Roscosmos Head reveals likely cause of crack in ISS module hull
Monday, 04 January 2021 04:29While the crack has already been located and patched up by the space station's crew, a more permanent solution is expected once special repair equipment reaches the ISS in February. The crack discovered in the hull of the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) in October might have been caused by a micrometeorite impact, head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos Dmitry Rogo
Space-bred seeds offer valuable opportunities
Monday, 04 January 2021 04:29China's historic 23-day Chang'e 5 mission has not only obtained precious rocks and soil samples from the moon, but has also brought back a group of seeds that traveled the furthest in the nation's agricultural and forestry histories. More than 30 kinds of seeds, including rice, oats, alfalfa and orchid, were placed inside the multi-module Chang'e 5 spacecraft and orbited around the moon fo
Advantages of thin-film coating in aircraft coating
Monday, 04 January 2021 04:29Aircraft and aeronautics are one of the essential industries for every developed country. It will cost very high, and heavy investment loads tend to make them secure from damaging and rusting. Even a single paint coating is very expensive for an aircraft. Then the question is how to save them from rust, dust, and radiation particles. The innovation is a thin film coating that brings revolu
UK eyes plan to send first rover to Moon in 2021
Monday, 04 January 2021 04:29According to the report, the robot, designed by London-based Spacebit, is expected to join the NASA mission, landing on the lunar surface next summer, which will be the first step towards Britain having a rover on the Moon. Britain is to launch a little "space spider" Asagumo probe to the Moon in 2021, the Telegraph reported. The designers opted for multiple legs instead of wheels so
Subscriptions to satellite alerts linked to decreased deforestation in Africa
Monday, 04 January 2021 04:29Deforestation dropped by 18 percent in two years in African countries where organizations subscribed to receive warnings from a new service using satellites to detect decreases in forest cover in the tropics. The carbon emissions avoided by reducing deforestation were worth between $149 million and $696 million, based on the ability of lower emissions to reduce the detrimental economic con
Inmarsat confirms plans Global Xpress extension
Monday, 04 January 2021 04:29Inmarsat this week marks the fifth anniversary of its Global Xpress (GX) network entering service worldwide. GX is the world's first and only globally available, high-speed broadband network, owned and managed by a single operator. It is already driving the digital transformation of major industries across the world, enhancing fundamentally the way maritime, aviation, government and humanitarian
First glimpse of polarons forming in a promising next-gen energy material
Monday, 04 January 2021 04:29Polarons are fleeting distortions in a material's atomic lattice that form around a moving electron in a few trillionths of a second, then quickly disappear. As ephemeral as they are, they affect a material's behavior, and may even be the reason that solar cells made with lead hybrid perovskites achieve extraordinarily high efficiencies in the lab. Now scientists at the Department of Energ
Spacety shares first images from small C-band SAR satellite
Monday, 04 January 2021 01:59SAN FRANCISCO – Chinese startup Spacety released the first images from Hisea-1, a C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite, launched Dec. 22 on China’s new Long March 8 medium-lift rocket.
Three days after launch, Spacety began receiving data from Hisea-1’s SAR payload built by the China Electronics Technology Group.
Lockheed Martin gets $4.9 billion contract to build three missile-warning satellites for U.S. Space Force
Monday, 04 January 2021 00:05WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $4.9 billion contract for the production of three geosynchronous Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared satellites, the Pentagon announced Jan. 4.
The satellites will be operated by the U.S.
Six space missions to look forward to in 2021
Sunday, 03 January 2021 15:30Space exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth.
The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of the missions to keep an eye out for.
Artemis 1
Artemis 1 is the first flight of the Nasa-led, international Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024. This will consist of an uncrewed Orion spacecraft which will be sent on a three-week flight around the Moon. IT will reach a maximum distance from Earth of 450,000km—the farthest into space that any spacecraft that can transport humans will have ever flown.
Artemis 1 will be launched into Earth orbit on the first Nasa Space Launch System, which will be the most powerful rocket in operation. From Earth orbit, the Orion will be propelled onto a different path towards the Moon by the rocket's interim cryogenic propulsion stage.
Space Force’s small launch program looks to pick up pace after a year of delays
Sunday, 03 January 2021 15:12WASHINGTON — Small satellite launches by the U.S. Space Force slowed considerably in 2020 due to the pandemic and technical setbacks. Small rocket missions that slipped to 2021 include launches by Virgin Orbit, Rocket Lab and Space Vector.
Layers upon layers of rock in Candor Chasma on Mars
Sunday, 03 January 2021 14:30In many ways, Mars is the planet that is most similar to the Earth. The red world has polar ice caps, a nearly 24-hour rotation period (about 24 hours and 37 minutes), mountains, plains, dust storms, volcanoes, a population of robots, many of which are old and no longer work, and even a Grand Canyon of sorts. The "Grand Canyon" on Mars is actually far grander than any Arizonan gorge. Valles Marineris dwarfs the Grand Canyon of the southwestern U.S., spanning 4,000 km in length (the distance between L.A. and New York City), and dives 7 kilometers into the Martian crust (compared to a measly 2 km of depth seen in the Grand Canyon). Newly released photos from the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) reveal a stunning look at eroding cliff faces in Candor Chasma, a gigantic canyon that comprises a portion of the Valles Marineris system.
China’s CASC targets more than 40 space launches in 2021
Sunday, 03 January 2021 13:34HELSINKI — China’s main space contractor aims to conduct more than 40 orbital launches in 2021, including launching a space station module and human spaceflight missions.
Pace steps down from National Space Council
Sunday, 03 January 2021 12:04WASHINGTON — The top staff member of the National Space Council resigned last week as the council’s future in coordinating space policy remains uncertain.
In a Dec. 31 statement, Scott Pace announced he was resigning as executive secretary of the National Space Council to return to George Washington University, where he had served as director of its Space Policy Institute.
India aims for reusable rockets, advanced propulsion in decadal spaceflight plan
Sunday, 03 January 2021 11:36HELSINKI — The Indian Space Research Organisation has outlined plans to develop reusable and heavy lift launchers, advanced propulsion and foster private space activities across the 2020s.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan announced the broad range of goals in a New Year’s message, underlining a major focus on research and development across the decade.