Copernical Team
Department of Defense Awards Relativity Space New Responsive Launch Contract
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Relativity Space has been awarded its first orbital launch contract with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), facilitated by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).
This contract was awarded as a Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) Launch Enterprise follow-up effort to the DoD Space Test Program (STP) Rapid Agile Launch Initiative (RALI) to identify capable commercial solutions for low-cost 'Warfighter Council' Guides Capability Development for Space Development Agency
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As the Space Development Agency builds out the National Defense Space Architecture, it looks to a biannual "warfighter council" to provide guidance about what is actually important to those who will use the systems, the agency's director said today.
"We want to make sure that we address our customers," Derek Tournear said. "The customers, in this case, are the combatant commanders." New Chinese satellite measures solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence
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Solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is emitted during plant photosynthesis. SIF results from vegetation chlorophyll giving off red and infrared light wavelengths when excited by solar radiation. Measuring SIF is important because it is closely related to the terrestrial gross primary productivity (GPP), which calculates the total amount of carbon dioxide fixed through photosynthesis in Peraton awarded US Army hypersonic testing and evaluation contract
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Peraton has been awarded a U.S. Army contract for Hypersonic Test Engineering, Mission Planning and Systems (HyTEMPS), valued at up to $44 million over two years.
This award builds upon Peraton's more than 10 years of experience supporting the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) Technical Center and its mission to develop hypersonic vehicle technologies and provide hypers Reports: Biden to tap Bill Nelson as NASA administrator
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President Joe Biden is expected to nominate former Sen. Bill Nelson, who once spent several days in space, to lead NASA, people familiar with the matter confirmed Thursday.
Multiple unnamed sources told The Washington Post, Politico and The Verge that Biden will likely make the announcement by Friday.
They added that the White House also was considering former NASA astronaut and re
Successful test for NASA's giant Moon rocket
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NASA successfully carried out a key static test of its troubled Space Launch System rocket on Thursday, a win for the agency as it prepares to return to the Moon.
The second "hot fire" test saw all four of the rocket's RS-25 engines fire simultaneously at 4:40 pm Eastern time (2040 GMT) for the full duration of eight minutes, producing a maximum of 1.6 million pounds of thrust (7.1 million n NASA, SpaceX Sign Joint Spaceflight Safety Agreement
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NASA and SpaceX have signed a joint agreement to formalize both parties' strong interest in the sharing of information to maintain and improve space safety. This agreement enables a deeper level of coordination, cooperation, and data sharing, and defines the arrangement, responsibilities, and procedures for flight safety coordination.
The focus of the agreement is on conjunction avoidance NASA testing giant rocket for next Moon mission
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NASA was preparing for a key static test of its troubled Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on Thursday as the agency prepares to return to the Moon.
The second "hot fire" test will see all four of the rocket's RS-25 engines fire simultaneously and achieve a maximum of 1.6 million pounds of thrust (7.1 million newtons).
A two-hour window for the test began at 3:00 pm Eastern time (1900 GMT). At around 4:00pm, NASA said the text was expected within 45 minutes.
It will be the second such test involving the 212-foot (65-meter) high core stage at the Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, after the first was cut short in January.
For some scientists, Mars 2020 is a mission of perseverance
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Intern develops software for ESA space experiment
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A student interning at ESA will soon see her work launched into space. Meadhbh Griffin of University College Dublin has spent the last five months writing and testing software for an experiment set to fly later this year on the Hungarian-led RadCube CubeSat. While its main mission is to probe space weather in Earth orbit, RadCube will also host a miniature experiment to test how commercial computer memories withstand space radiation.