More work needed on space stability and security
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 15:50
In the last year, the Defense Department has made progress in responding to the current era of strategic competition, John Hill, who is performing the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, said Aug. 24 at the 36th Space Symposium here.
NASA's Psyche mission moves closer to launch
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 12:52
As part of NASA's Discovery Program, the mission to explore a metal-rich asteroid is well on its way to an August 2022 launch.
With NASA's Psyche mission now less than a year from launch, anticipation is building. By next spring, the fully assembled spacecraft will ship from the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a launch period that opens Aug. 1, 2022.
In early 2026, the Psyche spacecraft will arrive at its target, an asteroid of the same name in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Phase Four Maxwell to test green propellant
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 12:00
Phase Four plans to fuel its Maxwell engine with a green propellant develop by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory under a contract the Southern California startup won Aug. 18 at the U.S. Space Force’s first SpaceWERX Pitch Day.
Space Development Agency’s policy chief: ‘Our focus is maintaining our rapid schedule’
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 11:30
Paula Trimble joined SDA in January as policy chief and legislative affairs director. A longtime Washington policy insider and former space journalist, Trimble spoke with SpaceNews about the agency’s disruptive approach to procuring technologies.
Film and cultures
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 11:23
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Samples of the Biofilms experiment are headed to the International Space Station on the SpaceX CR23 cargo resupply mission this weekend to help maintain astronaut and material safety in space.
A common piece of advice of the past 18 months has been to make sure you wash your hands thoroughly. This is because microorganisms are easily spread across common surfaces like door handles and light switches, and it is no less true in space. The Space Station is, after all, a lab as well as a home to astronauts. It is especially important to keep this environment safe for the
Watch: 14 hours of Enceladus geyser action
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 11:12
What a parting gift the Cassini mission gave us.
Below is a movie sequence of images, garnered from the final dedicated observation of the Enceladus' geysers by the imitable Cassini spacecraft.
Back in August of 2017, Cassini stared at Enceladus for 14 hours, looking at the moon's night side. The movie begins with a view of the part of the surface lit by reflected light from Saturn and transitions to completely unilluminated terrain. About halfway through the sequence, the exposure time of the images changes in order to make fainter features more visible as the light level drops.
"That's why stars appear towards the end—they're the small dots streaking by," said Paul Byrne, planetary scientist and associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis, who brought this animation to our attention on Twitter.
OneWeb’s antenna supplier in South Korea expanding production to meet growing demand for LEO broadband terminals
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 10:02
OneWeb supplier Intellian Technologies says it will begin building a second manufacturing plant in October to keep up with growing demand for LEO broadband user terminals. The new plant is expected to open in May.
The Pentagon’s hyperfocus on hypersonic missile threat
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 08:00
The deployment of sensor satellites in low Earth orbit to fill blind spots in the U.S. missile defense system is finally moving from the drawing board to actual space hardware.
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Crater landslide China's rover travels over 1 km on Mars
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 06:46
China's Mars rover Zhurong had traveled more than 1,000 meters on the surface of the red planet as of Monday, the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said.
China's Tianwen-1 mission, consisting of an orbiter, lander, and rover, was launched on July 23, 2020.
The lander, carrying the rover with an expected lifespan of at least 9 Space Force activates Space Training and Readiness Command
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 06:46
The Department of the Air Force activated the third and final field command of the U.S. Space Force, Space Training and Readiness Command, in a ceremony here Aug. 23.
Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall approved the final organizational structure for STARCOM's establishment on Aug. 13, and Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. "Jay" Raymond wasted no time putting the new command's le Musk announces key milestone as Starlink reaches 100,000 users
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 06:46
The Starlink project, aimed to blanket the surface of the planet with low-latency satellite internet, is operated by Elon Musk's company SpaceX that, in 2019, began launching small satellites into low-Earth orbit. To date, the Starlink constellation consists of over 1,600 satellites, while the goal is to use nearly 30,000.
Tech billionaire and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday tweeted that th Congressional Report details deployment of Russian, Chinese laser and microwave weapons in space
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 06:46
Russia and China have fervently opposed US plans for the deployment of offensive weapons systems in space for over a decade, jointly proposing a treaty to prevent such arms from being deployed by any nation. Earlier this year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that there was "still a chance" to reach an agreement on the issue.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS), an agency r NASA tests ways to reduce stress in plants growing in space
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 06:46
When astronauts embark on long-duration missions in the future, crews will grow food to supplement what they can bring with them. More than 20 years of continuously living and working in space aboard the International Space Station has provided many opportunities for crews and researchers to observe the challenges of growing plants in the stressful conditions of microgravity.
One experimen Virgin Orbit selects Redwire to provide digital engineering to support rapid development
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 06:46
Virgin Orbit has selected Redwire, a leader in mission critical space solutions and high reliability components for the next generation space economy, to provide state-of-the-art digital engineering solutions that will support multi-mission planning through systematic analysis and advanced modeling and dynamic mission simulation. This critical capability will enhance Virgin Orbit's end-to-end re