Asteroid sharing Earth's orbit discovered. Could it help future space missions?
Friday, 04 February 2022 14:10
Research has shown that the Earth trails an asteroid barely a kilometer across in its orbit about the Sun—only the second such body to have ever been spotted. It goes round the Sun on average two months ahead of the Earth, dancing around in front like an excited herald of our coming.
This object, known as 2020 XL₅, was first spotted in December 2020 using Pan-STARRS telescopes on the summit of Haleakala on the Hawaiian island of Maui. But determination of its orbit required follow-up observations using the 4.1-meter SOAR (Southern Astrophysical Research) telescope in Chile.
Based on this data, a team led by planetary scientist Toni Santana-Ros of the University of Alicante in Spain has now announced that 2020 XL₅ is trapped for at least the next several thousand years in an orbit about one of the Sun-Earth "Lagrange points.
Week in images: 31 January - 4 February 2022
Friday, 04 February 2022 12:58
Week in images: 31 January - 4 February 2022
Discover our week through the lens
Rocket Lab expands Colorado facilities, prepares for busy launch year
Friday, 04 February 2022 10:56
Rocket Lab will expand facilities in Colorado it obtained from a corporate acquisition last year as the company gears up for the first launch in a “crazy busy” year.
The post Rocket Lab expands Colorado facilities, prepares for busy launch year appeared first on SpaceNews.
New eruption at Krakatoa Volcano
Friday, 04 February 2022 09:36
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A new eruption started at the Anak Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia on 3 February 2022, as seen in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. Earth from Space: Batura Glacier
Friday, 04 February 2022 08:00The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Batura Glacier – one of the largest and longest glaciers in the world, outside of the polar regions.
ESA tests marine plastic detection in ocean wave facility
Friday, 04 February 2022 07:22
Could satellites be able to help track and map the marine plastic waste befouling our oceans? Research teams from across Europe returned to a Netherlands-based ocean wave test facility to try and detect floating plastic. Using a suite of microwave and optical instruments, the researchers are assessing if orbital monitoring of plastic might be practical in the future.
Former NASA official starts company to put robotic spacecraft in orbit
Friday, 04 February 2022 04:51
A former NASA official revealed Thursday that his new space company, Maryland-based Quantum Space, plans to launch robotic satellite outposts to orbit the sun about a million miles from the Earth.
The eventual goal is to provide easier and cheaper access to space while also limiting debris in Earth's orbit, Steve Jurczyk, Quantum CEO, told UPI in an interview.
"We'd have a regular ca Astronaut hits 300 days in space, on way to break NASA record
Friday, 04 February 2022 04:51
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei has lived in space continuously for 300 days since launching and docking to the orbiting lab on April 9, 2021. He is on his way to surpassing Christina Koch's 328-day mission on March 3 and Scott Kelly's 340 days on March 15. Vande Hei will return to Earth on March 30 with a NASA astronaut record-breaking 355 consecutive days in Earth orbit.
CAPCOM Woody Hobau Chandrayaan-3 scheduled for launch in August 2022, Lok Sabha told
Friday, 04 February 2022 04:51
The Department of Space has planned as many as 19 missions this year even as the Chandrayaan-3, the next phase of India's mission to the moon, is scheduled for August 2022, the government told the Lok Sabha.
"Based on the learnings from Chandrayaan-2 and suggestions made by the national level experts, the realisation of Chandrayaan-3 is in progress. Many related hardware and their special Intelsat/SKY Perfect JSAT Corp expand high-throughput inflight connectivity network over Asia
Friday, 04 February 2022 04:51
Intelsat, operator of the world's largest integrated satellite and terrestrial network and leading provider of inflight connectivity (IFC), has expanded its partnership with SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation to use its next-generation JCSAT-1C high-throughput satellites (HTS) over Japan and Asia, one of the fastest-growing markets for air travel. The partnership benefits both airlines and passengers SpaceX launches Starlink satellites from Florida
Friday, 04 February 2022 04:51
SpaceX launched 49 of its own Starlink broadband communications satellites from Florida on Thursday afternoon in a mission delayed by over a week.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 1:13 p.m. EST into a sunny, warm sky from Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
The Starlink launch had been postponed repeatedly as the company dealt with adverse weather and other delays to launch an Defence Procurement Minister launches Defence Space Strategy
Friday, 04 February 2022 04:51
It's a huge pleasure to be here today on the next step in our execution of the Integrated Review, the Defence Command Paper and Defence and Security Industrial Strategy.
A lot has happened in Defence in the last year. From assisting in homeland resilience in issues as varied at vaccine delivery to Heavy Goods Vehicle support to the largest Royal Navy deployment in decades making our positi UK cutting-edge space defence backed by 1.4 billion pounds
Friday, 04 February 2022 04:51
The UK will invest 1.4 billion pounds to bolster our national interests in space, as part of the first Defence Space Strategy published this week.
Following publication of the National Space Strategy in September last year, the Defence Space Strategy (DSS) outlines how Defence will protect the UK's national interests in space in an era of ever-growing threats, stimulating growth across the Webb team begins aligning the telescope
Friday, 04 February 2022 04:51
This week, the three-month process of aligning the telescope began - and over the last day, Webb team members saw the first photons of starlight that traveled through the entire telescope and were detected by the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument. This milestone marks the first of many steps to capture images that are at first unfocused and use them to slowly fine-tune the telescope. This Satellites Offer New Capabilities and Complexities for 5G Networks
Friday, 04 February 2022 04:51
New advances in 5G standards are creating opportunities to integrate non-terrestrial networks (NTN) into an interoperable, standardized wireless experience across the entire globe. Today, 5G Americas, the voice of 5G and 4G LTE for the Americas, announced the release of its latest white paper covering the role of 5G in satellite networks entitled, "5G and Non-Terrestrial Networks."
Said Ch