Space Development Agency asks industry for input on available technologies
Sunday, 24 January 2021 21:13
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WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency issued an open call for information from the space industry covering a laundry list of technologies.
The “broad area announcement” published Jan. 25 asks companies to submit pitches for space technology projects that the SDA might be interested in funding if they meet specific needs.
Startup Albedo focuses on 10-centimeter Earth imagery
Sunday, 24 January 2021 20:51 Write a comment
SAN FRANCISCO – Albedo, the latest space company to join the well-known Y Combinator startup accelerator, plans to establish a satellite constellation offering Earth imagery with a resolution of 10 centimeters per pixel.
That’s the same resolution that caused a stir when former President Trump tweeted images of a heavily damaged Iranian launchpad in August 2019.
ESA’s exoplanet watcher Cheops reveals unique planetary system
Sunday, 24 January 2021 15:00 Write a comment
ESA’s exoplanet mission Cheops has revealed a unique planetary system consisting of six exoplanets, five of which are locked in a rare rhythmic dance as they orbit their central star. The sizes and masses of the planets, however, don’t follow such an orderly pattern. This finding challenges current theories of planet formation.
Op-ed | For China, space is both substance and symbol
Sunday, 24 January 2021 14:30 Write a comment
In December, China successfully conducted its first lunar sample retrieval mission. Chang’e-5 landed on the moon, deployed a rover who then dug up various pieces of the lunar surface, then returned to Earth with about 5 pounds of material.
Op-ed | Is public capital ready to help fuel the private space economy?
Sunday, 24 January 2021 14:11 Write a comment
For the first time in decades, the space industry is proving to be very popular again. With the recent successes of SpaceX’s crewed missions, the upcoming landing NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, Japan’s returned sample from the asteroid Ryugu, China’s lunar landing, and the test flights of Elon Musk’s Starship, public sentiment is becoming extremely positive again and enthusiasm seems to be nearing Apollo-era heights.
In search of stable liquids
Sunday, 24 January 2021 12:05 Write a comment
Most liquids are in suspension. Particles too small to see by naked eye swirl everywhere as gravity and temperature changes move them around. Keeping liquids from separating can be a hassle for the foods we buy in the supermarket, but also for the pharmaceutical industry seeking to extend the shelf life of medicine as long as possible.
Cloud-free crop maps foster sustainable farming
Sunday, 24 January 2021 12:00 Write a comment
The rapidly rising global population, sustainability and climate change are among the challenges the agriculture sector faces in the business of producing food. Fortunately, information from satellites can help. A new commercial service – the first in the world – cleverly combines radar data from Copernicus Sentinel-1 and optical data from Copernicus Sentinel-2 to offer daily maps of field-scale crop biomass. Importantly, these maps are completely unimpeded by cloud cover. This new service allows farmers to better monitor and assess the growth of their produce, and, ultimately, make more effective decisions.
Phase Four launches first plasma propulsion systems
Sunday, 24 January 2021 11:34 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Electric propulsion company Phase Four flew its first plasma thrusters on two spacecraft that were part of a SpaceX dedicated rideshare launch Jan. 24.
Phase Four said its Maxwell plasma propulsion systems were on two of the 143 spacecraft launched on the Transporter-1 mission.
Our world is losing ice at record rate
Sunday, 24 January 2021 10:45 Write a comment
A research team – the first to carry out a survey of global ice loss using satellite data – has discovered that the rate at which ice is disappearing across the planet is speeding up. The findings also reveal that 28 trillion tonnes of ice was lost between 1994 and 2017 – equivalent to a sheet of ice 100 metres thick covering the whole of the UK.
SpaceX rocket deploys record-setting cargo
Sunday, 24 January 2021 01:16 Write a comment
SpaceX on Sunday launched its Falcon 9 rocket carrying a record number of satellites on board, the private space company said.
The rocket successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 10:00 am (1500 GMT), 24 hours after its initial take-off had been scrubbed due to bad weather.
Andy Tran, a SpaceX production supervisor, said in a video of the launch that the Falcon 9 was carrying NASA's Deep Space Network welcomes a new dish to the family
Sunday, 24 January 2021 01:16 Write a comment
The addition brings new capabilities to the network, which acts as an interplanetary switchboard, connecting us to missions at the Moon and far beyond. A powerful new antenna has been added to the NASA Space Communications and Navigation's Deep Space Network (DSN), which connects us to the space robots exploring our solar system. Called Deep Space Station 56, or DSS-56, the dish is now online an China collects 100PB of Earth observation data
Sunday, 24 January 2021 01:16 Write a comment
China has collected around 100PB (about 100 million GB) of Earth observation data, according to the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
The collected data resources have been used for both free and commercial usage to serve more than 300,000 users, inducing significant social and economic benefits, according to a recent report on Chin European team to collaborate in optical communication
Sunday, 24 January 2021 01:16 Write a comment
Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) and Airbus Defence and Space Netherlands (Airbus DS NL) have signed a memorandum of understanding for collaborative activities regarding ground equipment for space-to-ground optical communication. The agreement will accelerate the development of commercially viable optical ground stations that will be offered by Airbus DS NL and used by SSC in delivering ground ne New Mars rover may collect first sounds recorded on another planet
Sunday, 24 January 2021 01:16 Write a comment
When three new Mars missions reach the Red Planet in February, recording the first sounds from another planet is to be among the scientific milestones.
NASA expects its Perseverance rover to land Feb. 18, after the United Arab Emirates' Hope orbiter arrives Feb. 9 and China's Tianwen-1 mission arrives the next day.
Perseverance carries two microphones. One will record the noise m Holding the system of HR 8799 together
Sunday, 24 January 2021 01:16 Write a comment
All four planets orbiting the star HR 8799 were identified via direct imaging - a feat made possible only because of the planets' large sizes and their wide orbits. Planetary systems with these characteristics often have difficulty holding themselves together under all of the gravitational influences involved. But could the HR 8799 system somehow stay intact?
The direct imaging technique i