A new satellite 'Made in Belgium' with SPACEBEL software
Monday, 21 December 2020 08:31Already involved since 2018 in the Altius (Atmospheric Limb Tracker for the Investigation of the Upcoming Stratosphere) stratosphere observation mission at several levels, the software engineering company SPACEBEL is ending the year 2020 in style. The European Space Agency (ESA) has now officially awarded the SME a new contract to supply the payload data ground segment. This operational gr
SLS team completes propellant loading of Core Stage during Green Run test
Monday, 21 December 2020 08:31NASA and Boeing engineers successfully completed propellant loading during the seventh core stage Green Run test, wet dress rehearsal Sunday, Dec. 20. The massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket's tanks were loaded with more than 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Engineers working in the Test Control Center monitored all core stage systems during the test as propellant
SwRI-led team finds meteoric evidence for a previously unknown asteroid
Monday, 21 December 2020 08:31A Southwest Research Institute-led team of scientists has identified a potentially new meteorite parent asteroid by studying a small shard of a meteorite that arrived on Earth a dozen years ago. The composition of a piece of the meteorite Almahata Sitta (AhS) indicates that its parent body was an asteroid roughly the size of Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt, and formed in the
Scientists complete yearlong pulsar timing study after reviving dormant radio telescopes
Monday, 21 December 2020 08:31While the scientific community grapples with the loss of the Arecibo radio telescope, astronomers who recently revived a long-dormant radio telescope array in Argentina hope it can help modestly compensate for the work Arecibo did in pulsar timing. Last year, scientists at Rochester Institute of Technology and the Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia (IAR) began a pulsar timing study us
The upside of volatile space weather
Monday, 21 December 2020 08:31Although violent and unpredictable, stellar flares emitted by a planet's host star do not necessarily prevent life from forming, according to a new Northwestern University study. Emitted by stars, stellar flares are sudden flashes of magnetic energy. On Earth, the sun's flares sometimes damage satellites and disrupt radio communications. Elsewhere in the universe, however, robust stellar f
On the Hunt for a Missing Giant Black Hole
Monday, 21 December 2020 08:31The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of a supermassive black hole has deepened. Despite searching with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have no evidence that a distant black hole estimated to weigh between 3 billion and 100 billion times the mass of the Sun is anywhere to be found. This missing black hole should be in the enormous galaxy in the ce
Euclid's optical and infrared instruments integrated in spacecraft
Monday, 21 December 2020 08:31The optical and infrared instruments of Euclid, ESA's mission to study dark energy and dark matter in space, have passed their qualification and acceptance reviews and are now fully integrated into the spacecraft's payload module. This marks an important step forward in the assembly of the Euclid space telescope, which is scheduled for launch in 2022. The two Euclid instruments, the visibl
Lockheed Martin confident Aerojet deal will be approved, but it’s not a slam dunk
Sunday, 20 December 2020 21:43WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet said he expects the U.S. government to approve the company’s proposed $4.4 billion acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne despite concerns that it could reduce competition in the hypersonic missiles market.
NASA receives $23.271 billion in fiscal year 2021 omnibus spending bill
Sunday, 20 December 2020 21:36WASHINGTON — Congress will provide NASA with nearly $23.3 billion in the final fiscal year 2021 omnibus spending bill, restoring several science programs but falling far short of the funding sought for a lunar lander program.
Viasat announces agreement to acquire RigNet
Sunday, 20 December 2020 19:40SAN FRANCISCO — Viasat Inc. announced an agreement Dec. 21 to acquire Houston-based communications firm RigNet Inc. in an all-stock transaction with a value of approximately $222 million based on Viasat’s current share price and RigNet’s debt.
The more things change: Ansys acquisition isn’t likely to alter AGI or Comspoc
Sunday, 20 December 2020 16:21For three decades, Paul Graziani never seriously considered selling Analytical Graphics Inc., the Exton, Pennsylvania-based company he co-founded and has led since 1989.
“We felt like we got a pretty good gig on our own here,” Graziani said in an interview.
Study finds meteoric evidence for a previously unknown asteroid
Sunday, 20 December 2020 16:00A Southwest Research Institute-led team of scientists has identified a potentially new meteorite parent asteroid by studying a small shard of a meteorite that arrived on Earth a dozen years ago. The composition of a piece of the meteorite Almahata Sitta (AhS) indicates that its parent body was an asteroid roughly the size of Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt, and formed in the presence of water under intermediate temperatures and pressures.
NASA Discoveries, R&D, Moon to Mars Exploration Plans Persevere in 2020
Sunday, 20 December 2020 15:21Jupiter and Saturn cheek-to-cheek in rare celestial dance
Sunday, 20 December 2020 15:19The solar system's two biggest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, came within planetary kissing range in Monday's evening sky, an intimacy that will not occur again until 2080.
This "great conjunction", as it is known to astronomers, occurred fortuitously on the winter solstice for those in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of summer in the global south.
The two planets were, in fact, more than 730 million kilometres (400 million miles) apart. But because of their alignment in relation to Earth, they appeared to be closer to each other than at any time in almost 400 years.
Optimal "conjunction" took place at 1822 GMT.
The best viewing conditions on Monday were in clear skies and close to the Equator, while people in Western Europe and along a vast swathe of Africa had to train their sight to the southwest.
But hundreds of space fans also gathered in Kolkata to watch—through a telescope at a technology museum in the city, or from surrounding rooftops and open areas.
How to get people from Earth to Mars and safely back again
Sunday, 20 December 2020 15:04There are many things humanity must overcome before any return journey to Mars is launched.
The two major players are NASA and SpaceX, which work together intimately on missions to the International Space Station but have competing ideas of what a crewed Mars mission would look like.
Size matters
The biggest challenge (or constraint) is the mass of the payload (spacecraft, people, fuel, supplies etc) needed to make the journey.
We still talk about launching something into space being like launching its weight in gold.
The payload mass is usually just a small percentage of the total mass of the launch vehicle.
For example, the Saturn V rocket that launched Apollo 11 to the Moon weighed 3,000 tons.
But it could launch only 140 tons (5% of its initial launch mass) to low Earth orbit, and 50 tons (less than 2% of its initial launch mass) to the Moon.
Mass constrains the size of a Mars spacecraft and what it can do in space.