Copernical Team
Pentagon extends contract options for nuclear microreactor prototype
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The Department of Defense awarded contract options this week to two companies to create a final prototype for a transportable advanced nuclear microreactor.
BWXT Advanced Technologies and X-energy, both of which won contracts last year to develop portable nuclear reactors, will continue that work under the new options, according to a Pentagon press release.
The teams are working Dubai reports launch of DMSat-1 Atmospheric Monitoring Microsatellite
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Dubai Municipality announced the successful launch and deployment of DMSat-1, an atmospheric monitoring microsatellite built by Space Flight Laboratory (SFL). DMSat-1 launched Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz rocket.
SFL developed DMSat-1 under contract to the Dubai-based Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The 15-kg AFRL directed energy industry days
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The Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate will host a Virtual Briefing for Industry to introduce the new Directed Energy Technology Experimentation Research (DETER), Advanced Research Announcement (ARA) April 13 - 14 from 10 a.m. to noon Mountain Standard Time each day.
"We are looking forward to hosting our first briefing for industry days," said Marcella Cantu, DETER Engine of Atlantis
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The second European Service Module that will power the Orion spacecraft on a crewed flyby of the Moon is fitted with a special engine at Airbus facilities in Germany.
This engine belonged to Space Shuttle Atlantis, and is one of five refurbished engines to be paired with the first five European Service Modules. Technicians carefully install the engine in Airbus’ cleanroom.
ESM is the powerhouse of NASA’s Orion spacecraft. It will provide critical functions such as the propulsion system to get astronauts to the Moon, and the consumables astronauts need to stay alive.
ESM-2 will fuel the crewed Orion spacecraft during a
NASA engineers analyze navigation needs of Artemis moon missions
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Space communications and navigation engineers at NASA are evaluating the navigation needs for the Artemis program, including identifying the precision navigation capabilities needed to establish the first sustained presence on the lunar surface.
"Artemis engages us to apply creative navigation solutions, choosing the right combination of capabilities for each mission," said Cheryl Gramling, associate chief for technology in the Mission Engineering and Systems Analysis Division at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "NASA has a multitude of navigation tools at its disposal, and Goddard has a half-century of experience navigating space exploration missions in lunar orbit."
Alongside proven navigation capabilities, NASA will use innovative navigation technologies during the upcoming Artemis missions.
"Lunar missions provide the opportunity to test and refine novel space navigation techniques," said Ben Ashman, a navigation engineer at Goddard. "The moon is a fascinating place to explore and can serve as a proving ground that expands our navigation toolkit for more distant destinations like Mars.
Space vs. materials – orbital testing outside Space Station
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Space leaves its mark on materials: exposure to such a harsh environment can darken, crack or crater their surfaces – or even erode them away entirely. The nothingness of hard vacuum can also provoke ‘outgassing’ vapours from materials that might degrade delicate mission systems. Accordingly ESA and the French space agency CNES are giving European researchers the chance to pit the latest aerospace materials directly against space.
Lockheed Martin awarded $3.7B to modernize key missile defense mission
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The Missile Defense Agency (MDA), in a competitive downselect phase, selected Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and partner Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE: AJRD) to deliver the nation's most advanced missile defense system, the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI).
The $3.7 billion contract for Next Generation Interceptor is the first step in the development and demonstration phase delivering on MDA's re Parsons awarded $250M Seabed-to-Space ISR contract
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Parsons Corporation has been awarded a shared ceiling value $250 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) multiple award task order contract by the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific for research, development, test, and technical engineering for maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and information operations.
The contract has a three-yea Cutting edge ground recorders selected to measure future X-59 Quiet Supersonic Flights
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For the deserts of Southern California, the major milestones of aviation have long been marked by the unique sights, and sounds, of flight.
From the late Chuck Yeager's breaking of the sound barrier in 1947, to the space shuttles' approach and landing at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center (then Dryden) in Edwards, and through today, one recognizable sound is the sonic boom - a loud, s GAO: DoD should better coordinate hypersonic weapons programs
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The Defense Department's push to achieve hypersonic weapons should better define the roles and duties of those in leadership, a government report published Monday says.
The Government Accountability Office noted that the development of hypersonic weapons and related technologies has cost about $14 billion since it started in 2015, through 70 identified efforts.
The Defense Depart