NASA Earth System Observatory to help address, mitigate climate change
Tuesday, 25 May 2021 08:04
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NASA will design a new set of Earth-focused missions to provide key information to guide efforts related to climate change, disaster mitigation, fighting forest fires, and improving real-time agricultural processes. With the Earth System Observatory, each satellite will be uniquely designed to complement the others, working in tandem to create a 3D, holistic view of Earth, from bedrock to atmosp Acting SecAF and CSO visit Cape Canaveral SFS
Tuesday, 25 May 2021 08:04 Write a comment
By Airman 1st Class Dakota Raub, Space Launch Delta 45 Public Affairs / Published May 20, 2021
The acting Secretary of the Air Force, John P. Roth, and the Chief of Space Operations, U.S. Space Force Gen. John W. "Jay" Raymond, visited Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, May 17, 2021.
During the visit, Roth and Raymond toured the Morrell Operations Center, the Atlas Spacefli Boeing X-37 could carry six nuke warheads warns Russian defence head
Tuesday, 25 May 2021 08:04 Write a comment
US X-37 spacecraft could technically carry up to six warheads and, with the US planning to deploy eight of these by 2025, it looks like a serious challenge, the director-general of Russian defence technology company Almaz-Antey, Yan Novikov, said Saturday.
"The official story is that these platforms were developed for scientific purposes and, well, surveillance. But we understand that havi Who's an astronaut as private spaceflight picks up speed?
Tuesday, 25 May 2021 06:19 Write a comment
As more companies start selling tickets to space, a question looms: Who gets to call themselves an astronaut?
It's already a complicated issue and about to get more so as the wealthy snap up spacecraft seats and even entire flights for themselves and their entourages.
Space Force warned to avoid past mistakes as it pursues new satellite acquisitions
Monday, 24 May 2021 19:20 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force has plans to acquire billions of dollars worth of new satellites over the coming years and needs to make sure it avoids the missteps that plagued previous acquisitions, said the Government Accountability Office.
Cosmic 2-for-1: Total lunar eclipse combines with supermoon
Monday, 24 May 2021 17:46 Write a comment
![Cosmic 2-for-1: Total lunar eclipse combines with supermoon](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2021/cosmic-2-for-1-total-l.jpg "In this Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 file photo, the Earth's shadow falls across the full moon seen above Brighton, southeast England. The first total lunar eclipse in more than two years coincides with a supermoon this week for a cosmic show. This super "blood" moon will be visible Wednesday, May 26, 2021 across the Pacific -- offering the best viewing -- as well as the western half of North America, bottom of South America and eastern Asia. Credit: AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File")
Solar storms are back, threatening life as we know it on Earth
Monday, 24 May 2021 15:24 Write a comment
A few days ago, millions of tons of super-heated gas shot off from the surface of the sun and hurtled 90 million miles toward Earth.
The eruption, called a coronal mass ejection, wasn't particularly powerful on the space-weather scale, but when it hit the Earth's magnetic field it triggered the strongest geomagnetic storm seen for years. There wasn't much disruption this time—few people probably even knew it happened—but it served as a reminder the sun has woken from a yearslong slumber.
While invisible and harmless to anyone on the Earth's surface, the geomagnetic waves unleashed by solar storms can cripple power grids, jam radio communications, bathe airline crews in dangerous levels of radiation and knock critical satellites off kilter. The sun began a new 11-year cycle last year and as it reaches its peak in 2025 the specter of powerful space weather creating havoc for humans grows, threatening chaos in a world that has become ever more reliant on technology since the last big storms hit 17 years ago. A recent study suggested hardening the grid could lead to $27 billion worth of benefits to the U.S.
UK funds beam-hopping satellite for OneWeb-led consortium in 2022
Monday, 24 May 2021 14:54 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — A OneWeb-led group has secured government funding to launch a beam-hopping satellite in 2022, demonstrating how a spacecraft could switch its coverage area in real-time to respond to surges in demand.
A race against time to replace aging military weather satellites
Monday, 24 May 2021 13:30 Write a comment
The U.S. Defense Department may finally be on track to replace its aging polar-orbiting weather satellites more than a decade after pulling the plug on an ill-fated effort to cram civil and military requirements into a single system.
Op-ed | Arming warfighters with advanced weather systems: What must happen next
Monday, 24 May 2021 13:07 Write a comment
Weather plays a critical role in current and future military operations. For our nation’s defenders, understanding the effect of weather conditions is essential to planning and safely executing successful missions across the Joint Force.
Cost and schedule overruns continue to grow for NASA programs
Monday, 24 May 2021 10:27 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — NASA suffered increasing cost overruns on its major programs again in 2020, a problem a new report says will be exacerbated by the pandemic.
The annual report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on major NASA programs, published May 20, found that costs of those programs grew by more than $1 billion in 2020, the fifth year in a row overall costs increased.
NASA rocket mission studying escaping radio waves
Monday, 24 May 2021 10:17 Write a comment
A NASA rocket mission, launching May 26, 2021, will study radio waves that escape through the Earth's ionosphere impacting the environment surrounding GPS and geosynchronous satellites, such as those for weather monitoring and communications.
Launching from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, a Terrier-Improved Malemute suborbital sounding rocket will carry the Vlf trans-Ionospheric Propagation Experiment Rocket, or VIPER. The mission is scheduled for 9:15 p.m., Wednesday, May 26. The launch window is 9:15 p.m. to midnight EDT and the backup days are May 27-28. The launch may be visible in the mid-Atlantic region.
VIPER is studying very low frequency radio, or VLF, waves that are produced by both natural (e.g. lightning) and artificial means. During the day these waves are trapped or absorbed by the Earth's ionosphere. At night, however, some of the waves escape through the ionosphere and accelerate electrons in the Van Allen Radiation Belt.
"At night, the lower layers of the ionosphere are much less dense, and more of the VLF can leak through, propagate along the Earth's magnetic field lines, and end up interacting with the high-energy electrons trapped in the Van Allen Radiation Belts," said Dr.
First leap for beam-hopping constellation
Monday, 24 May 2021 06:46 Write a comment
Broadband satellites that can be completely repurposed while in orbit have just taken a leap forwards.
Air Force unveils exoskeleton to aid aerial ports in lifting
Monday, 24 May 2021 01:38 Write a comment
An exoskeleton, worn by U.S. Air Force aerial porters to assist in lifting objects with reduced strain, will make its debut at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., the branch announced on Wednesday.
The device, designed by Arizona State University and the Air Force Life Cycle Management and Air Mobility Command, will be used in an official capacity for the first time this week.
The Aer SES Government Solutions provides medium earth orbit satellite services for combatant command
Monday, 24 May 2021 01:38 Write a comment
SES Government Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, in close partnership with a key U.S. Government customer, designed, developed and fielded an O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) reachback capability to provide mission-critical communications for a key combatant command.
The awarded task order for USD 11.8 million is against the single-award USD 516.7 million Blanket Purchase Agreement