SAN FRANCISCO – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced plans June 25 to move its geostationary weather satellite scheduled to launch in December into an operational role “as soon as possible.”

NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-T, will replace the GOES-17 satellite in the GOES West position because of problems with the satellite’s main instrument, the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), according to a NOAA news release.

WASHINGTON — A National Academies committee has endorsed a NASA proposal to change the radiation exposure limits the agency sets for its astronauts but cautioned that the revised limit is still insufficient for human Mars missions.

The SPAC investment trend injecting billions of dollars into early-stage space startups appears to have peaked, but in its wake could be larger capital infusions from institutional investors with deeper pockets.

Seven space companies plan to reap more than $3 billion in total later this year by merging with a SPAC — blank check firms that raise money on a public market before combining with businesses to fast-track investor exits.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration has granted permission to Virgin Galactic to fly customers, and not just employees, on its SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle, a move that could allow the company’s founder to fly to the edge of space soon.

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 25, 2021
A new paper finds more radar signals suggesting the presence of subsurface 'lakes,' but many are in areas too cold for water to remain liquid. In 2018, scientists working with data from ESA's (the European Space Agency's) Mars Express orbiter announced a surprising discovery: Signals from a radar instrument reflected off the Red Planet's south pole appeared to reveal a liquid subsurface la

Bellingham WA (SPX) Jun 25, 2021
The open access Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems (JATIS) has published a special section on the latest science, engineering, research, and programmatic advances of starshades, the starlight-suppression technology integral to extra-solar and exoplanet detection. Section topics range from starshade programs and missions, to various aspects of related technologies,

Washington DC (UPI) Jun 24, 2021
NASA's upcoming Artemis I mission to the moon, planned for later this year, won't have a human crew, but the space agency is preparing three inanimate occupants of the Orion capsule to measure radiation and vibrations. The Artemis I "crew" members, mannikins, will help NASA test radiation, vibration and impacts from landing before the space agency plans to send astronauts in an Orion ca

Washington DC (Sputnik) Jun 25, 2021
NASA's 2024 deadline to return humans to the Moon looks increasingly unlikely due to reliance on technology that has yet to be fully developed, the General Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report on Thursday. "A fast-tracked schedule to meet this ambitious date - along with some technical risks - mean that it's less likely a lunar landing will happen in 2024," a GAO press release expl