ESA presents new generation of ESA astronauts
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 16:48The European Space Agency has chosen 17 new astronaut candidates from more than 22 500 applicants from across its Member States. In this new 2022 class of ESA astronauts are five career astronauts, 11 members of an astronaut reserve and one astronaut with a disability.
France, Germany, Italy agree on next-generation space rockets
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 14:01France, Germany and Italy, the three biggest contributors to the European Space Agency, said Tuesday they have agreed to guarantee the future of the next-generation Ariane 6 and Vega-C rocket launcher systems.
The countries also reaffirmed a preference for European rockets, after the agency was forced to turn to US firm SpaceX to launch two future scientific missions.
The ministers in charge of space for the ESA's 22 member states are meeting in Paris on Tuesday and Wednesday to determine the agency's funding for the next three years, with a 3.2-billion-euro ($3.3-billion) plan for European space launchers high on the agenda.
"The public funding necessary to equilibrate the Ariane 6 and Vega-C institutional and commercial exploitation will be reviewed in order to take into account the evolution of market prices, institutional prices, economic conditions," said a joint ministerial statement from France's Bruno Le Maire, Germany's Robert Habeck and Italy's Adolfo Urso.
The ESA has had to scramble to find a way to get its missions into space after Russia withdrew its Soyuz rockets in response to European sanctions over Moscow's war in Ukraine earlier this year.
Op-ed | Remarkable pivot happening in the national security space business
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 14:00There is a remarkable pivot that is happening within the national security space business.
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Europe looks to commercialize lunar exploration efforts
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 12:33The European Space Agency is looking to create a more sustainable path for space, starting with growing commercial partnerships in lunar exploration.
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ESA leadership optimistic about funding as ministerial begins
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 11:36As European ministers gather to allocate funding for European Space Agency programs for the next three years, agency leadership is optimistic about winning support for its priorities.
Advanced Space awarded contract to deliver AFRL's mission to the Moon
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 10:35Advanced Space LLC., a leading space tech solutions company, announced that the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate, as part of a collaborative effort with AFRL's Transformational Capabilities Office, has awarded the company a $72 million contract to deliver AFRL's Oracle spacecraft program, previously called the Cislunar Highway Patrol System, or CHPS. Oracle
SPCE Program to push beyond power limitations in space
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 10:35Rapidly proliferating small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) are expanding space-based capabilities critical to both government and industry. As the subsequent, ever-increasing demand strains operational limitations of LEO satellites, DARPA's new Space Power Conversion Electronics (SPCE) program seeks greater efficiencies in usable power in the harsh space environment. Space-based power
Who will become history's first 'parastronaut'?
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 10:35The first astronaut - or astronauts - with a physical disability could be announced as soon as Wednesday, according to the European Space Agency. People with physical disabilities have previously been excluded from one of the most exclusive and demanding jobs on Earth - and beyond - due to strict selection requirements. Guillaume Weerts, the ESA's head of space medicine, told AFP tha
China launches Yaogan 34 remote sensing satellite
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 10:35China successfully sent a new remote sensing satellite of the Yaogan 34 series into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China at 9:38 am (Beijing Time) on Tuesday. The Yaogan 34 03 satellite, carried by a Long March 4C rocket, successfully entered its planned orbit. This remote sensing satellite will be used in areas such as land resources survey, urban planni
AFRL breaks ground on new Fortress Space Lab
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 10:35The Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, held a ground-breaking ceremony, Nov. 16, 2022, beginning construction on the Facility for Radiation Tolerance Research on Electronics for Space and Strategic Systems, or FORTRESS, a 6,200-square-foot, $4.5 million facility, located adjacent to the AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate Deployable Structures Laboratory. The facility is designed to enabl
WALLABY builds an intergalactic map in the outback
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 10:35Published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, the WALLABY (The Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind surveY) Pilot Survey will be sharing its first data release with the scientific community, helping us to better understand nearby galaxies and galactic clusters. Hundreds of galaxies have been surveyed in Phase 1 of WALLABY, covering 180 square degrees of the
"Polluted" white dwarfs show that stars and planets grow together
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 10:35Observations and simulations of 237 white dwarfs strengthen the evidence that planets and stars rapidly form together and become planetary systems. An international team of astronomers and planetary scientists, including Tim Lichtenberg of the University of Groningen's Kapteyn Institute, published their findings on Monday in Nature Astronomy. Planets form in a disk of hydrogen, helium and
Watch live: ESA announces new European astronauts
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 10:08Join us live as ESA unveils the names and faces of the new class of European astronauts. ESA WebTV will broadcast the event at 14:20 CET (13:20 GMT) on Wednesday, 23 November 2022.
ESA Council Meeting at Ministerial Level - Opening and Statements
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 09:30It is time for critical decisions about space in Europe. For two days on 22 and 23 November, ESA Member States, Associate States and Cooperating States observers are gathering in Paris to discuss how to strengthen Europe’s space sector for the benefit of all - including climate change monitoring and mitigation, secure communications under European control and rapid and resilient crisis response.
Gravitics raises $20M in bid to build next-generation space station modules
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 05:37Gravitics, Inc., an aerospace component manufacturing firm, announced raising $20 million to build large, next-generation space station modules. The seed round was led by Type One Ventures, and included Tim Draper from Draper Associates, FJ Labs, The Venture Collective, Helios Capital, Giant Step Capital (Chicago based), Gaingels, Spectre, Manhattan West, and Mana Ventures. "The case for G