Copernical Team
Ball Aerospace, Loft Federal and Microsoft to Collaborate on SDA's NExT Program
Ball Aerospace, Loft Federal and Microsoft has announced that they are working together on the Space Development Agency (SDA)'s experimental testbed program, called NExT, that will carry 10 satellites with experimental payloads into orbit.
SDA announced the contract award on Oct. 10, 2022. Ball Aerospace is the prime contractor, leading payload and spacecraft integration and test. Ball Aer Raytheon and SpiderOak collaborate to secure satcoms in crowded LEO
Raytheon Technologies' (NYSE: RTX) BBN division and SpiderOak announced a strategic partnership to develop and field a new generation of zero-trust security systems for satellite communications in proliferated low-Earth orbit, or pLEO.
SpiderOak's OrbitSecure solution will be combined with Raytheon BBN's Distributed, Disrupted, Disconnected and Denied (D4) secure cloud solution to ensure r Tendeg selected by Lockheed Martin as strategic supplier of deployable antennas
Aerospace deployable antenna provider Tendeg LLC is pleased to announce it has been selected by Lockheed Martin as a strategic supplier for several of the company's critical global security space missions.
Tendeg is an innovative manufacturer of spacecraft antennas and deployable structures with full-range aerospace engineering services, including design, analysis, prototyping and flight u Slingshot Aerospace expands network to optically track LEO satellites
Slingshot Aerospace, the innovative technology company dedicated to improving spaceflight safety and optimizing orbital operations, has announced a significant expansion to the Slingshot Global Sensor Network's low-Earth orbit (LEO) tracking capabilities. The company is expanding its LEO tracking capabilities to make its network the largest commercial optical sensor network for LEO observation i Humans need Earth-like ecosystem for deep-space living
Can humans endure long-term living in deep space? The answer is a lukewarm maybe, according to a new theory describing the complexity of maintaining gravity and oxygen, obtaining water, developing agriculture and handling waste far from Earth.
Dubbed the Pancosmorio theory - a word coined to mean "all world limit" - it was described in a paper published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Is the US in a space race against China
Is the US in a space race against Chinas proclaiming the rise of a new "space race" between the U.S. and China have become common in news coverage following many of the exciting launches in recent years. Experts have pointed to China's rapid advancements in space as evidence of an emerging landscape where China is directly competing with the U.S. for supremacy.
This idea of a space race be Is the US in a space race against China?
Headlines proclaiming the rise of a new "space race" between the U.S. and China have become common in news coverage following many of the exciting launches in recent years. Experts have pointed to China's rapid advancements in space as evidence of an emerging landscape where China is directly competing with the U.S. for supremacy.
This idea of a space race between China and the U.S. sounds convincing given the broader narrative of China's rise, but how accurate is it? As a professor who studies space and international relations, my research aims to quantify the power and capabilities of different nations in space. When I look at various capacities, the data paints a much more complex picture than a tight space race between the U.S.
Space race! Meteorites hit Maine, museum offers $25K reward
Somewhere in a remote stretch of forest near Maine's border with Canada, rocks from space crashed to Earth and may be scattered across the ground—just waiting to be picked up.
If you're the first to find a really big one, a museum says it'll pay out a $25,000 reward.
The unusually bright fireball could be seen in broad daylight around noon Saturday, said Darryl Pitt, chair of the meteorite division at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in Bethel.
NASA said the meteorite fall was observed on radar—a first for Maine—and witnesses heard sonic booms.
The museum wants to add to its collection of moon and Mars rocks, Pitt said, so the first meteorite hunters to deliver a 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) specimen will claim the $25,000 prize.
According to Pitt, the fact that radar detected the fiery descent assures the meteorites can be found on the ground.
"With more people having an awareness, the more people will look—and the greater the likelihood of a recovery," Pitt said Wednesday.
Still, there's no guarantee there are any meteorites big enough to claim the payout.
Russia will use International Space Station 'until 2028'
Russia said Wednesday it planned to use the International Space Station until 2028, an apparent reversal of an earlier announcement to quit the orbiting laboratory after 2024.
In July last year, Moscow said it was leaving the International Space Station "after 2024" as ties unraveled between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, said Moscow's participation in the international space project had been extended.
"By the decision of the government, the operation of the International Space Station has been extended until 2028," Borisov told President Vladimir Putin during a televised meeting, referring to the Russian segment.
He said the "time has come" to discuss the creation of a Russian orbital station.
"Time is running fast and we cannot take a break from manned spaceflight under any circumstances," Borisov told the Kremlin chief.
The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of increased US-Russia cooperation following the Cold War "Space Race."
ISS partners—the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan—are for the moment only committed to operate the orbiting laboratory until 2024, though US officials have stated they want to continue until 2030.
3D-printed rocket maker to focus on bigger vehicle for commercial launches
Relativity Space, an aerospace startup that carried out the first test flight of a 3D-printed rocket, announced Wednesday that it will focus on a bigger rocket to compete for commercial launches with SpaceX and other companies.
The Long Beach, California-based company launched the world's first 3D-printed rocket, Terran 1, on March 22 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Although it failed to reach orbit, the test flight proved that the rocket—whose mass is 85 percent 3D-printed—could withstand the rigors of liftoff and space flight.
Relativity Space said it was shifting its focus from Terran 1 to a larger, reusable 3D-printed rocket known as Terran R, with the first commercial launches scheduled for 2026 from Florida.
"Relativity is accelerating the company's focus on Terran R to meet significant and growing market demand," the company said in a statement.
"Terran R also represents a large leap towards Relativity's mission to build humanity's multiplanetary future, eventually offering customers a point-to-point space freighter capable of missions from the Earth to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.