U.S. Air Force Secretary Kendall: Short-term funding an ‘unfortunate’ reality for defense programs
Friday, 03 December 2021 13:19Political fights that delay government funding bills are only helping U.S. adversaries, said Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall
An upcoming asteroid mission will be able to peer 100 meters under the surface
Friday, 03 December 2021 13:08Engineers only get one shot at making a spacecraft work as intended—or at least they only get one shot in space. In the preparation leading up to that final, climactic moment, there are typically thousands of hours of tests run on numerous systems and subsystems. If all goes well, it bodes well for the mission's overall success, but if problems arise, it's much easier to address them on the ground than while a spacecraft is already orbiting. A new spacecraft model known as Juventas just completed a significant testing milestone, passing testing in a room known as an anechoic chamber.
That milestone is essential for Juventas, as its primary mission focuses on a low-frequency radar the craft will use to peer 100 meters beneath the surface of Dimorphos, the smaller partner in the Didymos binary asteroid system.
Webb stickers for Ariane 5 fairing
Friday, 03 December 2021 12:55NASA awards funding to three commercial space station concepts
Friday, 03 December 2021 11:34NASA issued awards Dec. 2 valued at more than $400 million to three groups of companies to advance development of commercial space stations, keeping those efforts on track to succeed the International Space Station by the end of the decade despite skepticism from the agency’s inspector general.
Matthias launches into first month of space science
Friday, 03 December 2021 10:04Barely three weeks into space life, first-time flyer Matthias Maurer has operated a robotic arm twice, welcomed a docking module, slept in a brand-new bed and changed plans a few times due to space debris alerts. Even science has not been routine, as he ran a handful of experiments for the very first time in orbit.
Rover escapes from sand trap
Friday, 03 December 2021 09:00The ExoMars rover used in the Earth-based Mars Terrain Simulator makes escaping from a sand trap look easy in this exercise.
The rover initially has its front two wheels almost completely buried in sand, but easily escapes using its unique wheel-walking mode.
It takes about 20 minutes to complete the 2 m drive – slow and careful being the key to getting out of a difficult situation.
Rovers on Mars have previously been caught in sand, and turning the wheels dug them deeper, just like a car stuck in mud or snow. To avoid this, the ExoMars rover Rosalind Franklin
Space Force General says daily attacks on US satellites are 'Sending a Message'
Friday, 03 December 2021 08:37In recent weeks, the US media outlets have been ramping up fears about adversaries especially China - allegedly planning different ways to target the United States and beefing up its weaponry in order to do so. Under this pretext, calls have emerged for Washington to "catch up?? US Space Force General David Thompson said that American satellites are being attacked "every single day" by adv
Team builds first living robots that can reproduce
Friday, 03 December 2021 08:37To persist, life must reproduce. Over billions of years, organisms have evolved many ways of replicating, from budding plants to sexual animals to invading viruses. Now scientists have discovered an entirely new form of biological reproduction - and applied their discovery to create the first-ever, self-replicating living robots. The same team that built the first living robots has discove
DARPA's ReSource Program turns waste into purified products, food
Friday, 03 December 2021 08:37Launched in 2021, DARPA's ReSource program aims to revolutionize how the military procures critical supplies on the battlefield by engineering self-contained, integrated systems that rapidly produce large quantities of supplies from feedstock collected on-site. Performer teams are tasked with developing systems to break down mixed waste, including common plastics, reformulate the waste at
Earth from Space: White Nile, Sudan
Friday, 03 December 2021 08:00A part of the White Nile state in Sudan is featured in this false-colour image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.
Orbex to use Calor BioLPG for Prime launch
Friday, 03 December 2021 00:06Orbex and Calor have entered into an agreement that will see the iconic UK gas company supply the ultra-low carbon fuel that will launch the Orbex Prime rocket. Under the terms of the new deal, Calor will supply Orbex with its BioLPG solution, a clean-burning propane produced from renewable feedstocks such as plant and vegetable waste material. This reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80 per ce
Northrop Grumman signs NASA to design space station for low earth orbit
Friday, 03 December 2021 00:06Northrop Grumman has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA under the Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development program for $125.6 million to design a safe, reliable and cost-effective commercial free-flying space station in low Earth orbit (LEO). Northrop Grumman's commercial space station design will use current flight systems and advanced crew-focused technology under development that allows for
SpaceX successfully launches latest Starlink fleet from Florida
Friday, 03 December 2021 00:06SpaceX on Thursday launched 48 Starlink spacecraft from Florida as part of its plans to develop a second generation of communications satellites. The Falcon 9 rocket successfully lifted off from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at about 6:12 p.m. EST. SpaceX was also able to successfully land the first stage booster for the ninth time, its 89th successful recovery of
Astronauts conclude spacewalk to replace antenna at space station
Friday, 03 December 2021 00:06Two NASA astronauts successfully wrapped up a spacewalk Thursday to replace a communications antenna faster than expected outside the International Space Station. The new antenna was installed at around 9:45 a.m. EST, which NASA said was almost 90 minutes ahead of schedule. The pair spent the next few hours performing additional tasks to help prepare for future spacewalks. The sp
Rocket Lab reveals Neutron launch vehicle's advanced architecture
Friday, 03 December 2021 00:06Building on Rocket Lab's proven experience developing the Electron launch vehicle, the second most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually since 2019, the advanced 8-ton payload class Neutron launch vehicle is designed to transform space access by delivering reliable and cost-effective launch services for satellite mega-constellations, deep space missions and human spaceflight. During today's l