Universities prepare to launch experiments with NASA, Virgin Orbit
Wednesday, 16 December 2020 00:10Experiments on a NASA educational satellite mission planned this month include two devices intended to inspect other spacecraft in space, a box of quartz marbles that will float in microgravity and a weather observation satellite to monitor storms. Ten small satellites, or CubeSats, on the mission are packed for launch as early as next week from California. Nine of the craft were design
Innovative Hydraulics awarded contract to support NASA's Artemis program
Wednesday, 16 December 2020 00:10Innovative Hydraulics LLC has been awarded a contract to design and manufacture fluid power products in support of NASA's Artemis program. With the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. NASA will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establis
NASA, Canadian Space Agency formalize Gateway Partnership for Artemis Program
Wednesday, 16 December 2020 00:10NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) finalized an agreement between the United States and Canada to collaborate on the Gateway, an outpost orbiting the Moon that will provide vital support for a sustainable, long-term return of astronauts to the lunar surface as part of NASA's Artemis program. This Gateway agreement further solidifies the broad effort by the United States to engage internati
Three things we've learned from NASA's Mars InSight
Wednesday, 16 December 2020 00:10NASA's InSight spacecraft touched down Nov. 26, 2018, on Mars to study the planet's deep interior. A little more than one Martian year later, the stationary lander has detected more than 480 quakes and collected the most comprehensive weather data of any surface mission sent to Mars. InSight's probe, which has struggled to dig underground to take the planet's temperature, has made progress, too.
SwRI models point to a potentially diverse metabolic menu at Enceladus
Wednesday, 16 December 2020 00:10Using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) modeled chemical processes in the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The studies indicate the possibility that a varied metabolic menu could support a potentially diverse microbial community in the liquid water ocean beneath the moon's icy facade. Prior to its deorbit in September of 2017
Astronomers detect possible radio emission from exoplanet
Wednesday, 16 December 2020 00:10By monitoring the cosmos with a radio telescope array, a Cornell University-led international team of scientists has detected radio bursts emanating from the constellation Bootes. The signal could be the first radio emission collected from a planet beyond our solar system. The team, led by Cornell postdoctoral researcher Jake D. Turner, Philippe Zarka of the Observatoire de Paris - Paris S
Detailing the formation of distant solar systems with Webb Telescope
Wednesday, 16 December 2020 00:10We live in a mature solar system-eight planets and several dwarf planets (like Pluto) have formed, the latter within the rock- and debris-filled region known as the Kuiper Belt. If we could turn back time, what would we see as our solar system formed? While we can't answer this question directly, researchers can study other systems that are actively forming-along with the mix of gas and dust tha
Unique prediction of 'modified gravity' challenges dark matter
Wednesday, 16 December 2020 00:10An international group of scientists, including Case Western Reserve University Astronomy Chair Stacy McGaugh, has published research contending that a rival idea to the popular dark matter hypothesis more accurately predicts a galactic phenomenon that appears to defy the classic rules of gravity. This is significant, the astrophysicists say, because it further establishes the hypothesis -
Apollo Fusion propulsion systems selected by Saturn Satellite Networks
Wednesday, 16 December 2020 00:10Saturn Satellite Networks Inc. has selected Apollo Fusion propulsion systems for Saturn's NationSat geostationary communications satellites. The Apollo 1.4 kW ACE Max propulsion system will be used for orbit transfer to geosynchronous orbit and on-orbit station keeping on 15 year missions. Saturn selected Apollo Fusion because Apollo's unique Electric Propulsion system supports the Saturn
Kleos appoints Chief Operating Officer
Wednesday, 16 December 2020 00:10Kleos Space S.A. has appointed Heribert Kramer as Chief Operating Officer who will join the team headquartered in Luxembourg on 1st January 2021. Mr Kramer is a highly qualified professional who brings a significant expertise to the company, having held diverse senior leadership roles with extensive experience in operations management, change management and business transformation. Mr Kramer's e
Space Force trying to change negative perceptions about military procurement
Tuesday, 15 December 2020 23:47WASHINGTON — The U.S. military wants to shake its reputation as an unfriendly customer to space startups and commercial tech companies, Lt. Gen. John Thompson, head of the Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, said Dec.
Canadian astronaut to fly on first crewed Artemis mission
Tuesday, 15 December 2020 22:52WASHINGTON — NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have finalized an agreement regarding Canada’s participation in the Artemis program, which includes flying a Canadian astronaut on a mission around the moon in 2023.
The agreement, announced by the two agencies Dec.
Space Force official: Russian missile tests expose vulnerability of low-orbiting satellites
Tuesday, 15 December 2020 21:43WASHINGTON — Russia on Dec. 15 conducted a ballistic missile test that U.S. Space Command condemned as a threat to satellites in orbit.
“The nation must do something about this,” said Lt.
Data models point to a potentially diverse metabolic menu at Enceladus
Tuesday, 15 December 2020 19:41Using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) modeled chemical processes in the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus.
Chinese craft carrying Moon rocks returns to Earth
Tuesday, 15 December 2020 18:40An unmanned Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the Moon returned safely to Earth early Thursday in the first mission in four decades to collect lunar samples, the Xinhua news agency said.
The capsule carrying the samples collected by the Chang'e-5 space probe landed in northern China's Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua said, quoting the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The agency's director, Zhang Kejian, declared the mission a success, Xinhua said.
With this mission, China became only the third country to have retrieved samples from the Moon, following the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.
Beijing is looking to catch up with Washington and Moscow after taking decades to match its rivals' achievements and has poured billions into its military-run space programme.
Chang'e-5, named after a mythical Chinese Moon goddess, landed on the Moon on December 1.