University teams demonstrate 'cool' new technologies for the Moon, Mars
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 10:06Ten university teams designed and built systems intended to harvest water frozen below the surface of the Moon and Mars. The teams put their prototypes to the test during the 2021 Moon to Mars Ice and Prospecting Challenge held September 23-25 at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, Virginia. Taking top prize of $6,000 was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) team fro
Arkisys unveils first spacecraft element for The Port in Pasadena
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 10:06Arkisys has unveiled its first generation orbital outpost spacecraft element, the Port Module Wedge, planned for its first use on its initial Space Outpost in low earth orbit, as well as subsequent future missions and destinations. Standing at approximately 1 meter tall and just over 1 meter wide, it is the core architectural component that defines the unique commercial-focused development
China unveils gravitational-wave research center in Guangdong
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 10:06A gravitational-wave research center under the China National Space Administration (CNSA) was inaugurated on Sunday in the city of Zhuhai, in Guangdong province. According to the CNSA, the gravitational-wave research center, located at the Zhuhai Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, will develop a series of experimental satellite platforms and payloads to promote China's space gravitational-w
Tiny satellites will address sizeable questions in space science
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 10:06At NASA, "CuPID" and "CUTE" aren't just Valentine's Day buzzwords - they're the names of two satellite missions launching this fall. The Cusp Plasma Imaging Detector, or CuPID, will study the boundaries of Earth's magnetic field, to see how energy from the Sun can break through our planet's magnetic shield. The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment, or CUTE, will train its telescope on planets
NASA seeks input from potential partners on next generation astromobile
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 10:06When astronauts journey to the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket beginning with the Artemis II mission, they will travel by more traditional ground transport as they head to the launch pad to board their spacecraft. NASA is seeking input from industry through a Request for Information on the opportunity for private companies to work with NASA and either
Russia, US plan to make more movies in space
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 10:06Russia and the United States are ready to cross new frontiers for filming movies in space as a way to promote growing commercialization of orbital spaceflight and beyond. Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, plans to launch a Russian actress, film director and cosmonaut to the International Space Station early next month to produce the first full-length feature film shot in space, with a work
Masten Space Systems partners with AdaCore to land on the Moon's South Pole
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 10:06When Masten Space Systems was awarded a NASA contract to land scientific payloads on the Moon, the company chose to work with AdaCore's software development and verification tools for its XL-1 Lunar Lander spacecraft. Masten Space Systems will use the Ada and SPARK programming languages and AdaCore's GNAT Pro integrated development environment and SPARK Pro static analysis verification tools in
Exotic mix in China's Moon Rocks
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 10:06On 16 December 2020 the Chang'e-5 mission, China's first sample return mission to the Moon, successfully delivered to Earth nearly two kilograms of rocky fragments and dust from our celestial companion. Chang'e-5 landed on an area of the Moon not sampled by the NASA Apollo or the Soviet Luna missions nearly 50 years ago, and retrieved fragments of the youngest lunar rocks ever brought back for a
Hubble shows winds in Jupiter's Great Red Spot are speeding up
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 10:06Like the speed of an advancing race car driver, the winds in the outermost "lane" of Jupiter's Great Red Spot are accelerating - a discovery only made possible by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, which has monitored the planet for more than a decade. Researchers analyzing Hubble's regular "storm reports" found that the average wind speed just within the boundaries of the storm, known as a hi
Nation to deploy solar observation satellite
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 10:06China plans to launch its first solar observation satellite next month, according to a project insider. Wang Wei, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering at the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, and project manager of the satellite, told China Daily on Sunday that the spacecraft is scheduled to be put into orbit from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center
Space for our Planet: Space Solutions for a Sustainable World
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 09:00At ESA, we believe that we have a responsibility to use our space technologies, applications and services to benefit planet Earth and humankind. Some examples of how we do this are now on display in Paris and Brussels at a new exhibition called Space for our Planet: Space Solutions for a Sustainable World.
British government releases national space strategy
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 08:54The British government released a highly anticipated space strategy Sept. 27 that outlines its plans to turn the country into a major global space power, but does away with a key metric it had been using to measure its progress.
Mercury ahead!
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 08:00The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury will make the first of six flybys of its destination planet on 1 October before entering orbit in 2025.
Space Development Agency revises Transport Layer procurement, with fewer satellites per launch
Monday, 27 September 2021 23:29The Space Development Agency revised a request for proposals that previously had sought bids for 144 satellites. It is now seeking proposals for 126 satellites, and will procure the other 18 at a later time.
MDA highlights speedy tasking, broad coverage of Radarsat-2 follow-on
Monday, 27 September 2021 23:15MDA’s Radarsat-2 follow-on will include a C-band synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite in a mid-inclination orbit capable of collecting imagery in a 700 kilometer swath at a resolution of 50 meters per pixel.