Technical snags make US Astronauts' lunar landing in 2024 'less likely', GAO Says
Friday, 25 June 2021 05:24
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NASA's 2024 deadline to return humans to the Moon looks increasingly unlikely due to reliance on technology that has yet to be fully developed, the General Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report on Thursday.
"A fast-tracked schedule to meet this ambitious date - along with some technical risks - mean that it's less likely a lunar landing will happen in 2024," a GAO press release expl Cosmic dawn occurred 250 to 350 million years after Big Bang
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Cosmic dawn, when stars formed for the first time, occurred 250 million to 350 million years after the beginning of the universe, according to a new study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge.
The study, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, suggests that the NASA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled to British-built satellites will help fight climate change and save wildlife
Friday, 25 June 2021 05:24 Write a comment
Monitoring and tackling climate change and tracking endangered wildlife are among the exciting features of three UK-built satellites set to launch on a SpaceX rocket on Friday 25th June.
UK companies have received nearly 15 million pounds from the UK Space Agency, through the European Space Agency's Pioneer Partnership Programme, to develop the trio of satellites due to lift off from NASA' Solar System samples touch down in Leicester
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Samples from other worlds will be examined by space scientists at the University of Leicester as they continue to study the building blocks of the Solar System.
Some of the first particles from asteroid Ryugu - returned by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) probe Hayabusa2 in 2020 - and samples from the Winchcombe meteorite, which fell to Earth earlier this year, will be scrutinised The fifth quartet: Excited neon discovery could reveal star qualities
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Scientists from the Department of Physics and the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP) at Osaka University, in collaboration with Kyoto University, used alpha particle inelastic scattering to show that the theorized "5a condensed state" does exist in neon-20. This work may help us obtain a better understanding the low-density nucleon many-body systems.
All elements besides hydrogen a NASA studying larger Mars helicopters
Thursday, 24 June 2021 21:44 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — With the Ingenuity helicopter continuing to demonstrate its abilities on Mars, NASA engineers are examining concepts for larger, more capable rotorcraft that could be flown on future missions.
Ingenuity performed its eighth flight on Mars June 21, traveling 160 meters and landing at a new site 133.5 meters from the Perseverance rover.
U.S. Army selects Iridium to develop payload for low Earth orbit satellite navigation system
Thursday, 24 June 2021 20:44 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Iridium Communications announced June 24 it received a U.S. Army contract to develop a payload that could be used to broadcast data such as timing or location signals.
The contract, worth up to $30 million, is for research and development work.
Software-as-a-Service model takes the space sector by storm
Thursday, 24 June 2021 19:21 Write a comment
Astro Digital started out as an Earth-observation company.
The Santa Clara, California, startup was building a constellation of satellites and software for multispectral imagery when word got out that it possessed an efficient suite of microsatellite products.
Research looks to outer space to learn about human health on Earth
Thursday, 24 June 2021 15:49 Write a comment
As an oncologist, Adam Dicker has seen how cancer treatments can pummel the body to knock out tumors, sometimes leading to deteriorating bones, more infections, and haywire sleep cycles. But others have observed similar ailments in a group of healthy people: astronauts who spend time in space.
Next year, Dicker and fellow researchers at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia will launch three studies of how space travel affects aspects of the human body—immunity, microbes in urine, and stress—as part of the first private mission to the International Space Station. Researchers believe that the unique environment in space can also shed light on human health on Earth.
"I never thought I'd ever do a project in space," said Paul H. Chung, assistant professor of urology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College,who is involved in one of the space studies. "Most people don't even know the logistics of how someone would do a project in space."
The eight-day mission is the first of its kind to be approved by NASA. Organized by Axiom Space, on Jan. 22, 2022 a SpaceX rocket will ferry four paying passengers to the International Space Station along with 44 scientific experiments commissioned by the Ramon Foundation and the Israel Space Agency.
Leaf Space expands ground station network ahead of busy SpaceX ride-share mission
Thursday, 24 June 2021 14:29 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — Leaf Space has added three more ground stations to its managed network service, helping the Italian company support its largest number of satellite customers on a single launch in an upcoming mission.
Satellite propulsion supplier Orbion raises $20 million in Series B funding
Thursday, 24 June 2021 14:16 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Orbion Space Technology, a Michigan-based supplier of electric propulsion for small satellites, announced June 24 it has raised $20 million in Series B funding.
The new funding is to scale up production of plasma thrusters for small satellites, the company said.
Image: Thomas and the blue marble
Thursday, 24 June 2021 14:00 Write a comment
A snap of ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet during the second spacewalk to upgrade the International Space Station's power system, taken by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough.
The duo performed the second extra vehicular activity to bolt in place and unfurl an IROSA, or ISS Roll-Out Solar Array, on Sunday 20 June.
The series of spacewalks last week was not without some challenges. During the first spacewalk on 16 June, Shane experienced a small technical problem in his spacesuit that required him to return to the airlock and restart his Display and Control Module. This module provides astronauts with continuous information on pressure, temperature and other vital data during a spacewalk.
Though the restart was successful and Shane was in no danger, it delayed the duo's work, preventing them from completing installation of the first new solar array as planned.
The duo succeeded in taking the IROSA panel out of its storage area outside the Space Station and passed from spacewalker to spacewalker to the worksite. There the rolled arrays were secured. The spacewalk lasted 7 hours and 15 minutes.
During the second spacewalk, the duo unfolded, bolted and connected the wires.
Space Perspective performs first balloon test flight, begins ticket sales
Thursday, 24 June 2021 13:13 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Space Perspective, the company planning to offer stratospheric balloon flights for tourists, has formally opened ticket sales days after its first test flight.
Space Perspective announced June 23 it is offering flights on its Spaceship Neptune vehicle, a capsule carried aloft to an altitude of 30 kilometers, for $125,000 per person.
Op-ed | Assessing new launch vehicles on the market
Thursday, 24 June 2021 12:08 Write a comment
Launch service providers and integrators exist at the intersection of two highly specialized fields: launch vehicle development and satellite development. These fields overlap, but generally contain different specialties, with both groups speaking fundamentally different languages.
Thomas and the blue marble
Thursday, 24 June 2021 11:04 Write a comment
Image:
A snap of ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet during the second spacewalk to upgrade the International Space Station’s power system, taken by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough.
The duo performed the second extra vehicular activity to bolt in place and unfurl an IROSA, or ISS Roll-Out Solar Array, on Sunday 20 June.
The series of spacewalks last week was not without some challenges. During the first spacewalk on 16 June, Shane experienced a small technical problem in his spacesuit that required him to return to the airlock and restart his Display and Control Module. This module provides astronauts with continuous information on pressure,