Space agencies support ISS extension as NASA warns of space race with China
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 19:54
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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said he remains confident that Russia will remain a part of the International Space Station through the end of the decade but warned of an emerging space race with China.
Astroscale complete first test of satellite capture technology
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 18:21 Write a comment
Astroscale has completed the first major test of technology to capture and remove objects in orbit by releasing and then recapturing a small satellite.
Team captures data from unarmed Minuteman III test launch
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 18:13 Write a comment
A team from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) successfully collected data from the recent operational test of an Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
More work needed on space stability and security
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 15:50 Write a comment
In the last year, the Defense Department has made progress in responding to the current era of strategic competition, John Hill, who is performing the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, said Aug. 24 at the 36th Space Symposium here.
NASA's Psyche mission moves closer to launch
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 12:52 Write a comment
As part of NASA's Discovery Program, the mission to explore a metal-rich asteroid is well on its way to an August 2022 launch.
With NASA's Psyche mission now less than a year from launch, anticipation is building. By next spring, the fully assembled spacecraft will ship from the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a launch period that opens Aug. 1, 2022.
In early 2026, the Psyche spacecraft will arrive at its target, an asteroid of the same name in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Phase Four Maxwell to test green propellant
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 12:00 Write a comment
Phase Four plans to fuel its Maxwell engine with a green propellant develop by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory under a contract the Southern California startup won Aug. 18 at the U.S. Space Force’s first SpaceWERX Pitch Day.
Space Development Agency’s policy chief: ‘Our focus is maintaining our rapid schedule’
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 11:30 Write a comment
Paula Trimble joined SDA in January as policy chief and legislative affairs director. A longtime Washington policy insider and former space journalist, Trimble spoke with SpaceNews about the agency’s disruptive approach to procuring technologies.
Film and cultures
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 11:23 Write a comment
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Samples of the Biofilms experiment are headed to the International Space Station on the SpaceX CR23 cargo resupply mission this weekend to help maintain astronaut and material safety in space.
A common piece of advice of the past 18 months has been to make sure you wash your hands thoroughly. This is because microorganisms are easily spread across common surfaces like door handles and light switches, and it is no less true in space. The Space Station is, after all, a lab as well as a home to astronauts. It is especially important to keep this environment safe for the
Watch: 14 hours of Enceladus geyser action
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 11:12 Write a comment
What a parting gift the Cassini mission gave us.
Below is a movie sequence of images, garnered from the final dedicated observation of the Enceladus' geysers by the imitable Cassini spacecraft.
Back in August of 2017, Cassini stared at Enceladus for 14 hours, looking at the moon's night side. The movie begins with a view of the part of the surface lit by reflected light from Saturn and transitions to completely unilluminated terrain. About halfway through the sequence, the exposure time of the images changes in order to make fainter features more visible as the light level drops.
"That's why stars appear towards the end—they're the small dots streaking by," said Paul Byrne, planetary scientist and associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis, who brought this animation to our attention on Twitter.
OneWeb’s antenna supplier in South Korea expanding production to meet growing demand for LEO broadband terminals
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 10:02 Write a comment
OneWeb supplier Intellian Technologies says it will begin building a second manufacturing plant in October to keep up with growing demand for LEO broadband user terminals. The new plant is expected to open in May.
The Pentagon’s hyperfocus on hypersonic missile threat
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 08:00 Write a comment
The deployment of sensor satellites in low Earth orbit to fill blind spots in the U.S. missile defense system is finally moving from the drawing board to actual space hardware.
Crater landslide
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 08:00 Write a comment
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Crater landslide China's rover travels over 1 km on Mars
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 06:46 Write a comment
China's Mars rover Zhurong had traveled more than 1,000 meters on the surface of the red planet as of Monday, the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said.
China's Tianwen-1 mission, consisting of an orbiter, lander, and rover, was launched on July 23, 2020.
The lander, carrying the rover with an expected lifespan of at least 9 Space Force activates Space Training and Readiness Command
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 06:46 Write a comment
The Department of the Air Force activated the third and final field command of the U.S. Space Force, Space Training and Readiness Command, in a ceremony here Aug. 23.
Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall approved the final organizational structure for STARCOM's establishment on Aug. 13, and Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. "Jay" Raymond wasted no time putting the new command's le Musk announces key milestone as Starlink reaches 100,000 users
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 06:46 Write a comment
The Starlink project, aimed to blanket the surface of the planet with low-latency satellite internet, is operated by Elon Musk's company SpaceX that, in 2019, began launching small satellites into low-Earth orbit. To date, the Starlink constellation consists of over 1,600 satellites, while the goal is to use nearly 30,000.
Tech billionaire and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday tweeted that th