On National Security | How Space Force learned to worry about its culture of secrecy
Saturday, 07 August 2021 13:00
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A famous line from the movie "Dr. Strangelove" nicely sums up the challenge the U.S. military faces trying to deter China and Russia from initiating attacks against U.S. satellites.
Rocket Lab shifts CAPSTONE launch to New Zealand
Friday, 06 August 2021 22:00 Write a comment
A NASA smallsat mission to test the orbit that will be used by the lunar Gateway will launch from New Zealand and not Virginia as originally planned.
TESS considering companion smallsat mission
Friday, 06 August 2021 19:08 Write a comment
The leaders of a NASA exoplanet mission are considering using a spare camera for a companion mission that would enable them to confirm existing discoveries and make new ones.
Ontario’s government invests in Lightspeed constellation
Friday, 06 August 2021 17:55 Write a comment
Telesat has struck a deal with Ontario’s government to partly fund its Lightspeed constellation, which will dedicate some of its satellite capacity to improving connectivity in the Canadian province.
Europe’s meteorological satellite agency makes first commercial data acquisition
Friday, 06 August 2021 16:01 Write a comment
Europe’s meteorological satellite agency is buying commercial data for the first time, raising hopes that it will open up more agency and government contracts to the private sector.
Op-ed | The Last Shuttle Flight — A 10-Year Lesson
Friday, 06 August 2021 15:38 Write a comment
July not only saw the successful launch of two private industry human spaceflight operations. It also marked the 10th anniversary of the last space shuttle flight.
Maritime connectivity specialist Marlink finds another private equity buyer
Friday, 06 August 2021 14:07 Write a comment
U.S. private equity giant Providence Equity Partners is in exclusive talks to buy a majority stake in Marlink, the maritime connectivity provider.
NASA's Juno celebrates 10 years with new infrared view of moon Ganymede
Friday, 06 August 2021 12:49 Write a comment
The spacecraft used its infrared instrument during recent flybys of Jupiter's mammoth moon to create this latest map, which comes out a decade after Juno's launch.
The science team for NASA's Juno spacecraft has produced a new infrared map of the mammoth Jovian moon Ganymede, combining data from three flybys, including its latest approach on July 20. These observations by the spacecraft's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument, which "sees" in infrared light not visible to the human eye, provide new information on Ganymede's icy shell and the composition of the ocean of liquid water beneath.
JIRAM was designed to capture the infrared light emerging from deep inside Jupiter, probing the weather layer down to 30 to 45 miles (50 to 70 kilometers) below Jupiter's cloud tops.
A few steps closer to Europa: Spacecraft hardware makes headway
Friday, 06 August 2021 12:49 Write a comment
Take a closer look at the complex choreography involved in building NASA's Europa Clipper as the mission to explore Jupiter's moon Europa approaches its 2024 launch date.
The hardware that makes up NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft is rapidly taking shape, as engineering components and instruments are prepared for delivery to the main clean room at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. In workshops and labs across the country and in Europe, teams are crafting the complex pieces that make up the whole as mission leaders direct the elaborate choreography of building a flagship mission.
The massive 10-foot-tall (3-meter-tall) propulsion module recently moved from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, where engineers will install electronics, radios, antennas, and cabling. The spacecraft's thick aluminum vault, which will protect Europa Clipper's electronics from Jupiter's intense radiation, is nearing completion at JPL. The building and testing of the science instruments at universities and partner institutions across the country continue as well.
Week in images: 02 - 06 August 2021
Friday, 06 August 2021 12:38 Write a comment
Week in images: 02 - 06 August 2021
Discover our week through the lens
Virgin Galactic resumes ticket sales but delays start of commercial service
Friday, 06 August 2021 11:00 Write a comment
Virgin Galactic announced Aug. 5 it is restarting ticket sales at significantly higher prices but won’t begin flying its existing suborbital space tourism customers until the second half of next year.
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Crater trio Virgin Galactic restarts space-trip sales at $450,000 and up
Friday, 06 August 2021 06:45
China launches Zhongxing-2E communications satellite
Friday, 06 August 2021 06:08 Write a comment
China sent the Zhongxing-2E into geosynchronous transfer orbit Thursday with the launch of a Long March 3B rocket from Xichang.
Returning airline traffic boosts Viasat and Intelsat financials
Friday, 06 August 2021 00:24 Write a comment
The recovering in-flight connectivity (IFC) market is providing lift for satellite operators Viasat and Intelsat, which said their financial results got a boost from passengers returning to the skies.