NASA awards laser air monitoring system contract for Orion
Sunday, 30 May 2021 07:57
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NASA has awarded Dynetics Inc. of Huntsville, Alabama, a contract to produce a Laser Air Monitoring System (LAMS) for the agency's Orion spacecraft beginning with the Artemis III mission.
The LAMS contract is valued at $17.8 million for production of the Artemis III unit, as well as a qualification unit, design modifications, and long-lead procurement items in support of the Artemis IV and Ultrasonic welding makes parts for NASA missions, commercial industry
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A manufacturing innovation that has applications for NASA spacecraft is being transferred to the private sector to support a variety of industries here on Earth.
A burst water main is always expensive and messy, but a pipe that fails in space can be mission-ending. That's why NASA technologists work hard to make hardware as reliable as possible. Sometimes that means scrapping the old way o NASA awards new spacecraft avionics development contract
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NASA has selected Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to provide development and operations support for the avionics software suite that will guide the agency's next generation of human rated spacecraft on missions beyond low-Earth orbit.
The $49 million Advanced Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) and Avionics Technology Development and Analysis III contr NASA's Curiosity rover captures shining clouds on Mars
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Cloudy days are rare in the thin, dry atmosphere of Mars. Clouds are typically found at the planet's equator in the coldest time of year, when Mars is the farthest from the Sun in its oval-shaped orbit. But one full Martian year ago - two Earth years - scientists noticed clouds forming over NASA's Curiosity rover earlier than expected.
This year, they were ready to start documenting these Reliable space weather forecasting
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The auroras are beautiful manifestations of the stream of charged particles emitted by the Sun. But the Sun's plasma eruptions are more than a natural spectacle in the polar regions; they can also interfere with satellites. In extreme cases, space weather may even affect infrastructure on Earth.
The Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum f Dark matter particle explorer measures cosmic ray helium energy spectrum
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Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) Collaboration directly observed a spectral softening of helium nuclei at about 34TeV for the first time. This work was based on measurements data of the helium spectrum with kinetic energies from 70 GeV to 80 TeV (17.5 GeV/n to 20 TeV/n for per nucleon) recorded by the DAMPE.
Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) offers important ways to deeply understand the astro UK space sector targets positioning navigation and timing sub systems
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6 UK businesses have won a share of over 2 million pounds in government funding to help shape options for the UK's satellite navigation and timing capability, to protect UK Critical National Infrastructure.
Leading UK space companies Airbus, CGI, Sirius Analysis, GMV NSL, Inmarsat, and QinetiQ will each receive a share of the funding to help develop system design and operation, signals and Chinese cargo spacecraft docks with orbital station
Sunday, 30 May 2021 07:43 Write a comment
An automated spacecraft docked with China's new space station Sunday carrying fuel and supplies for its future crew, the Chinese space agency announced.
Tianzhou-2 docks with China’s space station module
Saturday, 29 May 2021 20:21 Write a comment
HELSINKI — China’s Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft docked with the Tianhe space station module in low Earth orbit Saturday, eight hours after launch from Wenchang spaceport.
China launches cargo rocket with supplies for space station
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Op-ed | Honor Our Fallen Space Pioneers This Memorial Day
Saturday, 29 May 2021 11:00 Write a comment
This Memorial Day, as we remember American servicemen and women who gave their lives for their country, we should also recognize another group of patriots who also paid the ultimate price in service to the nation — our fallen astronauts.
OneWeb constellation to cross 200th mark after successful launch
Friday, 28 May 2021 20:33 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — OneWeb’s broadband constellation is set to pass the 200th mark after Arianespace successfully launched its latest batch of satellites May 28.
Arianespace launched 36 satellites on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket 1:38 p.m.
NASA requests $24.8 billion in 2022, proposes to cancel SOFIA again
Friday, 28 May 2021 20:33 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — NASA released its fiscal year 2022 budget request May 28, asking for $24.8 billion to support a number of new and existing science and exploration programs but also proposing once again to cancel an airborne astronomical observatory.
Russian rocket launches UK telecom satellites after delay
Friday, 28 May 2021 20:09 Write a comment
A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying 36 UK telecommunication and internet satellites blasted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia's Far East on Friday, the space agency said.
During the launch, which was carried out by Arianespace, the world's leading satellite launch company, the Soyuz rocket took off at 1738 GMT.
"The launch went according to plan," Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Roscosmos space agency, said on messaging app Telegram.
The launch was originally scheduled for Thursday but was postponed for technical reasons.
OneWeb, a London-headquartered company, is working to complete the construction of a constellation of low earth orbit satellites providing enhanced broadband and other services to countries around the world.
The company is competing against billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in the race to provide fast internet via satellites for the world's remote areas.
The UK company plans for its global commercial internet service to be operational by next year, supported by some 650 satellites.
Earlier launches of 36 satellites each took place in April and March.
"The satellites arrive pre-assembled from Florida in containers. Our team takes them over in Russia and accompanies them from their arrival at the airport until the launch," Arianespace launch campaign manager, Jean-Claude Garreau, told AFP.
SpaceX CRS-22 mission to space station launches water bears, squid, solar panels
Friday, 28 May 2021 19:53 Write a comment
The 22nd SpaceX cargo resupply mission carrying scientific research and technology demonstrations launches to the International Space Station from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than June 3. Experiments aboard include studying how water bears tolerate space, whether microgravity affects symbiotic relationships, analyzing the formation of kidney stones, and more.
Highlights of the payloads on this resupply mission include:
Water bears take on space
Tardigrades, known as water bears due to their appearance under a microscope and common habitat in water, are tiny creatures that tolerate environments more extreme than most life forms can.