fold for launch. The fully deployed array would extend 30 feet (9.1 meters).
Mission officials say the satellite represents the latest technology and will increase precision of observations of the atmosphere, oceans and land.
After releasing the satellite, the rocket's upper stage reignited to position the test payload for re-entry into Earth's atmosphere and descent into the Pacific Ocean.
NASA laser reflector for ESA satnav on Lunar Pathfinder
Thursday, 10 November 2022 12:32 Write a comment
NASA has delivered a retroreflector array to ESA that will allow the Lunar Pathfinder mission to be pinpointed by laser ranging stations back on Earth as it orbits the Moon. Such centimetre level laser measurements will serve as an independent check on the spacecraft as it fixes its position using Galleo and GPS signals from an unprecedented 400 000 km away from Earth – proving the concept of lunar satnav while also relaying telecommunications ahead of ESA’s dedicated Moonlight initiative.
NASA to continue Lunar Trailblazer despite cost overrun
Thursday, 10 November 2022 12:08 Write a comment
NASA will continue a lunar smallsat mission for launch in mid-2023 despite exceeding its cost cap by 30%.
The post NASA to continue Lunar Trailblazer despite cost overrun appeared first on SpaceNews.
MDA selects Rocket Lab to supply satellite operations control center for the Globalstar constellation
Thursday, 10 November 2022 11:35 Write a comment
Rocket Lab USA, Inc (Nasdaq: RKLB) has been selected by MDA Ltd (TSX: MDA) to develop the Satellite Operations Control Center (SOCC) for Globalstar's (NYSE American: GSAT) growing constellation. MDA is the prime contractor for Globalstar's new Low Earth Orbit constellation.
The SOCC contract builds on the existing relationship between MDA, Rocket Lab, and Globalstar established in February Astra laying off 16% of workforce, honing focus on development
Thursday, 10 November 2022 11:35 Write a comment
California-based rocket company Astra will lay off 16% of its workforce, it announced with its quarterly financial report Tuesday.
The company reported a net loss of $199.1 million in the third quarter, including $133 million in impairment charges, and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $41.4 million. Its revenue was $2.8 million.
Reducing the workforce will help Astra save funds, a port MAVEN observes Martian light show caused by major solar storm
Thursday, 10 November 2022 11:35 Write a comment
For the first time in its eight years orbiting Mars, NASA's MAVEN mission witnessed two different types of ultraviolet aurorae simultaneously, the result of solar storms that began on Aug. 27.
MAVEN - the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission - is the only asset at Mars able to observe the Sun's activity and the response of the thin Martian atmosphere at the same time. Real-time a Perseverance activities at Amalik outcrop
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On Sol 579 (October 6, 2022), Perseverance collected a sedimentary sample named "Mageik," the mission's 14th rock core, from the Amalik outcrop in the Enchanted Lake region at the base of the Jezero delta. Following collection of the Mageik sample, the rover processed a "witness tube."
The witness tubes do not collect samples but are opened near the sampling location to "witness" the marti Nicole postpones NASA Artemis I mission until Nov. 16
Thursday, 10 November 2022 11:35 Write a comment
NASA has decided to re-schedule its Artemis 1 mission launch to Nov. 16, "pending safe conditions for employees to return to work."
The space agency is monitoring Tropical Storm Nicole Wednesday morning as it approaches the eastern coast of Florida.
"Adjusting the target launch date will allow the workforce to tend to the needs of their families and homes, and provide sufficient Rocket Lab announces launch window for inaugural Electron launch from Wallops Island
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Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has announced it plans to launch its first Electron mission from Virginia during a launch window opening December 7 EST. The mission, named "Virginia is for Launch Lovers," will deploy satellites for leading radio frequency geospatial analytics provider HawkEye 360.
It will be Rocket Lab's first lift-off from Launch Complex 2 at Virginia Space's Mid-Atla Splashdown is Just the Start for NASA Heat Shield Recovery Team
Thursday, 10 November 2022 11:35 Write a comment
After NASA's inflatable heat shield splashes down 500 miles off the coast of Hawaii, the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID, technology demonstration will be complete - but the mission's recovery team will still be hard at work.
LOFTID is scheduled to launch Nov. 10 aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V as a secondary payload with National Oceanic a Nicole weakens to Tropical Storm, threatens NASA launch
Thursday, 10 November 2022 11:35 Write a comment
Tropical Storm Nicole slowed after making landfall in the US state of Florida, meteorologists said Thursday, with high winds raising concerns that a long-delayed NASA rocket launch could be disrupted.
The storm, a rare occurrence this late in the year, sparked mandatory evacuation orders just weeks after Florida was battered by Hurricane Ian.
But just an hour after Nicole made landfall a SmartSat CRC and NASA team up to collaborate on astronaut emergency communications
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SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre, has announced a project agreement to further develop new Search and Rescue (SAR) beacon technologies with partner NASA.
Australia and the United States, as leaders in the field, have a long history of cooperation in Search and Rescue. In 2020 NASA and SmartSat announced a collaboration to advance satellite-based emergency communications and Search and S.S. Sally Ride delivers experiments to International Space Station
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The S.S. Sally Ride delivered experiments and other supplies to astronauts on the International Space Station Wednesday morning.
Crews completed the installation process shortly after 8 a.m. after astronauts on the ISS snagged the S.S. Sally Ride Cygnus spacecraft with its robotic arm earlier Wednesday, successfully bringing in some 8,200 pounds of scientific investigations and cargo on