For its final trick, Chandrayaan-3 brings its propulsion module to Earth orbit
Thursday, 07 December 2023 18:33
On August 23, ISRO's Vikram lander detached from its propulsion module and made a soft landing near the moon's south pole region. The lander then deployed its Pragyan rover, and for two weeks the endearing little solar-powered rover performed marvelously, detecting water ice and characterizing the makeup of the lunar regolith before succumbing to the darkness and cold of the lunar night.
But since the rover mission ended, the propulsion module that brought it to the moon has made a detour, performing a series of complex maneuvers that took it from a tight lunar orbit back to Earth orbit.
Psyche gamma-ray instrument hums to life, marking next generation for space exploration
Thursday, 07 December 2023 18:22
Set 6.5 feet (2 meters) away from NASA's Psyche spacecraft on the tip of a boom, the mission's gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) hummed to life on Nov. 6 for the first time since launch in mid-October.
Communicating with a relativistic spacecraft gets pretty weird
Thursday, 07 December 2023 17:17
Someday, in the not-too-distant future, humans may send robotic probes to explore nearby star systems. These robot explorers will likely take the form of lightsails and wafercraft (a la Breakthrough Starshot) that will rely on directed energy (lasers) to accelerate to relativistic speeds—aka a fraction of the speed of light. With that kind of velocity, lightsails and wafercraft could make the journey across interstellar space in a matter of decades instead of centuries (or longer!) Given time, these missions could serve as pathfinders for more ambitious exploration programs involving astronauts.
Of course, any talk of interstellar travel must consider the massive technical challenges this entails. In a recent paper posted to the arXiv preprint server, a team of engineers and astrophysicists considered the effects that relativistic space travel will have on communications.
Say ice!
Thursday, 07 December 2023 15:00
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The last members of the European Antarctic crew DC19 say goodbye to Concordia after spending a year at the research station in Antarctica 
NASA working with industry to advance inflatable heat shield technology
Thursday, 07 December 2023 11:41
An incredible pace of SpaceX launch cadence continues with the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket
Thursday, 07 December 2023 10:33
SpaceX sent up 23 Starlink satellites during a mission from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). Liftoff from Launch Complex 40 (LC-40) occurred at 12:07 a.m. EST (0507 UTC) on SpaceX's 90th orbital mission of 2023.
This mission marks the 125th operational Starlink mission, with Starlink Group 6-33 bringing the total number of launched Starlink satellites to 5,559, with mo Minding the gap on tropical forest carbon
Thursday, 07 December 2023 07:00
Tropical forests are clearly critical to Earth’s climate system, but understanding exactly how much carbon they absorb from the atmosphere, store and release is tricky to calculate, not least because measuring and reporting methods vary. With these measurements paramount for nations assessing the action they are taking to combat the climate crisis, new research shows how differences in estimates of carbon flux associated with human activity can be reconciled.
To see the Universe in aluminium
Thursday, 07 December 2023 06:55
Lightweight but robust, aluminium is the single most versatile space material. A new ESA project extends this versatility still further, by investigating the production of big aluminium mirrors for space-based astronomy. Applying a novel technique, the team joined together multiple aluminium segments to form a single mirror. The resulting surface had to be optically perfect however, with no trace left of joins in the combined metal.
Asteroid Impact Crater in Germany Offers New Perspectives on Martian Analogs
Thursday, 07 December 2023 06:40
Nestled just north of the Danube in southern Germany, the Nordlinger Ries presents a striking geological feature: a large, circular depression surrounded by hills, created by an asteroid impact nearly 15 million years ago. This site has become a critical reference point for understanding similar craters on early Mars, particularly since NASA's exploration of Martian craters began in earnest. Albedo secures NRO contract for Advanced VLEO satellite imaging capabilities
Thursday, 07 December 2023 06:40
Albedo, a trailblazer in the field of Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellite technology, announced a significant advancement today with the acquisition of a 2.5-year contract from the National Reconnaissance Office's (NRO) Commercial Systems Program Office (CSPO). This contract, under the Strategic Commercial Enhancements Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Framework, particularly focuses on the Comm New antenna offers unprecedented flexibility for military applications
Thursday, 07 December 2023 06:40
PathFinder Digital has recently been awarded U.S. Patent # 11,831,346 for a novel satellite communication antenna system, termed MONDO (Multi Orbit Network, Dual Operation terminal), signifying a significant advancement in military communication technology. This newly patented design is set to reshape the landscape of satellite communications, particularly in military contexts.
MONDO is sp COP28: UK climate satellite contracts
Thursday, 07 December 2023 06:40
The UK Space Agency, via its participation in the European Space Agency (ESA), has sanctioned significant contracts to two major aerospace entities - Airbus UK and Teledyne e2v. Airbus UK has secured nearly 95 million pounds, while Teledyne e2v has been granted 9 million pounds for their roles in the pivotal TRUTHS mission.
Airbus UK's substantial funding is earmarked for the meticulous de China's expertise elevates Egypt's space ambitions with MisrSat 2 launch
Thursday, 07 December 2023 06:40
In a significant advancement of international space collaboration, China has successfully launched the MisrSat 2 satellite for Egypt, as confirmed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). This event marks a notable milestone in the growing space cooperation between the two nations.
The launch occurred on Monday when the MisrSat 2 satellite was propelled into orbit by a Long March