Satellite makers are getting to grips with component shortages
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 20:10
Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — Component shortages have been challenging manufacturers to bolster supply chains as a lack of semiconductors threatens delays and price hikes.
COVID-19-related supply chain disruption has caused a microchip shortage that could take years to settle, exacerbated by surging demand for technology during the pandemic as consumers stayed at home.
ESA and EU to sign partnership agreement
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 20:10 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency and the European Union will sign an agreement next week governing their work on joint projects, one that the agency says will allow ESA members who are not part of the EU to participate on those projects.
Air Force defends choice of Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal to host U.S. Space Command
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 18:37 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Acting Secretary of the Air Force John Roth on June 16 pushed back on suggestions that the recommendation to relocate U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama was politically tainted.
“I have personally no evidence that the decision was politically motivated,” Roth told members of the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing Wednesday.
Computer trouble hits Hubble Space Telescope, science halted
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 16:53 Write a comment
Horizon Technologies orders two surveillance satellites from AAC Clyde Space
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 16:41 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — British maritime surveillance venture Horizon Technologies has ordered two more cubesats from AAC Clyde Space, which will operate them after securing their launches next year.
The satellites will listen for signals from ships operating clandestinely, helping customers that include the U.K.
Space embrace: Astronauts and robots work together to service the ISS
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 14:09 Write a comment
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, according to one of the three laws of robotics imagined by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. On board humanity's only outpost in space, this obedience has turned into cooperation. Astronauts and robots are working together.
The latest robot to service the International Space Station is the European Robotic Arm (ERA). This android automaton is much like a human arm. It has an elbow, shoulders and even wrists, and it the first robot able to 'walk' around the Russian part of the Space Station.
The arm will be launched into space together with the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, called "Nauka," from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, on 15 July 2021.
ESA astronaut André Kuipers is seen in this picture during his first space mission in 2004, with a scale model of the European Robotic Arm. The real thing has a length of over 11 m, and has the ability to anchor itself to the Station in multiple locations, moving backwards and forwards with a large range of motion.
"I am happy to see the European Robotic Arm fly next month.
Spacewalking astronauts boosting station's solar power
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 14:02 Write a comment
Astronauts ventured out on a spacewalk Wednesday to outfit the International Space Station with powerful, new solar panels to handle the growing electrical demands from upcoming visitors.
It's the first of a series of spacewalks to equip the aging orbital outpost with smaller but stronger solar wings.
Spacesuit problems prevent astronauts from completing job (Update)
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 14:02 Write a comment
Astronauts ventured out on a spacewalk Wednesday to outfit the International Space Station with powerful, new solar panels to handle the growing electrical demands from upcoming visitors.
It's the first of a series of spacewalks to equip the aging orbital outpost with smaller but stronger solar wings.
China, Russia reveal roadmap for international moon base
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 13:47 Write a comment
HELSINKI — Russia and China unveiled a roadmap for a joint International Lunar Research Station Wednesday to guide collaboration and development of the project.
Register for Φ-week 2021
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 13:18 Write a comment
Register for Φ-week
Why is everyone so obsessed with going to Mars? Here are some other worlds ripe for exploration
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 12:20 Write a comment
Last month, China successfully landed and deployed the Zhurong rover on Mars, becoming the second country ever to set wheels on the surface of the red planet.
Last year the United States, the United Arab Emirates and China all launched missions to Mars, taking advantage of the relatively short journey time offered by the two planets' unusually close proximity.
Why are planetary scientists so obsessed with Mars? Why spend so much time and money on this one planet when there are at least seven others in our solar system, more than 200 moons, countless asteroids, and much more besides?
Fortunately, we are going to other worlds, and there are lots of missions to very exciting places in our solar system—worlds bursting with exotic features such as ice volcanoes, rings of icy debris, and huge magnetic fields.
There are currently 26 active spacecraft dotted around our solar system. Some are orbiting other planets and moons, some have landed on the surfaces of other worlds, and some have performed fly-bys to beam back images.
Phase Four announces new electric thrusters, subscription program
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 11:00 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Phase Four announced June 16 two new electric propulsion systems that offer performance and other improvements, along with a subscription service that offers those thrusters to customers at a discount.
The company, which raised a $26 million Series B round June 11, said it now offers a Block 2 version of its Maxwell thruster, available for deliveries starting in the first quarter of 2022.
Brazil joins Artemis Accords
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 10:53 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Brazil became the 12th nation to sign the Artemis Accords, the U.S.-led effort to establish norms of behavior for space exploration, June 15.
Marcos Pontes, Brazil’s minister of science, technology and innovation, and also the first Brazilian to go to space, signed the Artemis Accords in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia.
NASA asteroid hunter mission moves into next phase of development
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 07:37 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — NASA has moved a space telescope designed to look for near Earth asteroids into the next phase of development, a move that, when combined with the agency’s budget proposal, gives advocates of the mission renewed optimism.
China to send 3 astronauts to space station
Wednesday, 16 June 2021 07:25 Write a comment
China will launch its seventh manned space mission on Thursday morning to deploy three astronauts to the core module of the nation's permanent space station, according to a project leader.
Ji Qiming, assistant to the director of the China Manned Space Agency, told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Inner Mongolia auton