Rocketlab launches CAPSTONE on lunar mission for NASA
Tuesday, 28 June 2022 09:54
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Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has launched a satellite to the Moon for NASA from Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula. The launch window opened at 09:50 UTC on June 28th. Designed and built by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a Terran Orbital Corporation, and owned and operated by Advanced Space on behalf of NASA, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) CubeSat will be the first spacecraft to test the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) around the Moon. NASA hopes New Zealand launch will pave way for moon landing
Tuesday, 28 June 2022 09:00 Write a comment
NASA wants to experiment with a new orbit around the moon that it hopes to use in the coming years to once again land astronauts on the lunar surface.
Contract secures design for ESA’s FORUM satellite
Tuesday, 28 June 2022 06:00 Write a comment
ESA has awarded a contract worth €160 million to Airbus in the UK to build the Earth Explorer FORUM satellite. This exciting new mission will yield unique insight into the planet’s radiation budget and how it is controlled – thereby filling in a critical missing piece of the climate jigsaw.
Short for Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring, FORUM is ESA’s ninth Earth Explorer mission.
Webb's NIRISS instrument is ready to see cosmos in over 2,000 infrared colors
Monday, 27 June 2022 18:23 Write a comment
House appropriators partially restore funding for planetary defense mission
Monday, 27 June 2022 15:31 Write a comment
House appropriators partially restored funding for a planetary defense mission as part of a spending bill while also raising concerns about NASA’s closure of an airborne observatory and plans to return samples from Mars.
The post House appropriators partially restore funding for planetary defense mission appeared first on SpaceNews.
Ariane 6 central core assembly complete
Monday, 27 June 2022 12:14 Write a comment
The central core of a test model of ESA’s new Ariane 6 heavy lift rocket has been assembled for the first time in the purpose-built Launcher Assembly Building at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Iran says satellite carrier launched
Monday, 27 June 2022 10:17 Write a comment
Iran's defence ministry said Sunday it has carried out a second test launch of a satellite carrier, ahead of the expected restart of nuclear talks.
"The second launch of the Zoljanah satellite carrier has taken place in order to achieve the predetermined research objectives," said Ahmad Hosseini, spokesman for the ministry's space division, cited by state news agency IRNA.
In February la MDA selects Raytheon to continue developing a first-of-its-kind counter-hypersonic missile
Monday, 27 June 2022 10:17 Write a comment
The Missile Defense Agency has selected Raytheon Missiles and Defense, a Raytheon Technologies business (NYSE: RTX), to continue to develop a first-of-its-kind counter-hypersonic missile, the Glide Phase Interceptor. GPI is designed to intercept hypersonic weapons in the glide phase of flight, providing the U.S. and allies with an additional layer of defense against regional hypersonic missile t NASA blasts off from Australian Outback in 'historic' launch
Monday, 27 June 2022 10:17 Write a comment
NASA's first-ever launch from a commercial site outside of the United States blasted off from Australia's Outback late Sunday, in a "historic" moment for the country's space industry.
In the first of three planned launches from the Arnhem Space Centre, the rocket, carrying technology likened to a "mini Hubble" telescope, lifted off - blasted about 350 kilometres (218 miles) into the night s NSSA releases report on "United States Space Command: Progress And Opportunities"
Monday, 27 June 2022 10:17 Write a comment
The National Security Space Association (NSSA) has released a report entitled "United States Space Command: Progress and Opportunities". Produced by the Association's Moorman Center for Space Studies, the report notes the importance of the USSPACECOM mission to U.S. national security and economic well-being, describes recent progress of the Command in reaching an "initial operational capability" BepiColombo’s second Mercury flyby
Monday, 27 June 2022 07:00 Write a comment
Video:
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A beautiful sequence of 56 images taken by the monitoring cameras on board the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission as the spacecraft made its second close flyby of its destination planet Mercury on 23 June 2022.
The compilation includes images from two monitoring cameras (MCAM) onboard the Mercury Transfer Module, which provides black-and-white snapshots at 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. The MCAMs also capture parts of the spacecraft: MCAM-2 sees the Mercury Planetary Orbiter’s medium-gain antenna and magnetometer boom, while the high-gain antenna is in the MCAM-3 field-of-view.
The image sequences lasted about 15 minutes starting soon after closest approach
Po River dries up
Monday, 27 June 2022 06:30 Write a comment
Image:
The Po River, the longest river in Italy, is hitting record low water levels after months without heavy rainfall. This Copernicus Sentinel-2 animation reveals how the river has significantly shrunk between June 2020 and June 2022. Axiom and Collins only bidders for NASA spacesuit contracts
Sunday, 26 June 2022 22:09 Write a comment
The two companies NASA selected earlier this month to develop spacesuits for the International Space Station and Artemis lunar missions were the only companies to bid on the project, according to agency procurement documents.
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spots rocket impact site on Moon
Sunday, 26 June 2022 05:13 Write a comment
Astronomers discovered a rocket body heading toward a lunar collision late last year. Impact occurred March 4, with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter later spotting the resulting crater. Surprisingly the crater is actually two craters, an eastern crater (18-meter diameter, about 19.5 yards) superimposed on a western crater (16-meter diameter, about 17.5 yards).
The double crater was unex NASA Announces Launch Delay for Its Psyche Asteroid Mission
Sunday, 26 June 2022 05:13 Write a comment
An independent assessment team will review possible options for next steps, including estimated costs. NASA announced Friday the Psyche asteroid mission, the agency's first mission designed to study a metal-rich asteroid, will not make its planned 2022 launch attempt.
Due to the late delivery of the spacecraft's flight software and testing equipment, NASA does not have sufficient time to c