TMC Technologies wins contract to support NASA's IV&V Program
Thursday, 03 June 2021 08:19TMC Technologies of West Virginia, a leading-edge technology services firm, is proud to announce it has been awarded a five-year, Blanket Purchase Agreement, with a ceiling value of $24 million, by NASA to provide advanced systems and software engineering services in support of the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility, home of NASA's IV&V Program in Fairmont,
Worms on a mission to research muscle loss in space
Thursday, 03 June 2021 08:19Today hundreds of tiny worms are being flown to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of an experiment to understand more about human muscle loss and how to prevent it. Led by scientists from Nottingham and Exeter University, with hardware designed by Oxford-based Kayser Space, a research team aims to determine the causes of muscle changes during spaceflight and find ways to mitiga
Government fund will support new ideas for cleaning up space
Thursday, 03 June 2021 08:19Space firms are being invited to apply for a share of up to 800,000 pounds in funding from the UK Space Agency to develop ideas for space debris removal missions. One of the biggest global challenges facing the space sector is orbital congestion and space debris. There are currently an estimated 900,000 pieces of space debris including old satellites, spent rocket bodies and even tools dro
NASA announces two new missions to Venus
Thursday, 03 June 2021 08:19NASA announced two new missions to Venus on Wednesday that will launch at the end of the decade and are aimed at learning how Earth's nearest planetary neighbor became a hellscape while our own thrived. "These two sister missions both aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world, capable of melting lead at the surface," said Bill Nelson, the agency's newly-confirmed administrator
The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission - Presenting Hera
Thursday, 03 June 2021 08:19Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two briefcase-sized Cubesats - Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary - Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos and Dimorphos, an asteroid pair typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth. Planetary defence requires planetary cooperation. Hera is set to rendezvous with the asteroid pair
NASA picks Venus as hot spot for two new robotic missions
Thursday, 03 June 2021 06:34NASA is returning to sizzling Venus, our closest yet perhaps most overlooked neighbor, after decades of exploring other worlds.
The space agency's new administrator, Bill Nelson, announced two new robotic missions to the solar system's hottest planet, during his first major address to employees Wednesday.
Axiom Space signs with SpaceX for 3 more private crew missions to ISS
Wednesday, 02 June 2021 23:40Axiom Space revealed Wednesday that it has finalized a deal with SpaceX for three additional Dragon flights, on which Axiom would fly its proposed private crews on its next three fully commercial missions to the International Space Station. The landmark agreement between the industry leaders in human spaceflight as well as orbital services and launch, respectively, ensures the nascent commercial
Trashing space begins in low earth orbit
Wednesday, 02 June 2021 23:40When we think of space, we think big and empty but when it comes to Earth's orbit, it's cluttered with millions of pieces of garbage that we call space junk. The junk - or space debris - is made up of uncontrollable human-made items that remain in orbit long after they've served their original purpose. The scale of debris ranges from the very large including discarded stages from rocket an
A new dimension in the quest to understand dark matter
Wednesday, 02 June 2021 23:40As its name suggests, dark matter - material which makes up about 85% of the mass in the universe - emits no light, eluding easy detection. Its properties, too, remain fairly obscure. Now, a theoretical particle physicist at the University of California, Riverside, and colleagues have published a research paper in the Journal of High Energy Physics that shows how theories positing the exis
NASA selects 2 missions to study Venus
Wednesday, 02 June 2021 23:40NASA has selected two new missions to Venus, Earth's nearest planetary neighbor. Part of NASA's Discovery Program, the missions aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world when it has so many other characteristics similar to ours - and may have been the first habitable world in the solar system, complete with an ocean and Earth-like climate. These investigations are the final
NASA to explore divergent fate of Earth's mysterious twin with Goddard's DAVINCI+
Wednesday, 02 June 2021 23:40Although Earth and Venus are similar in size and location, they are very different worlds today. While Earth has oceans of water and abundant life, Venus is dry and fiercely inhospitable. Although it's somewhat closer to the Sun - about 70 percent of Earth's distance - Venus is much hotter, with temperatures at the surface high enough to melt lead. The scorched landscape is obscured by clouds of
NASA selects two Venus missions for Discovery program
Wednesday, 02 June 2021 22:03WASHINGTON — For the first time in more than three decades, NASA has announced it will send a robotic mission to Venus, selecting two proposals in the latest round of its Discovery program.
Launch executives see booming demand despite gloomy forecasts
Wednesday, 02 June 2021 21:12WASHINGTON — Demand for satellite launches likely will surge despite assertions to the contrary, industry executives said June 2.
“There’s a diverse and growing customer base for putting things into low-Earth orbit” and that trend will continue, said Chris Kemp, founder and CEO of small rocket startup Astra.
Satellite operators meet 120 MHz C-band clearing target
Wednesday, 02 June 2021 18:37TAMPA, Fla. — Satellite operators have cleared a portion of C-band in a key step toward giving the spectrum to U.S. wireless companies in December.
Work has now started on installing filters on ground antennas across the United States, so wireless operators can use the lower 120 MHz of C-band for 5G without interfering with satellite broadcast customers.
Air Force to further study use of commercial rockets to deliver cargo around the world
Wednesday, 02 June 2021 18:20WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force plans to further study the potential use of commercial rockets to transport cargo around the world.
According to Air Force budget documents, a project named “rocket cargo” has been selected as one of the Air Force’s so-called Vanguard programs.