Moscow (Sputnik) Feb 01, 2021
NASA has confirmed that the enigmatic object, 2020 SO, is the remains of a Centaur rocket booster from the mid 20th century Space Age, adding that the orbiting space junk can be classified as a mini-moon to our planet. Near-Earth orbiting object 2020 SO, informally dubbed by astronomers "the planet's second moon", is expected to pass at a relatively close distance to our planet on 2 Februa

Broomfield CO (SPX) Feb 01, 2021
Ball Aerospace recently completed the spacecraft and payload assembly integration of NASA's Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) space-based astrophysics observatory at its Boulder, Colo. facility. Ball will now begin environmental testing of the integrated observatory, which includes all instruments and the spacecraft bus. Scheduled to launch later this year, once on orbit, IXPE will

Manchester UK (SPX) Jan 31, 2021
New research from The University of Manchester suggests using a strategy linked to cooperative game playing known as 'game theory' in order to maximise the potential of finding intelligent alien life. If advanced alien civilisations exist in our galaxy and are trying to communicate with us, what's the best way to find them? This is the grand challenge for astronomers engaged in the Search

Washington DC (SPX) Feb 01, 2021
Among Jupiter's Galilean moons, icy Europa or volcanic Io often take the spotlight - but their sibling moon Ganymede has plenty of secrets to share. Powerful new millimeter observations have now provided insight into this complex satellite's surface. The frozen, alien landscape of Ganymede contains a little of everything. Shadowy regions of ancient, battered dark terrain are cross-cut by n

Bremen, Germany (SPX) Feb 01, 2021
Europe's new launcher, Ariane 6, is nearing completion. Like its predecessor, Ariane 5, the upper stage of the new European Space Agency (ESA) rocket is being built at ArianeGroup in Bremen. On the night of 28 to 29 January 2021, a fully functional, full-size test model, identical to the model that will be used for Ariane 6 launches, began a very special journey to southern Germany in a transpor

by Jennifer Harbaugh for NASA Blogs
Bay St. Louis MS (SPX) Feb 01, 2021 NASA plans to conduct a second Green Run hot fire test as early as the fourth week in February with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket's core stage that will launch the Artemis I mission to the Moon. The Green Run is a comprehensive assessment of the rocket's core stage prior to launching Artemis missions. While the first hot fire test marked a major

Washington DC (UPI) Jan 29, 2021
The first private crew, consisting of four astronauts, plans to fly to the International Space Station in January 2022 on a SpaceX mission arranged by Houston-based firm Axiom Space. Former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, a vice president at Axiom, would be flight commander. Ohio real estate and financial technology entrepreneur Larry Connor, who has flown fighter jets, would be

Moscow (Sputnik) Feb 01, 2021
Famous entrepreneur and space enthusiast Elon Musk gave the Federal Aviation Administration a piece of his mind on Twitter this Thursday, accusing the agency of having a "fundamentally broken regulatory structure," just after a test flight for Space X's Starship rocket was delayed. Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launched a formal investigation into Elon Musk's SpaceX,

White Sands NM (SPX) Feb 01, 2021
Landing and recovery teams from Boeing and NASA recently completed a crew landing dress rehearsal at the U.S. Army's White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, in preparation for missions returning with astronauts from the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. When astronauts land after their journey to the space station on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spa

Houston TX (SPX) Feb 01, 2021
NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than Tuesday, April 20, for launch of the second crew rotation mission with astronauts on an American rocket and spacecraft from the United States to the International Space Station. NASA's SpaceX Crew-2 mission will launch four astronauts aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket to the space station. It will be the first mission to fly