North Korea claims spy satellite progress, posts imagery of Seoul, Incheon
Thursday, 22 December 2022 09:34North Korea claimed Monday to have taken satellite photos of the South Korean cities of Seoul and Incheon, as its state media boasted of success toward developing its first military spy satellite. The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported an "important final-stage test" involving a mock satellite that it said was launched Sunday from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in
Christmas craterscape
Thursday, 22 December 2022 09:00This beautifully crisp icy scene with a swirling ribbon of rusty red and white striped terrain connecting two large craters wraps up the year on Mars.
Northrop Grumman space navigation systems achieve galactic threshold
Thursday, 22 December 2022 07:42When considering that a full calendar year has 8,760 hours and a commercial airliner can be in service for about 30 years (or around 165,000 flying hours), then achieving a continuous performance milestone of 65 million hours is truly out of this world - exactly where Northrop Grumman navigation technology has been operating for decades. In 2022, Northrop Grumman's hemispherical resonator
UK space regulator issues Virgin Orbit licenses ahead of UK launch
Thursday, 22 December 2022 07:42The UK Civil Aviation Authority has issued the final remaining licences to Virgin Orbit ahead of a planned UK launch after requirements were met within 15 months. The licences were issued following consent from Transport Secretary Mark Harper for Virgin Orbit's launch and range licence, meaning he is in agreement with the licensing decisions made by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. Virgin
Exploration power for the Moon, Mars, and Beyond
Thursday, 22 December 2022 07:42With Artemis, NASA looks to accomplish something unprecedented - exploration of the lunar South Pole. When astronauts reach their destination and establish a long-term presence, a unique challenge awaits. Unlike Apollo missions, which were equatorial and had abundant sunlight, Artemis missions will operate in inhospitable conditions, including the lunar night cycle and permanently shadowed
Sol 3688: Arm Day
Thursday, 22 December 2022 07:42We were very glad to come in to today's planning to see the drive placed us in a perfect position to bring out the robotic arm to do some science! The rover will spend the first several hours of the sol 3688 plan taking ChemCam and Mastcam. ChemCam will use its laser on the target "Quixada" followed by ChemCam imaging of "Xiriana" and "Xidao." Then Mastcam takes over with imaging the now-laser z
Leaving the Amapari Drill Site: Sol 3687
Thursday, 22 December 2022 07:42Slight change of plans! The drive that Curiosity was supposed to complete over the weekend was pulled from her plan, so the rover started the day at the Amapari drill site. We will recover our ChemCam and Mastcam coordinated observation of target "Aricama" to document the bedrock composition of the Marker Band. ChemCam will also acquire passive spectroscopy of the bedrock from the "Puraque" targ
Perseverance deposits first sample on Mars surface
Thursday, 22 December 2022 07:42A titanium tube containing a rock sample is resting on the Red Planet's surface after being placed there on Dec. 21 by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover. Over the next two months, the rover will deposit a total of 10 tubes at the location, called "Three Forks," building humanity's first sample depot on another planet. The depot marks a historic early step in the Mars Sample Return campaign. P
NASA retires InSight Mars Lander
Thursday, 22 December 2022 07:42The mission has concluded that the solar-powered lander has run out of energy after more than four years on the Red Planet. NASA's InSight mission has ended after more than four years of collecting unique science on Mars. Mission controllers at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California were unable to contact the lander after two consecutive attempts, leading them
Rotors for mission to Titan tested at Langley's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel
Thursday, 22 December 2022 07:42NASA explores the unknown in space, bringing the secrets of our solar system home so we can apply that information for the benefit of humanity. In that spirit, NASA will explore Titan, Saturn's largest moon, to help advance humanity's search for the building blocks of life in the universe. A key component of the 8-rotor Dragonfly vehicle that will make that j
What it would take to discover life on Saturn's icy moon Enceladus
Thursday, 22 December 2022 07:42The mystery of whether microbial alien life might inhabit Enceladus, one of Saturn's 83 moons, could be solved by an orbiting space probe, according to a new study led by University of Arizona researchers. In a paper published in The Planetary Science Journal, the researchers map out how a hypothetical space mission could provide definite answers. When Enceladus was initially surveyed in 1
How Hera asteroid mission will phone home
Thursday, 22 December 2022 06:44Saturn finalizing funds for $500 million small GEO satellite program
Wednesday, 21 December 2022 23:46Saturn Satellite Networks is close to securing funds for another attempt at getting its small geostationary satellite manufacturing business off the ground, according to an executive for the U.S.-based firm.
The post Saturn finalizing funds for $500 million small GEO satellite program appeared first on SpaceNews.
Assembly begins on NASA's next tool to study exoplanets
Wednesday, 21 December 2022 20:36Scientists have discovered more than 5,000 exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system. As technologies for studying these worlds continue to advance, researchers may someday be able to search for signs of life on exoplanets that are similar in size, composition, and temperature to Earth. But to do that they'll need new tools, like those being tested on the Coronagraph Instrument on NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
Europe's access to space in jeopardy after Vega-C rocket failure
Wednesday, 21 December 2022 20:25Flights of the new European Vega-C rocket have been suspended pending an investigation into an overnight launch failure, French firm Arianespace said Wednesday, leaving Europe with few avenues into space. Just minutes after the Vega-C rocket lifted off from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 10:47 pm local time on Tuesday (0147 GMT Wednesday), its trajectory deviated from its pro