Webb begins hunt for the first stars and habitable worlds
Thursday, 14 July 2022 16:29
The first stunning images from the James Webb Space Telescope were revealed this week, but its journey of cosmic discovery has only just begun.
Here is a look at two early projects that will take advantage of the orbiting observatory's powerful instruments.
The first stars and galaxies
One of the great promises of the telescope is its ability to study the earliest phase of cosmic history, shortly after the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago.
The more distant objects are from us, the longer it takes for their light to reach us, and so to gaze back into the distant universe is to look back in the deep past.
The first CERN-driven satellite successfully launched
Thursday, 14 July 2022 16:03
CELESTA, the first CERN-driven satellite, successfully entered orbit during the maiden flight of Europe's Vega-C launch vehicle. Launched by the European Space Agency from the French Guiana Space Center (CSG) at 13.13 UTC on 13 July 2022, the satellite deployed smoothly and transmitted its first signals in the afternoon.
Weighing one kilogram and measuring 10 centimeters on each of its sides, CELESTA (CERN latchup and radmon experiment student satellite) is a 1U CubeSat designed to study the effects of cosmic radiation on electronics. The satellite carries a Space RadMon, a miniature version of a well-proven radiation monitoring device deployed in CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
China prepares for July 24 launch of second space station module
Thursday, 14 July 2022 12:15
China is gearing up to send a second module to its under-construction space station with a launch from the coastal Wenchang spaceport later this month.
Galileo 2nd Generation takes 11 leaps forward
Thursday, 14 July 2022 11:25
Europe’s Galileo constellation is already the world’s most precise satellite navigation system, but now Galileo Second Generation, G2, is coming. A set of 11 procurements – adding up to a maximum of up to approximately 950 million euros – are being released over the course of July by ESA, aiming for this next generation satnav system to begin operations and provide new capabilities later in this decade.
Northrop Grumman completes PDR for a 300-kilowatt class high energy laser
Thursday, 14 July 2022 11:08
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) recently completed the preliminary design review for a high-energy laser prototype that will feature an architecture scalable to more than a megawatt for the U.S. Department of Defense. The review establishes the company's technical approach for precise, low-cost, speed-of-light technology for military operations.
"This is an important step in the a DataFarming bringing Pixxel's hyperspectral imaging to Australian farmers
Thursday, 14 July 2022 11:08
Toowoomba, Australia (SPX) Jul 10, 2022
Pixxel has announced an early adoption partnership with Australian cloud-based agritech company DataFarming. Using Pixxel's hyperspectral dataset, DataFarming will be able to monitor crop health at new speeds and greater resolutions compared to the multispectral imaging on behalf of tens of thousands of farmers.
Pixxel's constellation of hyperspectr Scientists find oldest Martian meteorite's original home
Thursday, 14 July 2022 11:08
Scientists announced Tuesday they had found the crater from which the oldest known Martian meteorite was originally blasted towards Earth, a discovery that could provide clues into how our own planet was formed.
The meteorite NWA 7034, nicknamed Black Beauty, has fascinated geologists since it was discovered in the Sahara Desert in 2011.
It fits easily in the hand, weighing just over 300 NASA and Roscosmos nearing completion of seat barter agreement
Thursday, 14 July 2022 10:46
NASA and Roscosmos are in the final stages of completing a long-awaited agreement to allow Russian cosmonauts to fly on commercial crew vehicles and American astronauts on Soyuz spacecraft.
The post NASA and Roscosmos nearing completion of seat barter agreement appeared first on SpaceNews.
Did you see it? Supermoon graces skies worldwide
Thursday, 14 July 2022 06:46
Did you catch the supermoon?
There was a full moon Wednesday night, and at the same time, the moon was closer to Earth than usual. That combo is called a supermoon.
The closer proximity to Earth can make the moon appear slightly bigger and brighter, weather permitting.
One name for Wednesday's full moon is the "Buck moon"—a reference to the time of year when new antlers are growing on male deer, or bucks.
The supermoon on June 14 was the "Strawberry moon" because it's the full moon at strawberry harvest time.
Webb delivers deepest image of Universe yet
Thursday, 14 July 2022 06:29
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the deepest, sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe so far.
Webb's image is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm's length - and reveals thousands of galaxies in a tiny sliver of vast Universe. This sharp near-infrared view has brought out faint structures in extremely distant galaxies, for an unprecedented Vega-C completes inaugural flight
Thursday, 14 July 2022 00:42
Flight VV21 lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana at 15:13 CEST on Wednesday 13 July (14:13 BST/10:13 Kourou local time). This mission lasted about 2 hours and 15 minutes from liftoff to release of final payload and final burn of the AVUM+ upper stage engine.
Total payload mass at liftoff was approximately 474 kg: 296 kg for LARES-2, with the remainder being the six CubeSats, Short space trips for paying passengers on the way
Thursday, 14 July 2022 00:42
CAS Space, a Beijing-based rocket company owned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is designing a set of reusable rocket and spacecraft, with the aim of sending paying passengers on short trips into space, said the company's chairman.
Yang Yiqiang, a senior rocket scientist and founder of CAS Space, told China Daily in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that if everything goes according Skyrora opens UK's largest rocket engine manufacturing facility
Thursday, 14 July 2022 00:42
UK rocket company Skyrora has taken another important stride towards achieving a sovereign orbital launch from British soil by opening a new manufacturing and production facility, the largest of its kind in the UK.
After recently opening its engine test facility in Midlothian, this new facility in Cumbernauld allows the company to concentrate its launch development practices in custom-buil NASA Highlights Climate Research on Cargo Launch, Sets Coverage
Thursday, 14 July 2022 00:42
NASA and SpaceX are targeting 8:44 p.m. EDT Thursday, July 14, to launch the agency's next investigation to monitor climate change to the International Space Station. The mission, NASA's Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), will fly aboard SpaceX's 25th commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory.
SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft will lift off from Launch Co