China unable to reestablish contact with its Zhurong Mars rover
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 17:43
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China's National Space Administration (CNSA) has been hoping to reestablish communications with the Zhurong Mars rover, but so far, their efforts have been unsuccessful. Zhurong was put into hibernation over six months ago as it hunkered down in attempts to survive the Martian winter.
But it's been a tough winter in Utopia Planetia in Mars northern hemisphere where Zhurong is located. Not only were the temperatures extremely low, colder than -100°C (-148°F), but a regional dust storm severely reduced the likelihood of the rover collecting any power with its solar panels. This is the same dust storm that has hastened the end of NASA's Mars InSight mission.
According to the South China Morning Post, the mission team predicted Zhurong would resume operations around December 26 as the planet's northern hemisphere entered its spring season and environmental conditions improved.
Rep. Mike Rogers named chairman of House Armed Services Committee
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 17:30 Write a comment
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) on Jan. 10 was officially selected to serve as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in the 118th Congress.
The post Rep. Mike Rogers named chairman of House Armed Services Committee appeared first on SpaceNews.
Astronomers celebrate performance of JWST
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 16:50 Write a comment
Six months after the release of the first science images from the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers and NASA officials say the observatory continues to exceed expectations while providing lessons for future space telescopes.
UK space chiefs vows to try again after failed rocket launch
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 15:13 Write a comment
Space sector bosses on Tuesday said they were disappointed by the failure of the country's historic first attempt to launch satellites from UK soil but pledged to investigate and try again.
The failure of the mission late on Monday is a blow to the UK's fledgling space sector.
Had it been successful, it would have made the UK one of only nine countries able to launch rockets into Earth's orbit.
A Virgin Orbit Boeing 747 carrying the 70-foot (21-metre) rocket took off from a spaceport in Cornwall, southwest England, at 2202 GMT on Monday.
The rocket then detached from the aircraft and ignited as planned at a height of 35,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean to the south of Ireland at around 2315 GMT.
But as the rocket was due to enter orbit and discharge its nine satellites, scientists reported an "anomaly" that prevented it from reaching orbit.
Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart praised the launch teams but said their task had been complicated by the "first time nature of this mission" which had "added layers of complexity".
"We will work tirelessly to understand the nature of the failure, make corrective actions and return to orbit as soon as we have completed a full investigation and mission assurance process," he added.
Op-ed | Artemis Missions Support the Space Economy
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 14:29 Write a comment
Ongoing Artemis missions will advance our knowledge of the moon, deep space, and even Mars. Here on Earth, they will keep dozens of manufacturers in business and thousands of workers employed. It will also help sustain the more than $5.5 billion in estimated economic impact SLS generates nationwide
OneWeb two launches away from going global after SpaceX mission
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 12:48 Write a comment
OneWeb is now just two launches away from being able to provide broadband globally after SpaceX sent its latest batch of satellites to orbit Jan. 9.
The post OneWeb two launches away from going global after SpaceX mission appeared first on SpaceNews.
Steven Kwast, a retired U.S. Air Force general, is Skycorp’s new CEO
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 12:00 Write a comment
Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast is taking the helm of Skycorp Inc., a California company with plans to transform space logistics in Earth orbit, cislunar space and on the lunar surface.
The post Steven Kwast, a retired U.S.
U.N. panel says ozone layer will recover in about 40 years
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 10:28 Write a comment
Earth's ozone layer is on track to recover within four decades thanks to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, then a landmark multinational environmental agreement, a United Nations-supported panel said on Monday.
The Montreal Protocol regulated the consumption and production of nearly 100 manmade chemicals that researchers complained created ozone depletion. The panel on Monday said that 99% of Mitsubishi Electric announce the AnyMile logistics operations management platform
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 10:28 Write a comment
Mitsubishi Electric US, Inc. has announced its drone-based logistics operations management platform, called AnyMile, a holistic solution that is designed to enable businesses and fleet operators to schedule and manage cargo deliveries via drones over long distances of up to several hundred miles.
The platform is intended to support operation across all known categories of drones - multi-ro Planet Labs completes acquisition of Salo Sciences
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 10:28 Write a comment
Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL), a leading provider of daily data and insights about Earth, has announced the completion of its acquisition of Salo Sciences, a San Francisco-based climate technology company that provides cutting-edge solutions to measure Earth's constantly changing ecosystems. In December, Planet announced it had signed an agreement to acquire Salo Sciences.
With the purchase o Fossil pollen 'sunscreen' proves role of ozone depletion in largest mass extinction
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 10:28 Write a comment
Scientists from China, Germany and the UK led by Prof. LIU Feng from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) have revealed that pollen preserved in 250-million-year-old rocks contains abundant compounds that function like sunscreen but are produced by plants to protect themselves from harmful ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation.
The presence NASA space missions pinpoint sources of CO2 emissions on Earth
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 10:28 Write a comment
A duo of Earth-observing missions has enabled researchers to detect and track carbon dioxide (CO2) emission changes from a single facility, using the world's fifth-largest coal-fired power plant as a test case.
In the recent study, researchers used space-based measurements from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) 2 and 3 missions to quantify the carbon dioxide discharged hundreds of m UK space industry mulls setback after satellite launch fails
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 09:16 Write a comment
Virgin Orbit reports 'anomaly' in satellite launch from UK
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 08:25 Write a comment
Terran Orbital's GEOStare SV2 completes commercial imaging contract for Lockheed Martin
Tuesday, 10 January 2023 05:17 Write a comment
Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP), a global leader in satellite-based solutions primarily serving the aerospace and defense industries, has announced its GEOStare SV2 spacecraft completed a commercial data services imagery contract for Lockheed Martin.
Throughout the duration of the contract, Terran Orbital's operations team successfully demonstrated the ability to rapidly re-task th