Getting CubeSats moving: M-Argo will be first to traverse interplanetary space under its own power
Thursday, 01 April 2021 14:03
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ESA's M-Argo mission will be the first CubeSat to traverse interplanetary space under its own power. Due to launch in 2024-5, the suitcase-sized spacecraft will travel to a near-Earth asteroid, up to 150 million km away.
CubeSats are small, cheap satellites assembled from standardized parts in 10 cm boxes—M-Argo is a 12-unit CubeSat. Originally intended for educational purposes and technology testing, CubeSats have matured rapidly, and are becoming increasingly attractive to intuitional and commercial users for applications including Earth observation, telecommunications and even exploration.
Today hundreds of CubeSats are launched each year, while ESA employs them for early in-orbit demonstration of advanced technologies.
While CubeSats offer increasingly capable payload performance, their natural limits of size, mass and power typically preclude the inclusion of conventional spacecraft propulsion systems. At the same time, such propulsion capabilities are crucial to enable mobility and to enhance the potential of CubeSats, which have started to utilize miniaturized chemical and electric propulsion. This is the subject of a dedicated ESA workshop on Propulsion4CubeSats on 28-29 Apri. ESA's annual CubeSat Industry Days will follow in June.
Week in images: 29 March - 02 April 2021
Thursday, 01 April 2021 13:26 Write a comment
Week in images: 29 March - 02 April 2021
Discover our week through the lens
Getting CubeSats moving
Thursday, 01 April 2021 11:42 Write a comment
Image:
Getting CubeSats moving Earth from Space: Easter egg hunt
Thursday, 01 April 2021 08:00 Write a comment
With Easter right around the corner, we take a look at four egg-shaped buildings visible from space as captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.
How much autonomy can we give satellites?
Thursday, 01 April 2021 06:32
OSIRIS-REx to make final close approach to asteroid before heading back to Earth
Thursday, 01 April 2021 02:12 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will make one final close approach to the asteroid it collected samples from next week before heading back to Earth.
On April 7, the spacecraft will pass 3.7 kilometers above the location on the asteroid Bennu called Nightingale where, in October, the spacecraft briefly touched down and collected as much as several hundred grams of material, now stored in the spacecraft.
Op-ed | Space offers a higher perspective on our Earthbound problems
Wednesday, 31 March 2021 22:04 Write a comment
Investment in space exploration and development has become a significant global phenomenon in recent years. NASA’s budget has seen several years of healthy back-to-back increases. Silicon Valley and Wall Street are pouring billions into space startups. This largesse has prompted several notable thinkers to raise important questions about investing public and private money into aspirational missions to distant worlds, before we have solved the problems of equity, environmental degradation and conflict here on Earth.
Startups selected for geospatial intelligence accelerator program
Wednesday, 31 March 2021 20:03 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — A technology accelerator program funded by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency has selected eight startups that will receive $100,000 grants, mentoring and coaching from government officials and venture investors.
The program organizers, the venture investment firm Capital Innovators and Missouri Technology Corp.
SPAC shareholders approve plan to merge with AST & Science
Wednesday, 31 March 2021 18:45 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — AST & Science, which is developing a cellphone-compatible satellite broadband constellation, will start trading on the Nasdaq next week after getting shareholder approval April 1.
New Providence Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that already trades on the exchange under ticker NPA, said its stockholders have approved a plan to merge with the startup on or about April 6.
Japanese military strengthens ties with U.S. Space Command
Wednesday, 31 March 2021 16:36 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — U.S. Space Command announced April 1 it has signed an agreement with Japan that will increase collaboration on space security.
Under the agreement, an officer from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force will be assigned full-time at U.S.
NASA OSIRIS-REx's final asteroid observation run
Wednesday, 31 March 2021 16:29 Write a comment
NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is on the brink of discovering the extent of the mess it made on asteroid Bennu's surface during last fall's sample collection event. On Apr. 7, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will get one last close encounter with Bennu as it performs a final flyover to capture images of the asteroid's surface. While performing the flyover, the spacecraft will observe Bennu from a distance of about 2.3 miles (3.7 km)—the closest it's been since the Touch-and-Go Sample Collection event on Oct. 20, 2020.
The OSIRIS-REx team decided to add this last flyover after Bennu's surface was significantly disturbed by the sample collection event.
NASA's Europa Clipper builds hardware, moves toward assembly
Wednesday, 31 March 2021 16:11 Write a comment
Europa Clipper, NASA's upcoming flagship mission to the outer solar system, has passed a significant milestone, completing its Critical Design Review. During the review, experts examined the detailed design of the spacecraft to ensure that it is ready to complete construction. The mission is now able to complete hardware fabrication and testing, and move toward the assembly and testing of the spacecraft and its payload of sophisticated science instruments.
With an internal global ocean twice the size of Earth's oceans combined, Jupiter's moon Europa carries the potential for conditions suitable for life. But the frigid temperatures and the nonstop pummeling of the surface from Jupiter's radiation make it a tricky target to explore: Mission engineers and scientists must design a spacecraft hardy enough to withstand the radiation yet sensitive enough to gather the science needed to investigate Europa's environment.
The Europa Clipper orbiter will swoop around Jupiter on an elliptical path, dipping close to the moon on each flyby to conduct detailed reconnaissance. The science includes gathering measurements of the internal ocean, mapping the surface composition and its geology, and hunting for plumes of water vapor that may be venting from the icy crust.
Former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine joins Viasat’s board
Wednesday, 31 March 2021 12:56 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — Jim Bridenstine has joined satellite operator Viasat’s board of directors in his second corporate role since stepping down as NASA’s administrator.
U.S.-based Viasat is enlarging its board to eight members to add Bridenstine, who became a senior advisor for private equity firm Acorn Growth Companies soon after resigning from NASA Jan.
NASA's Roman mission predicted to find 100,000 transiting planets
Wednesday, 31 March 2021 11:50 Write a comment
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will create enormous cosmic panoramas, helping us answer questions about the evolution of our universe. Astronomers also expect the mission to find thousands of planets using two different techniques as it surveys a wide range of stars in the Milky Way.
Roman will locate these potential new worlds, or exoplanets, by tracking the amount of light coming from distant stars over time. In a technique called gravitational microlensing, a spike in light signals that a planet may be present. On the other hand, if the light from a star dims periodically, it could be because there is a planet crossing the face of a star as it completes an orbit. This technique is called the transit method. By employing these two methods to find new worlds, astronomers will capture an unprecedented view of the composition and arrangement of planetary systems across our galaxy.
Scheduled for launch in the mid-2020s, Roman will be one of NASA's most prolific planet hunters.
FCC proposes to allocate spectrum for commercial launches
Wednesday, 31 March 2021 11:25 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission will take up a long-awaited proposal at its next meeting to set aside a spectrum band for commercial launches.
Jessica Rosenworcel, acting chairwoman of the FCC, said in a March 31 statement that the commission would include on the agenda of its next open meeting April 21 a proposed rule to grant a secondary allocation of S-band spectrum, currently reserved for government uses, for telemetry for commercial launches.