China gears up for launches to complete Tiangong space station
Tuesday, 18 October 2022 09:40
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China is preparing to launch the final missions to complete its three-module Tiangong space station which it plans to keep constantly occupied for at least a decade.
Orbex raises Series C round
Tuesday, 18 October 2022 08:04 Write a comment
Orbex has raised $45.8 million in a new funding round as the U.K. company gears up for the first flight of its small launch vehicle in 2023.
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Europe’s all-new weather satellite arrives at launch site
Tuesday, 18 October 2022 07:30 Write a comment
After a two-week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, the ship transporting the first Meteosat Third Generation satellite docked at Pariacabo in French Guiana and the precious cargo unloaded. Now safe and sound in one of the spaceport’s cleanrooms, satellite engineers will ready it for liftoff on an Ariane 5 rocket in December. Once in geostationary orbit, this new satellite, which carries two new extremely sensitive instruments, promises to further bolster Europe's leadership in weather forecasting.
Falcon 9 leading candidate to launch European science mission
Tuesday, 18 October 2022 06:55 Write a comment
A European astrophysics spacecraft stranded when Russia cut off access to Soyuz launch vehicles may instead fly on a SpaceX Falcon 9, NASA officials said Oct. 17.
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Astronaut James McDivitt, Apollo 9 commander, dies at 93
Tuesday, 18 October 2022 05:28 Write a comment
James A. McDivitt, who commanded the Apollo 9 mission testing the first complete set of equipment to go to the moon, has died. He was 93.
McDivitt was also the commander of 1965's Gemini 4 mission, where his best friend and colleague Ed White made the first U.S.
British institutions join search for answers on early universe
Monday, 17 October 2022 19:59 Write a comment
Six British academic institutions will join a U.S.-led search for answers on the early universe.
The project brings together 85 institutions from 13 countries to analyze data from the Simons Observatory, a series of telescopes 3.2 miles above Chile's Atacama desert. The observatory has three instruments that are designed to measure cosmic microwave background, the heat and radiation tha U.S. military waiting for industry to demonstrate space transportation concepts
Monday, 17 October 2022 19:39 Write a comment
U.S. Transportation Command is keeping an eye on space launch companies as they develop technology and mature concepts for point-to-point cargo delivery.
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Researching the effects of simulated space habitats on crews under controlled and isolated conditions
Monday, 17 October 2022 17:55 Write a comment
Current international human space exploration roadmaps envisage month-long crew stays on the moon within the next few decades, with crewed missions to Mars the long term goal. The psychological effects of human spaceflight, especially in the sense of isolation and confinement, need to be explored ahead of deep space crewed missions.
To allow astronauts not only to survive but to thrive in alien environments, practice is needed. Practice involves operations on the ISS, but the ISS cannot simulate all aspects of a Lunar or Martian mission, such as the surface operations or long periods without sunlight. Therefore, research is being carried out under controlled and isolated conditions within simulated space habitats, to gain insights into the effects of such conditions on the research subjects and their impacts on crews' well-being and success.
Similarly, an analog environment cannot fully replicate that of the moon or Mars, but a variety of analog environments that simulate different aspects of the off-world environment can be used in conjunction to prepare for future missions.
First NASA asteroid sample return mission on track for fall '23 delivery
Monday, 17 October 2022 16:26 Write a comment
NASA's first asteroid sample return spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx, fired its thrusters for 30 seconds on Sept. 21 and nudged its trajectory toward Earth. The resulting course correction keeps the vehicle on track to deliver a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023, completing a seven-year mission.
The delivery itself, however, is not a simple parcel drop on Earth's front doorstep: NASA's OSIRIS-REx—formally the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security—Regolith Explorer—must approach Earth at a precise speed and direction to deliver its sample return capsule into Earth's atmosphere. "If the capsule is angled too high, it will skip off the atmosphere," said Mike Moreau, OSIRIS-REx deputy project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Angled too low, it will burn up in Earth's atmosphere."
To ensure a safe delivery, "Over the next year, we will gradually adjust the OSIRIS-REx trajectory to target the spacecraft closer to Earth," said Daniel Wibben, trajectory-and-maneuver design lead with KinetX Inc.
SES to appeal Intelsat C-band sharing decision
Monday, 17 October 2022 16:11 Write a comment
SES filed plans Oct. 14 to appeal a court’s decision last month that disallowed its bid to equally split nearly $9 billion of anticipated C-band clearing proceeds with Intelsat.
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Satellite broadband players poised to compete for U.S. military customers
Monday, 17 October 2022 15:12 Write a comment
While Starlink continues to build momentum in the U.S. defense market, other industry players are positioning to compete for military customers
The post Satellite broadband players poised to compete for U.S.
Ariane 6 stands tall on its launch pad
Monday, 17 October 2022 13:00 Write a comment
The Ariane 6 launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana now hosts for the first time a fully assembled example of ESA’s new heavy-lift rocket, following the addition of an upper composite to the core stage and four boosters already in place. The upper composite – consisting of two half-fairings and a payload mock-up with the structural adapter needed to join it to the core stage – made the 10 km trip from the encapsulation building to launch pad on 12 October.
China considering mission to Ceres and large dark matter space telescope
Monday, 17 October 2022 12:26 Write a comment
The Chinese Academy of Sciences is considering potential missions including a Ceres orbiter and a huge telescope to hunt for clues about the nature of dark matter.
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Two solar eclipses are coming to America
Monday, 17 October 2022 10:35 Write a comment
The countdown has begun! Exactly one year from today, the first of two major solar eclipses just six months apart will occur over the Americas. On October 14, 2023, the Moon will pass directly between Earth and the Sun but will cover only 90% of the brilliant solar disk. The remaining 10% will appear as a blazing "ring of fire" around the Moon's dark silhouette.
This annular (Latin for rin Heat-proof chaotic carbides could revolutionize aerospace technology
Monday, 17 October 2022 10:35 Write a comment
A group of scientists led by Duke University have engineered a new class of materials capable of producing tunable plasmonic properties while withstanding incredibly high temperatures.
Plasmonics is a technology that essentially traps the energy of light within groups of electrons oscillating together on a metallic surface. This creates a powerful electromagnetic field that interacts with