Sierra Space increases total investment to $1.7B with $290M Series B Funding
Thursday, 28 September 2023 06:15
Sierra Space, a leading pureplay commercial space company building the first end-to-end business and technology platform in space with $3.4 billion in customer contracts, announced today it has closed a $290 million Series B funding round. The round brings the company's total capital raised to $1.7 billion, the largest ever capital raise by a commercial space company over the combined Series A a Moon and Mars test site for robotic missions
Thursday, 28 September 2023 06:15
The Moon and Mars are stated targets of European and international space exploration. However, before humans embark on these journeys, robots will explore inhospitable areas, develop local resources and prepare for the landing of astronauts as comprehensively as possible.
Exploration missions with autonomous mobile robots will therefore increase significantly in the coming years. To facili 
X-Bow to demonstrate additive manufacturing of solid rocket motors for U.S. Air Force
Wednesday, 27 September 2023 21:33
Rogue Space Systems gets US Air Force funds to advance in-orbit servicing tech
Wednesday, 27 September 2023 21:10
Chinese astronauts may build a base inside a lunar lava tube
Wednesday, 27 September 2023 16:10
Caves were some of humanity's first shelters. Who knows what our distant ancestors were thinking as they sought refuge there, huddling and cooking meat over a fire, maybe drawing animals on the walls. Caves protected our ancient ancestors from the elements, and from predators and rivals, back when sticks, stones, furs and fire were our only technologies.
So there's a poetic parallel between early humans and us. We're visiting the moon again, and lunar caves could shelter us the way caves sheltered our ancestors on Earth.
On the moon, astronauts will need protection from a different set of hazards. They'll have to contend with cosmic and solar radiation, meteorites, wild temperature swings, and even impact ejecta.
Vega's fuel-free CubeSats will use wings to keep in formation
Wednesday, 27 September 2023 15:00
Spain's trio of ANSER CubeSats, due to fly on Europe's next Vega launcher, will fly like a flock of birds in orbit—in more ways than one. Keeping in formation by following their leader, the three shoebox-sized satellite will image Iberian waters as if they are a single standard-sized mission. And they will unfurl wing-like flaps to maintain their relative positions, surfing on the scanty airflow at the top of Earth's atmosphere.
ANSER—Advanced Nanosatellite Systems for Earth-observation Research—is a cluster of three CubeSats which will work together in close vicinity as if they are a single satellite. Due to be launched on Europe's next Vega flight, VV23, the ANSER mission is being undertaken by INTA, the Spanish Institute of Aerospace Technology.
Santiago Rodriguez Bustabad, overseeing the mission, explains, "ANSER is also the Latin name for the wild goose, a good example of birds flying in formation, adopting a leader-follower protocol, which is what our mission is emulating."
These three-unit CubeSats will orbit around 500 km altitude, maintaining formation at an optimum 10 km apart from each other. But they do not have any onboard propulsion systems.
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Hera takes wing Hera solar wing deployed
Wednesday, 27 September 2023 12:01
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ESA’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence seen with one of its two solar wings added, during its continuing test campaign at the ESTEC Test Centre in the Nethelands.
The van-sized spacecraft, left, is powered by a pair of solar array wings, made up of three panels each, provided by Beyond Gravity in Switzerland.
One of these 5-m-long wings was added for Hera’s ‘cold deployment check’ – a manual unfolding process to confirm that the wing fits correctly. Because the solar wings have been designed to operate in weightlessness they were supported by a frame during this test
Three astronauts return to Earth after a year in space. NASA's Frank Rubio sets US space record
Wednesday, 27 September 2023 11:35
Ready for collection – lightsabres for Mars
Wednesday, 27 September 2023 10:54
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Ready for collection – lightsabres for Mars Vega's fuel-free CubeSats to keep formation with wings
Wednesday, 27 September 2023 10:28
Spain’s trio of ANSER CubeSats, due to fly on Europe’s next Vega launcher, will fly like a flock of birds in orbit – in more ways than one. Keeping in formation by following their leader, the three shoebox-sized satellite will image Iberian waters as if they are a single standard-sized mission. And they will unfurl wing-like flaps to maintain their relative positions, surfing on the scanty airflow at the top of Earth’s atmosphere.
The OSIRIS-REx sample canister lid is removed
Wednesday, 27 September 2023 10:11
NASA scientists found black dust and debris on the avionics deck of the OSIRIS-REx science canister when the initial lid was removed today. The canister from the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule was delivered to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Sept. 25 after landing in the Utah desert on Sept. 24.
Johnson houses the world's largest collection of astromaterials, and curation exper JWST's first spectrum of a TRAPPIST-1 planet
Wednesday, 27 September 2023 10:11
In a solar system called TRAPPIST-1, 40 light years from the sun, seven Earth-sized planets revolve around a cold star. Astronomers obtained new data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on TRAPPIST-1 b, the planet in the TRAPPIST-1 solar system closest to its star. These new observations offer insights into how its star can affect observations of exoplanets in the habitable zone of cool s