Fuel leak thwarts NASA's dress rehearsal for moon rocket
Thursday, 14 April 2022 20:22
NASA's latest attempt to fuel its huge moon rocket for a countdown test was thwarted Thursday by a hazardous hydrogen leak, the latest in a series of vexing equipment trouble.
Divide and conquer: Mars rovers could be superseded by swarms of two-wheeled robots
Thursday, 14 April 2022 20:12
Skoltech scientists have proposed a concept for a modular Mars exploration rover. Leveraging the power of cooperative robotics, the new system first described in an Acta Astronautica paper consists of four two-wheeled robots that can operate independently or combine in various constellations. According to the study, that approach will enable longer exploration missions that gather more information about the planet's history, potential habitability, and possible traces of surface water or prior life.
Since NASA's Pathfinder, the first successful Mars rover, landed on the Red Planet in 1997, researchers have used the same basic design: a six-wheeled autonomous exploratory vehicle carrying a set of scientific instruments on board. Nowadays, researchers suggest that a Mars mission could accomplish more in the same timespan if it consists of several variously equipped robots simultaneously carrying out separate tasks at different locations and occasionally coming together for more challenging tasks.
"This is basically an optimization problem: How do you maximize exploration time and distance covered without driving the cost of the mission through the roof?" Skoltech Ph.D.
Astranis eyes U.S. military customers for its small geostationary satellites
Thursday, 14 April 2022 19:32
Small GEO satellite operator Astranis sees an opportunity to break into the defense market as the military seeks to diversify its communications architecture
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Avanti sheds $550 million of debt to free up growth plan
Thursday, 14 April 2022 18:51
British satellite operator Avanti said April 13 it has cut its $810 million debt pile by two-thirds after investors agreed to swap debt for equity.
The post Avanti sheds $550 million of debt to free up growth plan appeared first on SpaceNews.
Plasma ejections from the sun could cause damage on Earth, scientists say
Thursday, 14 April 2022 17:53
An unusual magnetic storm from the sun will aim at the Earth soon, possibly beginning Thursday, and experts say it has the potential to cause some noticeable damage here on our planet.
Scientists say that the solar activity - called a geomagnetic storm - will produce a magnetic discharge and send it in the direction toward Earth. In other words, essentially, that means that increased Space domain awareness: A secret weapon against shadowy threats in orbit
Thursday, 14 April 2022 17:00
KBR, a Defense Department and NASA contractor with $6 billion in annual sales, paid $800 million in 2020 to acquire Centauri, a company focused on space sensors and satellite tracking. The acquisition gave KBR an entry into the business of “space domain awareness,” a military term for the capability to track objects in space and predict potential threats.
Kepler validates intersatellite data-relay terminal
Thursday, 14 April 2022 16:05
Kepler Communications has successfully tested inter-satellite links with a terminal designed to tap into the Aether data-relay constellation it plans to start deploying early next year, an executive for the Canadian company said.
CAPSTONE cubesat ready for cislunar mission
Thursday, 14 April 2022 13:31
NASA’s intention to replant bootprints on the moon is getting a kick-start by the launch of a microwave oven-sized smallsat, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, called CAPSTONE for short.
Op-ed | How Russia’s war with Ukraine jams NASA
Thursday, 14 April 2022 13:00
Three decades ago, NASA embraced international cooperation as a rationale for the International Space Station. Now, the same argument that saved the station at the end of the last Cold War may produce its demise at the start of a new one.
Capella unveils automated tasking products
Thursday, 14 April 2022 12:00
Capella Space unveiled three products April 14 that automate tasking of the company’s constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites.
The post Capella unveils automated tasking products appeared first on SpaceNews.
Ariane 6 cryo-arms mimic liftoff
Thursday, 14 April 2022 12:00
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Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana is preparing for the arrival of Ariane 6, ESA’s new heavy-lift rocket. The latest round of testing aims to validate the system of fuel lines and mechanical supporting arms that will keep Ariane 6 topped up with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the critical moments before liftoff. This work is part of the final preparations of the new Ariane 6 launch complex and all the systems necessary for a launch.
With the mobile gantry fully retracted – as for a launch – two articulated arms attached to the upper part of the
Pop goes the Moon
Thursday, 14 April 2022 11:56
Image:
A satisfying, audible ‘pop’ marked a successful piercing of the sealed Apollo 17 sample container using the ESA designed and built piercing tool. The tool forms part of a gas sampling system with a gas extraction manifold, designed and built by Washington University St Louis, USA.
Francesca McDonald, science and project lead of ESA’s contribution to the Apollo Next-Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) programme, is pictured at the centre of this image with the piercing tool, which contains the pristine sample.
Francesca and colleague, Timon Schild, delivered the ESA piercing tool to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in late 2021 in preparation
Industry Space Days 2022: join Europe’s space community at ESA/ESTEC
Thursday, 14 April 2022 11:20
Register now to attend ESA’s Industry Space Days (ISD) at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, on 28–29 September 2022.
China gears up for new space station missions, record-breaking crew set to return home
Thursday, 14 April 2022 11:13
A Long March rocket arrived at Wenchang spaceport Monday in preparation for a new round of space station missions starting May.
NASA shifts Earth science mission to previously flown Falcon 9
Thursday, 14 April 2022 10:51
NASA’s embrace of reused rockets continued with an agreement this month to switch the upcoming launch of an Earth science satellite from a new to a previously flown Falcon 9, a change whose full terms remain proprietary.