SpaceX delays astronaut flight due to rough wind, waves
Sunday, 31 October 2021 08:01
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Weather delays Crew-3 launch
Saturday, 30 October 2021 19:02 Write a comment
Poor weather at locations in the Atlantic that could be used for Crew Dragon aborts will delay the launch of the next commercial crew mission to the International Space Station by three days.
Exodus Orbitals pivots to satellite leasing model after launch delay
Friday, 29 October 2021 20:31 Write a comment
Exodus Orbitals, a startup developing software enabling customers to upload and run applications from orbit, is in talks about leasing satellites as plans to launch its own are delayed seven months to October 2022.
Space Development Agency request for bids challenged for ‘risk’ imposed on contractors
Friday, 29 October 2021 19:16 Write a comment
Maxar Technologies decided to challenge a Defense Department procurement of 126 satellites because of the financial burden the program imposed on contractors, the company said.
Space Development Agency’s request for bids challenged for ‘risk’ imposed on contractors
Friday, 29 October 2021 19:16 Write a comment
Maxar Technologies decided to challenge a Defense Department procurement of 126 satellites because of the financial burden the program imposed on contractors, the company said.
Q&A with ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer
Friday, 29 October 2021 14:00 Write a comment
Video:
01:01:43
Watch the replay of Matthias Maurer’s last Q&A session before liftoff!
The ESA astronaut joined from his pre-launch quarantine in the USA to discuss launch preparations and highlights of his mission, called Cosmic Kiss. Matthias will be the 600th human to fly to space.
His first launch attempt is on Sunday 31 October at 07:21 CET (06:21 GMT, 02:21 EDT) alongside NASA astronauts Kayla Barron, Tom Marshburn and Raja Chari on the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft “Endurance”.
A proactive approach to removing space junk
Friday, 29 October 2021 13:40 Write a comment
Space has become a trash heap.
According to NASA, there are more than 27,000 pieces of spacedebris bigger than the size of a softball currently orbiting Earth, and they are traveling at speeds of up to 17,500 mph, fast enough for a small chunk to damage a satellite or spacecraft like an intergalactic cannonball.
Consequently, cleaning up this space junk will be an important task if agencies are to shoot more rockets and satellites into orbit.
Week in images: 25 - 29 October 2021
Friday, 29 October 2021 12:46 Write a comment
Week in images: 25 - 29 October 2021
Discover our week through the lens
Géraldine Naja, Director of Commercialisation, Industry and Procurement
Friday, 29 October 2021 12:40 Write a comment
Géraldine Naja took up duty as Director of Commercialisation, Industry and Procurement (D/CIP), based at ESA Headquarters in Paris, on 1 November 2021.
Proposed Centaur mission could catch comets in the act of formation
Friday, 29 October 2021 11:40 Write a comment
From Mercury to the depths of the distant Kuiper Belt, there aren't many unexplored corners of the solar system out there. One class of object, however, remains to be visited: the transitional Centaurs out beyond the orbit of Jupiter. Now, a new study from the University of Chicago recently accepted in The Planetary Science Journal looks at the feasibility of sending a mission by mid-century to intercept, follow and watch a Centaur asteroid as it evolves into a mature inner solar system comet.
It's a major mystery for planetary astronomy: how do comets get trapped in short-period path (that is, a comet with an orbital period of less than 200 years) in the inner solar system? Jupiter plays a major role in this regard, deflecting incoming debris both into and out of the solar system.
Jupiter mission unveils the depth and structure of planet's shrinking red spot and colorful bands
Friday, 29 October 2021 11:10 Write a comment
NASA's Juno mission, the solar-powered robotic explorer of Jupiter, has completed its five-year prime mission to reveal the inner workings of the solar system's biggest planet. Since 2016, the spacecraft has flown within a few thousand kilometers of Jupiter's colorful cloud tops every 53 days, using a carefully selected array of instruments to peer deeper into the planet than ever before.
The most recent findings from these measurements have now been published in a series of papers, revealing the three-dimensional structure of Jupiter's weather systems—including of its famous Great Red Spot, a centuries-old storm big enough to swallow the Earth whole.
Before Juno, decades of observations had revealed the famous striped appearance of Jupiter's atmosphere, with white bands known as zones, and red-brown bands known as belts.
The Parkes dish is still making breakthroughs 60 years after it first gazed at the skies
Friday, 29 October 2021 11:07 Write a comment
The CSIRO's 64-meter Parkes Radio Telescope was commissioned on October 31 1961. At the time it was the most advanced radio telescope in the world, incorporating many innovative features that have since become standard in all large-dish antennas.
Through its early discoveries it quickly became the leading instrument of its kind. Today, 60 years later, it is still arguably the finest single-dish radiotelescope in the world. It is still performing world-class science and making discoveries that shape our understanding of the Universe.
The telescope's origins date back to wartime radar research by the Radiophysics Laboratory, part of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the forerunner of the CSIRO. On the Sydney clifftops at Dover Heights, the laboratory developed radar for use in the Pacific theater. When the second world war ended, the technology was redirected into peaceful applications, including studying radio waves from the Sun and beyond.
In 1946, British physicist Edward "Taffy" Bowen was appointed chief of the Radiophysics Laboratory. He had been one of the brilliant engineers, dubbed "boffins," who developed radar as part of Britain's secret prewar military research.
ExoMars rover comes out of the ‘oven’
Friday, 29 October 2021 11:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:00:43
The Rosalind Franklin rover that will search for life on Mars has completed an important bakeout to help clean the rover from organic molecules from Earth.
The rover sat inside a vacuum chamber for 120 hours at 35ºC at the Thales Alenia Space facility in Rome, Italy. The temperature is enough to sublimate hidden contaminants generated by the off-gassing of some of the rover’s internal parts, such as small bits of glue. The goal is to reduce as much as possible any contamination signature of Earth origin, to allow a clean detection of organic compounds on Mars.
An additional
Satellite maker Terran Orbital strikes $1.58 billion SPAC Deal
Friday, 29 October 2021 08:20 Write a comment
Tailwind Two Acquisition Corp and Terran Orbital Corporation have entered into a definitive business combination agreement. Upon the closing of the transaction, the combined company will operate as Terran Orbital Corporation, with plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol LLAP. The pro forma total enterprise value of the combined companies is approximately $1.58 billion. The transaction is expe Juno peers deep into Jupiter's colorful belts and zones
Friday, 29 October 2021 08:20 Write a comment
Leicester study of data captured in orbit around Jupiter has revealed new insights into what's happening deep beneath the gas giant's distinctive and colourful bands.
Data from the microwave radiometer carried by NASA's Juno spacecraft shows that Jupiter's banded pattern extends deep below the clouds, and that the appearance of Jupiter's belts and zones inverts near the base of the water c