ESA moves forward with Harmony
Monday, 22 February 2021 15:40
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Following the selection of three Earth Explorer candidate missions to enter a first feasibility study in September 2018, ESA has chosen one of the candidates, Harmony, to move to the next phase of development. Harmony is envisaged as a mission with two satellites that orbit in formation with one of the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites to address key scientific questions related to ocean, ice and land dynamics.
Former Capella Space and Planet executive joins Hydrosat
Monday, 22 February 2021 13:00 Write a comment
WASHINGTON – Scott Soenen, who held key engineering jobs at Capella Space and Planet, is the new chief technology officer of Hydrosat, a data analytics company building a satellite constellation to produce a global thermal infrared map.
“If you are looking for the one person that has engineered successful remote sensing data platforms across three high-growth commercial satellite operators, Scott is that person,” Hydrosat CEO Pieter Fossel said in a statement.
Orbit Fab and Benchmark Space Systems to partner on in-space refueling technologies
Monday, 22 February 2021 12:06 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Two startups are partnering on technology that they hope can jump-start the market for in-space refueling of satellites.
Orbit Fab and Benchmark Space Systems announced Feb. 23 that they are teaming up to provide the capability to refuel Benchmark’s thrusters with hydrogen peroxide propellant provided by an Orbit Fab tanker in low Earth orbit.
Redwire acquires Deployable Space Systems
Monday, 22 February 2021 12:00 Write a comment
SAN FRANCISCO – Redwire has acquired Deployable Space Systems (DSS) Inc., the rapidly growing Goleta, California, company that manufactures various structures and mechanisms including the Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The DSS acquisition announced Feb.
L3Harris gets $136 million contract for GPS digital payloads
Monday, 22 February 2021 12:00 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — L3Harris Technologies announced Feb. 23 it has received a $136 million contract from Lockheed Martin for four digital payloads for GPS navigation satellites.
The navigation payload mission data units are for the next-generation GPS satellites known as GPS 3 Follow-on or GPS 3F, made by Lockheed Martin.
L3Harris gets $137 million contract for GPS digital payloads
Monday, 22 February 2021 12:00 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — L3Harris Technologies announced Feb. 23 it has received a $137 million contract from Lockheed Martin for four digital payloads for GPS navigation satellites.
The navigation payload mission data units are for the next-generation GPS satellites known as GPS 3 Follow-on or GPS 3F, made by Lockheed Martin.
India revises Gaganyaan human spaceflight plan, delays Chandrayaan-3
Monday, 22 February 2021 11:02 Write a comment
HELSINKI — India has revised target dates for launches of its human spaceflight missions and the Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing following COVID-19-related delays.
Getz on the run
Monday, 22 February 2021 10:11 Write a comment
Using a 25-year record of satellite observations over the Getz region in West Antarctica, scientists have discovered that the pace at which glaciers flow towards the ocean is accelerating. This new research, which includes data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission and ESA’s CryoSat mission, will help determine if these glaciers could collapse in the next few decades and how this would affect future global sea-level rise.
Space snapshot
Monday, 22 February 2021 10:04 Write a comment
Image:
Does this image make you anxious or are you already tracking where all the wires go? If the latter, you might have what it takes to be an astronaut!
It is an exciting time for space. With NASA’s latest rover safely on Mars and ESA’s call for the next class of astronauts, the space industry is teeming with possibilities.
This image taken in ESA’s Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station is a snapshot of the many opportunities in space research and exploration.
In the centre is the Biolab facility, a fridge-sized unit that hosts biological experiments on micro-organisms, cells, tissue cultures, small plants
NASA releases video of Perseverance landing
Monday, 22 February 2021 09:37 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The Perseverance rover is in good condition on the surface of Mars, NASA officials said Feb. 22, showing off stunning video from its landing on the red planet last week.
At a briefing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, project leaders said the rover was continuing to perform checkouts of various systems, including deployments of its high-gain antenna and instrument mast, since landing in Jezero Crater Feb.
China begins assembly of Long March 5B heavy-lift to launch core space station capsule
Monday, 22 February 2021 09:26 Write a comment
The Long March 5B heavy-lift carrier rocket tasked with launching the core capsule of China's Space station arrived at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on Monday, the China Manned Space Agency said.
The rocket will now be assembled and then undergo ground tests with the capsule at the coastal launch complex, the agency said in a brief statement, without elaborating. Nanoracks launches two cubesats on NG-15 Cygnus
Monday, 22 February 2021 09:26 Write a comment
Earlier The NG-15 Cygnus spacecraft has berthed at the International Space Station (ISS), carrying two CubeSats in the Nanoracks External Cygnus Deployer (E-NRCSD). The Cygnus arrived at the ISS after launching from Wallops Flight Facility Pad 0A on February 20, 2021 at 17:36 UTC. In celebration of Black History Month, the NG-15 Cygnus has been named in honor of Katherine Johnson, a NASA mathema Israel launches research nanosatellite to measure radiation in space
Monday, 22 February 2021 09:26 Write a comment
TAU-SAT1, Tel Aviv University's first nanosatellite, was launched into orbit on Saturday Feb. 20 at 07:36 p.m. (Israel time), from the NASA launch facility in Virginia, USA. TAU-SAT1 will conduct several experiments while in orbit, including the measurement of cosmic radiation around earth.
TAU scientists are excited with the remarkable scientific and technological achievement, noting that Cygnus resupply ship bolted to ISS Unity Module
Monday, 22 February 2021 09:26 Write a comment
The Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft was berthed to the International Space Station's Earth-facing port of the Unity module at 7:16 a.m. EST Monday morning and subsequently bolted into place. Cygnus will remain at the space station until May, when the spacecraft will depart the station. Following departure, the Cygnus will dispose of several tons of trash during a fiery reentry into Eart NASA delays new test-firing of moon rocket
Monday, 22 February 2021 09:26 Write a comment
NASA has delayed the test-firing of its SLS moon rocket that had been planned for Thursday to check out a faulty valve in the liquid propulsion system.
When it happens, the test will ignite four powerful engines on the 212-foot-tall core stage of the Space Launch System rocket for four to eight minutes at the John C. Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi. NASA is preparing the rocke