On National Security | Russia showed it can attack. Is U.S. Space Force ready to defend?
Thursday, 09 December 2021 20:00
Russia’s anti-satellite missile test has raised calls for the United States and its allies to push for international norms to ban such tests. But reaching an agreement on space arms control could take years or even decades.
Mini-jet found near Milky Way's supermassive black hole
Thursday, 09 December 2021 18:57
Our Milky Way's central black hole has a leak. This supermassive black hole looks like it still has the vestiges of a blowtorch-like jet dating back several thousand years. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope hasn't photographed the phantom jet but has helped find circumstantial evidence that it is still pushing feebly into a huge hydrogen cloud and then splattering, like the narrow stream from a hose aimed into a pile of sand.
This is further evidence that the black hole, with a mass of 4.1 million Suns, is not a sleeping monster but periodically hiccups as stars and gas clouds fall into it. Black holes draw some material into a swirling, orbiting accretion disk where some of the infalling material is swept up into outflowing jets that are collimated by the black hole's powerful magnetic fields. The narrow "searchlight beams" are accompanied by a flood of deadly ionizing radiation.
"The central black hole is dynamically variable and is currently powered down," said Gerald Cecil of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Third consortium gets UK funds to study potential deorbit mission
Thursday, 09 December 2021 18:32
A consortium led by British small satellite maker SSTL has secured UK Space Agency funding to study a mission to remove two spacecraft from low Earth orbit by 2025.
Op-ed | The ‘S’-word: How Standards can Advance the Satellite Industry
Thursday, 09 December 2021 16:03
In comparison to terrestrial wireless, standards have played a much more limited role in the satellite world’s more insular ecosystem. But as the industry transitions from legacy analog hardware to digital software, standards will be essential for realizing true interoperability between satellites and the new ground infrastructures.
Roscosmos selects first cosmonaut for commercial crew flights
Thursday, 09 December 2021 14:57
The head of Roscosmos announced Dec. 8 that the agency has selected the first cosmonaut to go on a SpaceX commercial crew mission to the International Space Station, although a seat barter agreement between NASA and Roscosmos is still being finalized.
Chinese astronauts give science lesson from space station
Thursday, 09 December 2021 14:48
Chinese astronauts on Thursday beamed back a science lesson from the country's under-construction space station.
The lecture focused on physics, aiming to illustrate how the weightless environment affects buoyancy, the movement of objects and optics.
NASA's newest X-ray telescope rockets into orbit
Thursday, 09 December 2021 14:48
NASA's newest X-ray observatory rocketed into orbit Thursday to shed light on exploded stars, black holes and other violent high-energy events unfolding in the universe.
Webb moved to meet Ariane 5
Thursday, 09 December 2021 14:00
The James Webb Space Telescope was transferred to the final assembly building at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 7 December 2021, to meet its Ariane 5 launch vehicle.
Stowed inside a special 23-tonne transport container, Webb was protected and monitored throughout the transfer.
Ariane 5 was already moved to the same building on 29 November. Here, adjustable platforms allow engineers to access the launch vehicle and its payload.
The next steps are to hoist Webb to the upper platform which has been prepared so that Webb can be integrated on Ariane 5’s upper stage and then encapsulated inside
Microsoft expands Azure Space ecosystem
Thursday, 09 December 2021 13:00
Microsoft offered further proof of its intent to play a growing role in the space sector by unveiling new Azure Space products and announcing partnerships with Airbus, Kongsberg Satellite Services, STE iDirect, Orbital Insight, ESRI and Blackshark.ai.
Join our online ESA-NASA Advanced Manufacturing conference
Thursday, 09 December 2021 12:52
Next year’s 1st International Conference on Advanced Manufacturing for Air, Space and Land Transportation, co-organised by ESA and NASA, is moving online.
Oculus Observatory set to disrupt space situational awareness globally
Thursday, 09 December 2021 12:13
Space Force mission blasts off from Florida after multiple delays
Thursday, 09 December 2021 12:13
US Army tests multi-orbit solutions leveraging MEO capabilities amid SES's upcoming O3b mPOWER launch
Thursday, 09 December 2021 12:13
First crew of space station provide a full update on China's progress
Thursday, 09 December 2021 12:13
LCO Scientists Confirm the Discovery of the First Moving Microlensing Arcs
Thursday, 09 December 2021 12:13