Meet VMS - the briefcase-sized chemistry lab headed to Venus
Thursday, 11 November 2021 08:12
Short for Venus Mass Spectrometer, VMS is one of five instruments aboard the DAVINCI descent probe. Launching in 2029, DAVINCI will be the first US probe mission to enter Venus' atmosphere in over 40 years. The goal of the mission is to explore Venus to determine if it was habitable, and to understand how it ended up as inhospitable as it did.
The probe will descend for around one hour thr Tread lightly: 'Eggshell planets' possible around other stars
Thursday, 11 November 2021 08:12
Strange 'eggshell planets' are among the rich variety of exoplanets possible, according to a study from Washington University in St. Louis. These rocky worlds have an ultra-thin outer brittle layer and little to no topography. Such worlds are unlikely to have plate tectonics, raising questions as to their habitability.
Only a small subset of extrasolar planets are likely eggshell planets. Ball Aerospace delivers NASA X-Ray Observatory to KSC for December launch
Thursday, 11 November 2021 08:12
NASA's Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), built by Ball Aerospace, safely arrived Friday at Cape Canaveral in Fla. A collaboration between Ball, NASA, and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), IXPE is an astrophysics observatory set to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in December.
Once on orbit, IXPE will measure the polarization of cosmic X-rays to improve our understanding of th Eagles collaborate in unique high-altitude simulation training
Thursday, 11 November 2021 08:12
The first time senior Olivia Siu experienced hypoxia - a condition caused by lack of oxygen, sometimes suffered by pilots - she thought she was functioning fairly well. She was in the High-Altitude Lab (HAL) at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, focusing on folding a paper boat.
Despite her low oxygen intake, her dexterity was perfect, and each crease of her creation was exact. There wa LEOcloud to offer space edge cloud services on Orbital Assembly Space Stations
Thursday, 11 November 2021 08:12
LEOcloud and Orbital Assembly reports it has established a partnership in which LEOcloud will enable public cloud edge computing services hosted on Orbital Assembly's Gravity Ring and Pioneer Stations.
This will enable researchers and commercial entities on board Orbital Assembly's facilities to run their services or application workloads locally in a hybrid cloud environment such as Red H Groundbreaking Iridium Certus 100 Service Launches with Partner Products for Land, Sea, Air and Industrial IoT
Thursday, 11 November 2021 08:12
Iridium Communications reports that its Iridium Certus 100 "midband" service is now commercially available for maritime, land mobile, IoT, aviation and government customers. Iridium Certus 100 provides a unique blend of capabilities for satellite connectivity, enabling small, low-profile antennas and battery-powered devices designed for maximum mobility, but with IP data speeds that efficiently Spirent Offers First Commercially Available Test Capability for Galileo HAS
Thursday, 11 November 2021 08:12
Spirent Communications plc has announced the launch of the industry's first commercially available simulation test solution for the Galileo High Accuracy Service (HAS), via a beta interface implementation based on HAS ICD version 1.2. During the development of the solution, Spirent collaborated with GMV, a leader in cutting-edge GNSS high-accuracy technologies.
Galileo HAS will provide fre Tuning in to Earth’s climate
Thursday, 11 November 2021 08:00
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Satellites observe the Earth using a range of wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum. Different wavelengths allow us to probe different aspects of Earth’s land, atmosphere and ocean. By sampling the electromagnetic spectrum at multiple wavelengths, we can build a more complete picture of Earth’s complex climate system.
SpaceX crew launch marks 600 space travelers in 60 years
Thursday, 11 November 2021 07:48
A SpaceX rocket carried four astronauts into orbit Wednesday night, including the 600th person to reach space in 60 years.
The repeatedly delayed flight occurred just two days after SpaceX brought four other astronauts home from the International Space Station. They should have been up there to welcome the newcomers, but NASA and SpaceX decided to switch the order based on Monday's ideal recovery weather in the Gulf of Mexico and pulled it off.
"It was a great ride, better than we imagined," mission commander Raja Chari said shortly after the spacecraft reached orbit.
Spire CEO sees vast potential market for space data
Thursday, 11 November 2021 02:15
Spire Global CEO Peter Platzer expects commercial and government demand for space data and analytics to surge in the coming years, offering enormous growth potential for the firm, which began trading shares publicly in August.
SpaceX launches Crew-3 commercial crew mission for NASA
Thursday, 11 November 2021 01:43
Four NASA astronauts are on their way to the International Space Station after SpaceX’s fifth crewed launch in less than 18 months Nov. 10.
SpinLaunch conducts first test of suborbital accelerator at Spaceport America
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 22:59
SpinLaunch, a company developing an alternative launch system that fires payloads at hypersonic speeds from a ground-based centrifuge, successfully fired its first projectile from a subscale version of its accelerator.
U.S. and France agree to expand cooperation on space issues
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 21:32
Vice President Kamala Harris announced the U.S. and France have agreed to expand cooperation on space and cybersecurity issues.
SpaceX aims for night crew launch; ailing astronaut now OK
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 20:20
SpaceX counted down Wednesday toward a nighttime launch of four astronauts who have been grounded for nearly two weeks by weather and medical delays.
The Falcon rocket was poised to blast off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center a few hours after sunset. That would put the one German and three U.S. astronauts at the International Space Station by Thursday night to begin a six-month stay.
New space telescope to peer back at the universe's first galaxies
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 20:14
On Dec. 18, NASA is set to launch its next flagship mission into space. The spacecraft, called the James Webb Space Telescope, brings a lot of risks: Its roughly 270-square-foot mirror, which will collect light streaming in from the far reaches of space, will launch folded up inside a rocket, then unfurl far from Earth.
Astronomers are betting that the challenges will be worth it. Many have dubbed James Webb a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope—an instrument that was launched in 1990 and has delivered startling images of the cosmos, including The Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula. Among other goals, James Webb will search the atmospheres of alien planets for what scientists call "biosignatures," or gases that could, theoretically, indicate the presence of life on the surface.