Small packages with big benefits aboard SpX-22
Thursday, 03 June 2021 11:21
Write a comment
When the Falcon 9 rocket launches on June 3, it will be carrying thousands of pounds of cargo to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX's 22nd commercial resupply services mission. Yet the last five items to be loaded will weigh less than an ounce. These include two plant and two animal species along with a microbial study. Scientists will examine these to better understand how to prepare future astronauts for the rigors of long-distance space travel, as well as unlock a few secrets that may benefit all of humankind back on Earth.
Briefly, the two animal experiments and the microbial study consist of:
Astronomers calculate genesis of Oort cloud in chronological order
Thursday, 03 June 2021 10:45 Write a comment
A team of Leiden astronomers has managed to calculate the first 100 million years of the history of the Oort cloud in its entirety. Until now, only parts of the history had been studied separately. The cloud, with roughly 100 billion comet-like objects, forms an enormous shell at the edge of our solar system. The astronomers will soon publish their comprehensive simulation and its consequences in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
The Oort cloud was discovered in 1950 by the Dutch astronomer Jan Hendrik Oort to explain why there continue to be new comets with elongated orbits in our solar system. The cloud, which starts at more than 3000 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun, should not be confused with the Kuiper belt.
Launcher raises $11.7 million Series A round
Thursday, 03 June 2021 10:27 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Small launch vehicle developer Launcher has raised $11.7 million in a Series A funding round, which the company says puts it on a path to reaching orbit with a fraction of the total investment of other launch startups.
Galileo satellites’ last step before launch
Thursday, 03 June 2021 10:04 Write a comment
Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation constellation is set to grow. Later this year the first two out of 12 ‘Batch 3’ Galileo satellites will be launched by Soyuz from French Guiana. Their last step on the way to launch is situated beside sand dunes on the Dutch coast: the ESTEC Test Centre, which is Europe’s largest satellite test facility.
Axiom Space purchases three Crew Dragon missions
Thursday, 03 June 2021 09:46 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Axiom Space has signed a contract with SpaceX for three additional Crew Dragon missions, enough to meet its projections for private astronaut missions to the International Space Station through at least 2023.
Axiom, which already has a deal with SpaceX for the Ax-1 mission to the ISS launching in early 2022, said June 2 the new contract covers the projected Ax-2, 3 and 4 missions to the station.
China launches Fengyun-4B meteorological satellite
Thursday, 03 June 2021 09:40 Write a comment
HELSINKI — China successfully sent the Fengyun-4B weather satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit Wednesday with the country’s 16th orbital launch of 2021.
TMC Technologies wins contract to support NASA's IV&V Program
Thursday, 03 June 2021 08:19 Write a comment
TMC Technologies of West Virginia, a leading-edge technology services firm, is proud to announce it has been awarded a five-year, Blanket Purchase Agreement, with a ceiling value of $24 million, by NASA to provide advanced systems and software engineering services in support of the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility, home of NASA's IV&V Program in Fairmont, Worms on a mission to research muscle loss in space
Thursday, 03 June 2021 08:19 Write a comment
Today hundreds of tiny worms are being flown to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of an experiment to understand more about human muscle loss and how to prevent it.
Led by scientists from Nottingham and Exeter University, with hardware designed by Oxford-based Kayser Space, a research team aims to determine the causes of muscle changes during spaceflight and find ways to mitiga Government fund will support new ideas for cleaning up space
Thursday, 03 June 2021 08:19 Write a comment
Space firms are being invited to apply for a share of up to 800,000 pounds in funding from the UK Space Agency to develop ideas for space debris removal missions.
One of the biggest global challenges facing the space sector is orbital congestion and space debris. There are currently an estimated 900,000 pieces of space debris including old satellites, spent rocket bodies and even tools dro NASA announces two new missions to Venus
Thursday, 03 June 2021 08:19 Write a comment
NASA announced two new missions to Venus on Wednesday that will launch at the end of the decade and are aimed at learning how Earth's nearest planetary neighbor became a hellscape while our own thrived.
"These two sister missions both aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world, capable of melting lead at the surface," said Bill Nelson, the agency's newly-confirmed administrator The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission - Presenting Hera
Thursday, 03 June 2021 08:19 Write a comment
Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two briefcase-sized Cubesats - Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary - Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos and Dimorphos, an asteroid pair typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth.
Planetary defence requires planetary cooperation. Hera is set to rendezvous with the asteroid pair NASA picks Venus as hot spot for two new robotic missions
Thursday, 03 June 2021 06:34 Write a comment
NASA is returning to sizzling Venus, our closest yet perhaps most overlooked neighbor, after decades of exploring other worlds.
The space agency's new administrator, Bill Nelson, announced two new robotic missions to the solar system's hottest planet, during his first major address to employees Wednesday.
Axiom Space signs with SpaceX for 3 more private crew missions to ISS
Wednesday, 02 June 2021 23:40 Write a comment
Axiom Space revealed Wednesday that it has finalized a deal with SpaceX for three additional Dragon flights, on which Axiom would fly its proposed private crews on its next three fully commercial missions to the International Space Station. The landmark agreement between the industry leaders in human spaceflight as well as orbital services and launch, respectively, ensures the nascent commercial Trashing space begins in low earth orbit
Wednesday, 02 June 2021 23:40 Write a comment
When we think of space, we think big and empty but when it comes to Earth's orbit, it's cluttered with millions of pieces of garbage that we call space junk.
The junk - or space debris - is made up of uncontrollable human-made items that remain in orbit long after they've served their original purpose. The scale of debris ranges from the very large including discarded stages from rocket an A new dimension in the quest to understand dark matter
Wednesday, 02 June 2021 23:40 Write a comment
As its name suggests, dark matter - material which makes up about 85% of the mass in the universe - emits no light, eluding easy detection. Its properties, too, remain fairly obscure.
Now, a theoretical particle physicist at the University of California, Riverside, and colleagues have published a research paper in the Journal of High Energy Physics that shows how theories positing the exis