Intern develops software for ESA space experiment
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 13:50A student interning at ESA will soon see her work launched into space. Meadhbh Griffin of University College Dublin has spent the last five months writing and testing software for an experiment set to fly later this year on the Hungarian-led RadCube CubeSat. While its main mission is to probe space weather in Earth orbit, RadCube will also host a miniature experiment to test how commercial computer memories withstand space radiation.
JWST moving towards October launch
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 11:36WASHINGTON — NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is making continued progress for a launch in October as engineers close out a series of technical issues with the spacecraft but deal with one new problem.
New podcast episode: Columbus' launch to orbit
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 10:18The latest episode of ESA Explores podcast series ‘Time and Space’ series is out now, with a focus on the launch of Europe’s Columbus laboratory.
ESA's technical heart
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 09:46Pixxel to launch the world's highest resolution hyperspectral smallsat constellation
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 09:02Pixxel, an emerging leader in cutting edge earth-imaging technology, announced the close of a $7.3M seed round with new capital from Omnivore VC, Techstars, and others, who are joining alongside Lightspeed Ventures, Blume, growX, Ryan Johnson, former President at Planet Labs, and additional industry leaders. Additionally, for the first time today, Pixxel came out of stealth and publicly an
First use of the ENPULSION MICRO R3 thruster in the GMS-T mission
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 09:02ENPULSION, the market leader in small satellite propulsion with more than 60 thrusters in space, confirmed the first successful in-orbit commissioning and first uses of its new ENPULSION MICRO R3 thruster. Its partner OHB Sweden said in a statement: "We are keen to report on GMS-T that the in-orbit commissioning and first uses of the ENPULSION MICRO Thruster have been completed as expected
A Pocket Guide to Mars
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 09:02A pocket atlas of Mars has been published that uses geographic techniques developed for terrestrial maps to reveal a wealth of information about the surface of the Red Planet, as well as its climate and cloud cover. The atlas is being presented this week at the 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. The 84-page atlas is currently available in English, Hungarian and Czech, and will be
Spacepath Communications to provide solid-state amplifiers for US Market
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 09:02SpacePath Communications ('SpacePath'), a dedicated European-based SATCOM amplifier manufacturer and equipment supplier, has been awarded a contract for their super-compact solid-state amplifiers by a major U.S. satellite equipment manufacturer. SpacePath will supply both Ku- and X-band solid-state power amplifiers (SSPA), renowned for their compact form factor, high efficiency and proven
FAA approves renewal of Orbital Sciences launch operator licenses
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 09:02After completing a comprehensive review, the FAA approved the renewal of two Launch Operator Licenses for Orbital Sciences, LLC, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman. The licenses are valid for five years and authorize the company to conduct flights of its Pegasus launch vehicle from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Orbital Sciences
ThinKom antenna design offers flexible installation options for special-purpose aircraft
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 09:02ThinKom Solutions, Inc. has developed a new product variant of its VICTS aero satellite communication antennas enabling more flexible installation choices and allowing for smaller distributed and embedded phased-array applications. The new product variant, which targets government and military beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) satellite communication markets, integrates the VICTS antenna, antenn
Goddard's first liquid-fueled rocket
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 09:02It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow. Robert H. Goddard. Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945) is recognized as the father of American rocketry and as one of the pioneers in the theoretical exploration of space. Goddard dreamt of exploring the Earth's upper atmosphere and, ultimately, space using rocket propulsion. A
Perseverance captures the sounds of driving on Mars
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 09:02As the Perseverance rover began to make tracks on the surface of Mars, a sensitive microphone it carries scored a first: the bangs, pings, and rattles of the robot's six wheels as they rolled over Martian terrain. "A lot of people, when they see the images, don't appreciate that the wheels are metal," said Vandi Verma, a senior engineer and rover driver at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jupiter's Great Red Spot feeds on smaller storms
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 09:02The stormy, centuries-old maelstrom of Jupiter's Great Red Spot was shaken but not destroyed by a series of anticyclones that crashed into it over the past few years. The smaller storms cause chunks of red clouds to flake off, shrinking the larger storm in the process. But the new study found that these disruptions are "superficial." They are visible to us, but they are only skin deep on t
Peering into a galaxy's dusty core to study an active supermassive black hole
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 09:02Researchers using NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will map and model the core of nearby galaxy Centaurus A. Centaurus A is a giant of a galaxy, but its appearances in telescope observations can be deceiving. Dark dust lanes and young blue star clusters, which crisscross its central region, are apparent in ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light, painting a fairly subdued l
Missing baryons found in far-out reaches of galactic halos
Wednesday, 17 March 2021 09:02Researchers have channeled the universe's earliest light - a relic of the universe's formation known as the cosmic microwave background (CMB) - to solve a missing-matter mystery and learn new things about galaxy formation. Their work could also help us to better understand dark energy and test Einstein's theory of general relativity by providing new details about the rate at which galaxies are m