Live Event: The SpaceNews Awards and year-end panel discussion
Monday, 22 November 2021 18:20The SpaceNews Awards are held each year to recognize achievements in space commerce, exploration and stewardship.
Voyager Space acquires majority stake in Space Micro
Monday, 22 November 2021 16:00Voyager Space Inc. is acquiring a majority stake in Space Micro Inc. as part of an agreement designed to help the San Diego-based supplier of space electronics and satellite components expand operations to meet demand.
Startup Cognitive Space using artificial intelligence to manage satellite operations
Monday, 22 November 2021 14:35Cognitive Space raised $4 million in seed funding for its artificial intelligence-based software designed to manage constellations of imaging satellites.
Astra ready for commercial operations after first successful launch
Monday, 22 November 2021 14:28After reaching orbit for the first time, Astra Space executives said they are ready to begin commercial operations of their small launch vehicle and scale up production, while also preparing to test a new vehicle next year.
An absolutely bonkers plan to give Mars an artificial magnetosphere
Monday, 22 November 2021 12:01Terraforming Mars is one of the great dreams of humanity. Mars has a lot going for it. Its day is about the same length as Earth's, it has plenty of frozen water just under its surface, and it likely could be given a reasonably breathable atmosphere in time. But one of the things it lacks is a strong magnetic field. So if we want to make Mars a second Earth, we'll have to give it an artificial one.
The reason magnetic fields are so important is that they shield a planet from solar wind and ionizing particles. Earth's magnetic field prevents most high-energy charged particles from reaching the surface. Instead, they are deflected from Earth, keeping us safe. The magnetic field also prevents solar winds from stripping Earth's atmosphere over time. Early Mars had a thick, water-rich atmosphere, but it was gradually depleted without the protection of a strong magnetic field.
China launches new Gaofen-11 high resolution spy satellite to match U.S. capabilities
Monday, 22 November 2021 11:09HELSINKI — China launched its third Gaofen-11 reconnaissance satellite Nov. 19, adding to a set of classified satellites with an optical resolution which may be comparable to top U.S.
Catching asteroid deflection mission's first words
Monday, 22 November 2021 09:30ESA's Australian ground station to catch DART's first words
Monday, 22 November 2021 08:12ESA antenna to catch DART's first words
Monday, 22 November 2021 08:12Axiom Space outlines research plans for first ISS mission
Sunday, 21 November 2021 17:59The three private astronauts on Axiom Space’s first mission to the International Space Station next February will perform more than 100 hours of research on their flight as the company works to advance plans for its own space station.
Space Force general: U.S. has a lot of catching up to do on hypersonic missile technology
Sunday, 21 November 2021 11:18“We're not as advanced as the Chinese or the Russians in terms of hypersonic programs,” Gen. David Thompson said Nov. 20. at the Halifax International Security Forum.
Planetary defenders: after NASA's DART comes ESA's Hera
Sunday, 21 November 2021 06:52The world will be watching the milestone launch of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, DART, spacecraft on Wednesday, 24 November, intended to alter one small part of the Solar System forever. DART will collide with the small moon of an asteroid in order to shift its orbit around its parent body - to test the concept of diverting threatening objects away from Earth. ESA will pro
Bolt research effort cultivates collaboration, hypersonic workforce
Sunday, 21 November 2021 06:52A team of scientists at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, supported by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFRL/AFOSR), currently leads a collaborative research and experimentation effort that could aid development of hypersonic systems. "[Hypersonics] capability is so important [to] DOD's need to deter and defeat the U.S.'s great-power comp
Pentagon 2IC reveals what US knows about China's Hypersonic Glide Vehicle
Sunday, 21 November 2021 06:52Last month, the Financial Times reported that China carried out two hypersonic weapons tests of a new "fractional orbital bombardment" system this past summer involving a hypersonic glide vehicle which America "does not currently possess." Beijing maintains the testing involved a "routine" trial of reusable space rocket technology. Pentagon second-in-command Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman
US still characterizing damage of satellite struck in Russian missile test
Sunday, 21 November 2021 06:52The United States is still characterising the damage from an anti-satellite missile test allegedly conducted by Russia earlier this week, US Space Command Deputy Commander John Shaw said on Wednesday. "We are still characterising this event. We expect the debris will grow over time," Shaw said. The Deputy Commander explained that the debris will become a threat that will eventually h