20 years of ESA on the ISS
Tuesday, 20 April 2021 06:00
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This month marks the 20th anniversary of the first European mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
On 19 April 2001, Italian ESA Astronaut, Umberto Guidoni launched to the ISS on space shuttle Endeavour for a mission that included installing the Canadarm2 robotic arm and transferring scientific equipment and experiments.
Since then, there have been a further 26 European missions to the ISS and three ESA astronauts have served as commander. ESA astronauts Thomas Pesquet and Matthias Maurer will both launch to the ISS this year.
The ISS has hosted more than 3000 scientific experiments and is providing vital insights
U.S. Army approves plans for a future ‘tactical space layer’
Monday, 19 April 2021 22:59 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — U.S. Army leaders have signed off on plans to explore the use of satellites in low Earth orbit to give soldiers dedicated surveillance, navigation and imaging capabilities.
The Army’s effort is called “tactical space layer” and is led by the U.S.
NRO to sign deals with commercial providers of satellite radar imagery
Monday, 19 April 2021 18:41 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The National Reconnaissance Office plans to sign new deals with commercial providers of satellite radar imagery as the agency looks to better understand the capabilities of the private sector, a senior NRO official told SpaceNews.
Why flying a helicopter on Mars is a big deal
Monday, 19 April 2021 16:40 Write a comment
NASA conducted its first flight on another planet early Monday morning, a short hop for a small chopper named Ingenuity which demonstrated technology that could prove critical to the future of space exploration.
The four-pound vehicle ascended to about 10 feet above the surface of the red planet for about 40 seconds, before descending back to the ground.
The helicopter arrived on Mars along with the Perseverance rover on Feb.
Key things to know about NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter
Monday, 19 April 2021 16:25 Write a comment
NASA has made history by successfully flying the mini helicopter Ingenuity on Mars, the first powered flight on another planet.
Here are some key things to know.
Proof of concept
The rotorcraft's first flight lasted 39.1 seconds as Ingenuity lifted itself to a height of 10 feet (three meters) and then returned to the Martian surface.
While it does have the capacity to fly for 90 seconds and cover a distance of up to 980 feet (300 meters), its test runs are intentionally of limited scope as they are meant to prove only that the technology works.
Ingenuity is not gathering scientific data about Mars or aiding in the search for past microbial life.
Previous technology demonstrations include the Mars Pathfinder rover, Sojourner, which was the first ever rover to explore another planet in 1997.
It is hoped that one day, future aircraft can help revolutionize exploration of celestial bodies by going further and faster than rovers, and reaching areas hard to access by land.
Winners presented with ESA-EGU Excellence award
Monday, 19 April 2021 16:00 Write a comment
The winners of the first ESA-EGU Excellence Award were awarded their prizes earlier today at the virtual EGU General Assembly ceremony, attended by ESA’s Director General, Josef Aschbacher and ESA’s Acting Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Toni Tolker-Nielsen.
Amazon contracts nine Atlas 5 missions for Kuiper broadband satellites
Monday, 19 April 2021 15:25 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — Amazon has ordered nine Atlas 5 rockets from United Launch Alliance to help place its 3,236-strong Project Kuiper broadband constellation.
The U.S. internet retailing giant declined to disclose a time frame for its deal with ULA, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin known more for its government missions than commercial space.
Download our April 19 issue of SpaceNews magazine
Monday, 19 April 2021 14:32 Write a comment
Download the digital edition of the April 19 issue of SpaceNews magazine, provided compliments of Blacksky.
Inside the April 19 issue:
1. Business of Climate Change
How ESG is transforming the satellite industry
Gulf Energy excludes Thaicom in $5.4 billion buyout deal for parent company InTouch
Monday, 19 April 2021 14:01 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — Gulf Energy Development, a Thailand-based power producer, offered April 19 to buy out the parent company of Thai satellite operator Thaicom for as much as 169 billion baht ($5.4 billion).
But Bangkok-based Gulf Energy said it will only pursue the deal for Intouch Holdings, which also owns Thailand’s largest wireless operator Advanced Info Service (AIS), if it can buy the group without having to acquire the rest of Thaicom.
Can a new type of glacier on Mars aid future astronauts?
Monday, 19 April 2021 13:50 Write a comment
On April 21, 1908, near Earth's North Pole, the Arctic explorer Frederick Albert Cook scrawled in his diary a memorable phrase: "We were the only pulsating creatures in a dead world of ice." These words may soon take on new significance for humankind in another dead world of hidden ice, submerged beneath the red sand of its frigid deserts. This dead world is Mars, and the desert is the planet's mid-latitude region known as Arcadia Planitia.
Pre-launch media Q+A with astronaut Thomas Pesquet
Monday, 19 April 2021 13:20 Write a comment
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ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet is set to go back to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft on 22 April 2021.
Watch the replay of the media Q+A session held on 19 April with Thomas (in English and French) to learn more about his upcoming Alpha mission to the ISS.
Mission Alpha media event at launch site
Monday, 19 April 2021 13:20 Write a comment
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Watch the replay of the media session held on 19 April 2021 with French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet held in English and French to learn more about his upcoming Alpha mission.
Thomas is returning to the International Space Station on his second spaceflight. Called ‘Alpha’ the mission will see a European astronaut launch on a US spacecraft for the first time in over a decade. Thomas is flying alongside NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough and Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide on the Crew Dragon.
Launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, Thomas will be the first
Op-ed | Canada’s space sector set for a relaunch
Monday, 19 April 2021 12:36 Write a comment
On April 1, MDA, Canada’s leading space technology company, best known for developing the robotic Canadarm used on the International Space Station, raised 400 million Canadian dollars ($320 million) in its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Ingenuity helicopter successfully flew on Mars: NASA
Monday, 19 April 2021 12:29 Write a comment
NASA successfully flew the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars on Monday, according to data and images sent back to Earth.
"Altimeter data confirms that Ingenuity has performed its first flight - the first flight of a powered aircraft on another planet," announced an engineer in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the control room cheered.
A short clip sent back by the Perseverance rover showed SpaceX has given up trying to catch rocket fairings—fishing them out of the ocean is fine
Monday, 19 April 2021 11:25 Write a comment
If there is one driving force in the commercial space industry it is economics. The whole concept of reusable booster rocket emphasizes the importance of getting launch costs down. SpaceX, the company leading the charge in trying to bring launch costs down, doesn't just recover booster rockets however. It also recovers the rocket fairings that hold the payload during launch. SpaceX's original plan was to capture the fairings as they fell back to Earth using specially equipped ships with nets to catch them before they landed in the ocean. Now, however, the company has transitioned to simply fishing fairings out of the ocean after they splash down, and that seems to be working just fine.
The economic motivation for attempting a fairing capture is simple. Salt water is corrosive, so if a fairing lands in the ocean it must be refurbished at a cost. Catching it before it hits the water would eliminate the need to refurbish it, thereby lowering the cost of reusing the fairing.
To attempt this capture, SpaceX commissioned two ships, named with their usual whimsical style: Ms.