Intelsat orders two flexible GEO satellites for post-bankruptcy growth plan
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 09:01
Intelsat has ordered two software-defined satellites from Thales Alenia Space as the operator edges closer to emerging from bankruptcy.
Astroscale U.S. and Orbit Fab sign first on-orbit satellite fuel sale agreement
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
Denver CO (SPX) Jan 12, 2022
Orbit Fab, the Gas Stations in Space refueling service provider and Astroscale U.S. Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Astroscale Holdings Inc. and market leader in securing long-term orbital sustainability, has announced a commercial agreement to refuel Astroscale's Life Extension In-Orbit (LEXI) Servicer in geostationary orbit (GEO); LEXI is the first satellite designed to be refueled.
Under t

Mangata Networks announces funding for satellite edge computing network
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
Phoenix AZ (SPX) Jan 12, 2022
Mangata Networks has closed a $33 million Series A round led by US-based venture capital firm Playground Global to continue its mission to transform the way the world interacts with information. This closing manifests the truly global nature of the organization with other major investors including Temasek which is headquartered in Singapore, ktsat from South Korea, Scottish Enterprise in the UK,

NASA prepares SLS for first crewed Artemis missions
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
Huntsville AL (SPX) Jan 12, 2022
by Tracy McMahan for MSFC News
As teams continue to prepare NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for its debut flight with the launch of Artemis I, NASA and its partners across the country have made great progress building the rocket for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission. The team is also manufacturing and testing major parts for Artemis missions III, IV and V.
"The Space La

Airbus to develop the Power Management and Distribution System for key Lunar Gateway module
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
Madrid, Spain (SPX) Jan 12, 2022
Airbus Crisa, an affiliate company of Airbus, has signed a contract for the development of the Power Management and Distribution (PMAD) system for the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) with Northrop Grumman.
Airbus Crisa is a Spanish company founded in 1985 to design and manufacture electronic equipment and software for space applications, and engineering projects for ground stations

NASA's InSight enters safe mode during regional Mars dust storm
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 12, 2022
NASA's InSight lander is stable and sending health data from Mars to Earth after going into safe mode Friday, Jan. 7, following a large, regional dust storm that reduced the sunlight reaching its solar panels. In safe mode, a spacecraft suspends all but its essential functions.
The mission's team reestablished contact with InSight Jan. 10, finding that its power was holding steady and, whi

Sol 3350-3352: A Rock Under the Wheel
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 12, 2022
We are back into our planning routine after the Christmas break. In fact, this was the third plan in the new year, and the third plan that Curiosity executes within the Roraima quadrant my colleague introduced a few days ago. While we are getting used to new sounds of our names, we are marvelling at the landscape in front of us, which is very diverse, both in the rover workspace and in the walls

Almost a Million Stars and Counting: Mapping the history of the Milky Way with APOGEE and beyond
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 12, 2022
On December 6th 2021, scientists from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) released the largest-ever detailed census of stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, with the complete release of data from its Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE).
"For the last decade we have been working to map the Milky Way, and measure extremely detailed properties of the stars within it,"

NASA's new IXPE mission begins science operations
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jan 12, 2022
NASA's newest X-ray eyes are open and ready for discovery! Having spent just over a month in space, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is working and already zeroing in on some of the hottest, most energetic objects in the universe.
A joint effort between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, IXPE is the first space observatory dedicated to studying the polarization of X-rays comin

Arqit to Lead UK-AU Space Bridge Project
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
London, UK (SPX) Jan 11, 2022
Arqit Quantum Inc. has contracted with Australia's SmartsatCRC under an agreement between the UK and Australian Governments to deliver the first phase of work to Australia relating to Arqit's Federated Quantum System Project ("FQS").
Arqit's FQS project for allied governments delivers strategic control to that government customer of a private instance of Arqit's end to end QuantumCloud tec

NASA's newest astronaut class begins training in Houston
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
Orlando FL (UPI) Jan 11, 2022
NASA swore in 10 new astronaut candidates Monday at Johnson Space Center in Houston - six men and four women - who someday may walk on the moon or Mars. The candidates were "sworn in this morning, kicking off their two-year training," NASA said on Twitter, noting it was the 23rd astronaut candidate class since 1959.
The 10 candidates will now learn engineering systems of spacecraft such

Ocean Physics Explain Cyclones on Jupiter
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
San Diego CA (SPX) Jan 11, 2022
Hurtling around Jupiter and its 79 moons is the Juno spacecraft, a NASA-funded satellite that sends images from the largest planet in our solar system back to researchers on Earth. These photographs have given oceanographers the raw materials for a new study published in Nature Physics that describes the rich turbulence at Jupiter's poles and the physical forces that drive the large cyclones.

Astronomers identify potential clue to reinonization of universe
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
Iowa City IA (SPX) Jan 11, 2022
About 400,000 years after the universe was created began a period called "The Epoch of Reionization." During this time, the once hotter universe began to cool and matter clumped together, forming the first stars and galaxies. As these stars and galaxies emerged, their energy heated the surrounding environment, reionizing some of the remaining hydrogen in the universe.
The universe's reioni

Mini monster black hole could hold clues to giant's growth
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:43
Huntsville AL (SPX) Jan 11, 2022
The discovery of a supermassive black hole in a relatively small galaxy could help astronomers unravel the mystery surrounding how the very biggest black holes grow.
Researchers used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to identify a black hole containing about 200,000 times the mass of the Sun buried in gas and dust in the galaxy Mrk 462.
Mrk 462 contains only several hundred million

New NASA chief scientist to focus on climate change
Wednesday, 12 January 2022 08:35
NASA has hired a climate scientist as its new chief scientist, a move that reflects the greater emphasis the agency is placing on climate change studies.