'Long time coming': NASA 'a go' for launch of Artemis test mission to moon
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 13:21NASA says it's set to launch the first test flight Monday of its long-anticipated mission that will return U.S. astronauts to the moon for the first time in 50 years. The Artemis 1 mission is scheduled for liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida after 8:30 a.m. Monday within a two-hour window, the agency said in a briefing Monday. The mission is the first test of the newly m
What are wormholes? An astrophysicist explains these shortcuts through space-time
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 13:21Imagine two towns on two opposite sides of a mountain. People from these towns would probably have to travel all the way around the mountain to visit one another. But, if they wanted to get there faster, they could dig a tunnel straight through the mountain to create a shortcut. That's the idea behind a wormhole. A wormhole is like a tunnel between two distant points in our universe that c
DARPA selects SpaceLink to participate in its program to connect the proliferated space domain
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 13:21SpaceLink, a company that provides secure data from any orbit, any time, announced it was selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Strategic Technology Office (STO) for a contract award. SpaceLink will participate in the Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node (Space-BACN) program designed to connect the proliferated space domain. SpaceLink is building a constella
US Space Force SSC's GEO Wide Field of View On Orbit
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 13:21The United States Space Force Space Systems Command's Geosynchronous Earth Orbit Wide Field of View Testbed is online and the bus checkout is complete. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's Blossom Point Tracking Facility successfully acquired WFOV and is operating the satellite. Data is processed through Blossom Point and coordinated with Space Control Network. "First acquisition was righ
STARCOM executes first JNTC-accredited, largest SPACE FLAG exercise ever
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 13:21Space Training and Readiness Command completed its first exercise iteration of SPACE FLAG (SPACE FLAG 22-3) since being accredited by the Joint Staff as a Joint National Training Capability. SPACE FLAG is the first Department of Defense space exercise to receive JNTC-accreditation, joining the likes of the U.S. Air Force's Red Flag and Green Flag exercises, as well as the U.S. Army's Joint
Kacific supports Vodafone PNG for new mobile network into rural areas
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 13:21Kacific Broadband Satellites Group (Kacific) has partnered with Vodafone PNG to deploy the satellite operator's Mobile Backhaul services, helping to greatly expand Vodafone PNG's voice and 3G/4G data network into rural areas of Papua New Guinea. Vodafone PNG based in Papua New Guinea, part of the Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH) Group of companies from Fiji, successfully launched in Apri
NASA using astronomical forensics to study exploded star
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 13:21A NASA-funded sounding rocket mission will observe the remnants of an exploded star, uncovering new details about the eruption event while testing X-ray detector technologies for future missions. The High-Resolution Microcalorimeter X-ray Imaging, or Micro-X, experiment will launch Aug. 21 from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The mission's target of study is some 11,000 light-
Ready for its close-up: New technology sharpens images of black holes
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 13:21When scientists unveiled humanity's historic first image of a black hole in 2019 - depicting a dark core encircled by a fiery aura of material falling toward it - they believed even richer imagery and insights were waiting to be teased out of the data. Simulations predict that, obscured by that bright orange glow, there should exist a thin, bright ring of light created by photons flung aro
New study examines how many moons an earth-mass planet could host
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 13:21A new study by a trio of physics researchers attempts to quantify how many moons the Earth, or an exoplanet with the mass of Earth orbiting a Sun-like star, could host in its orbit. Their findings: Anywhere from three to seven, depending on the moon's mass. The study, titled "Moon-packing around an Earth-mass planet", was published in the August 1 online edition of the Monthly Notices of t
Orbex to hire fifty new staff over next six months, in final countdown to UK rocket launch
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 13:21UK-based launch services company Orbex is hiring an additional fifty staff members over the next six months. The new team members will support the company's final push to prepare for the first vertical rocket launch from UK soil over the coming months. Many of the new roles will support 'integrated testing' of the complete rocket at the Orbex LP1 launch platform test facility at Kinloss. T
Case solved: missing carbon monoxide was hiding in the ice
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 13:21Astronomers frequently observe carbon monoxide in planetary nurseries. The compound is ultra-bright and extremely common in protoplanetary disks - regions of dust and gas where planets form around young stars - making it a prime target for scientists. But for the last decade or so, something hasn't been adding up when it comes to carbon monoxide observations, says Diana Powell, a NASA Hubb
China's space tracking ship sails for monitoring missions
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 13:21China's space tracking ship Yuanwang-3 set sail for monitoring missions from its home port on Monday morning, according to China Science Daily. The vessel has prepared for the new missions as the technicians have completed the overhaul and test of shipborne tracking and monitoring equipment and carried out operation drills. In 2022, Yuanwang-3 sailed for more than 70 days and complet
The global hunt for dark matter has arrived in Australia at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 13:21Located 1km underground in the Stawell Gold Mine, the first dark matter laboratory in the southern hemisphere is preparing to join the global quest to understand the nature of dark matter and unlock the secrets of our universe. Recently unveiled, the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) will be the new epicentre of dark matter research in Australia. Lead researcher on the pr
Negotiations are underway to avoid conflict and damage to spacecraft between international moon missions
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 12:36It's been 50 years since humans last visited the moon, and even robotic missions have been few and far between. But the Earth's only natural satellite is about to get crowded.
At least six countries and a flurry of private companies have publicly announced more than 250 missions to the moon to occur within the next decade. Many of these missions include plans for permanent lunar bases and are motivated in large part by ambitions to assess and begin utilizing the moon's natural resources. In the short term, resources would be used to support lunar missions, but in the long term, the moon and its resources will be a critical gateway for missions to the broader riches of the solar system.
But these lofty ambitions collide with a looming legal question. On Earth, possession and ownership of natural resources are based on territorial sovereignty.
Astrobotic wins NASA funding for CubeRover mission
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 12:35Astrobotic, a company developing landers and other lunar technologies, has secured NASA funding to fly a small rover on a future mission to test its ability to survive the lunar night.
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