China makes progress in developing rocket engines for space missions
Tuesday, 12 January 2021 06:48![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![](https://www.spxdaily.com/images-bg/china-carrier-rocket-ceres-1-jiuquan-nov-7-2020-bg.jpg)
NASA, Japan formalize Gateway Partnership for Artemis Program
Tuesday, 12 January 2021 06:48![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![](https://www.spxdaily.com/images-bg/lunar-gateway-marker-bg.jpg)
Why do some regions on the dwarf planet Ceres appear blue
Tuesday, 12 January 2021 06:48![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![](https://www.spxdaily.com/images-bg/asteroid-spix-bg.jpg)
New Horizons spacecraft answers question: how dark is space
Tuesday, 12 January 2021 06:48![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![](https://www.spxdaily.com/images-bg/where-is-new-horizons-nov-2020-bg.jpg)
France to Invest $121.5Mln in Space Projects Over Next 2 Years, Macron Says
Tuesday, 12 January 2021 06:48![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![](https://www.spxdaily.com/images-bg/france-frence-president-macron-marker-bg.jpg)
Russia starts mass vaccinations in cosmonaut centre
Tuesday, 12 January 2021 06:48![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![](https://www.spxdaily.com/images-bg/baikonur-cosmonauts-sunset-walk-bg.jpg)
Scientists see competition of magnetic orders from 2D sheets of atoms
Tuesday, 12 January 2021 06:48![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![](https://www.spxdaily.com/images-bg/individual-atoms-2d-sheet-molybdenum-diselenide-bg.jpg)
DNI Ratcliffe welcomes US Space Force as 18th Intelligence Community Member
Tuesday, 12 January 2021 06:48![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![](https://www.spxdaily.com/images-bg/us-space-force-marker-bg.jpg)
Muscles, metals, bubbles and rotifers – a month of European science in space
Tuesday, 12 January 2021 05:06![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![Bubbles made in space](https://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2021/01/bubbles_from_multiscale_boiling_experiment_on_space_station/22413928-2-eng-GB/Bubbles_from_Multiscale_Boiling_experiment_on_Space_Station_card_full.jpg)
The month of December comes with holidays for many, but for the International Space Station and mission controls around the world, science never rests.
NGA wants faster access to commercial geospatial data
Monday, 11 January 2021 22:52![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![](https://spacenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/rsz_brasilia-iceye-sar-data-4000-300x185.jpg)
WASHINGTON — The private sector is coming out with new geospatial intelligence products and services faster than the government can figure out how to buy them. That means analysts need ways to procure commercial geoint “at a moment’s notice,” said David Gauthier, director of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency’s commercial and business operations group.
New Horizons spacecraft answers the question: How dark is space?
Monday, 11 January 2021 20:54![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![This artist’s illustration shows NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in the outer solar system. In the background lies the Sun and a glowing band representing zodiacal light, caused by sunlight reflecting off of dust. By traveling beyond the inner solar system and its accompanying light pollution, New Horizons was able to answer the question: How dark is space? At lower right are background stars of the Milky Way. Credit: Joe Olmsted (STScI) NEW HORIZONS SPACECRAFT ANSWERS QUESTION: HOW DARK IS SPACE?](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2021/newhorizonss.jpg)
Curiosity rover reaches its 3,000th day on Mars
Monday, 11 January 2021 20:52![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![This panorama, made up of 122 individual images stitched together, was taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on November 18, 2020, the 2,946th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Curiosity Rover Reaches Its 3,000th Day on Mars](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2021/curiosityrov.jpg)
As the rover has continued to ascend Mount Sharp, it's found distinctive benchlike rock formations.
It's been 3,000 Martian days, or sols, since Curiosity touched down on Mars on Aug. 6, 2012, and the rover keeps making new discoveries during its gradual climb up Mount Sharp, the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain it has been exploring since 2014. Geologists were intrigued to see a series of rock "benches" in the most recent panorama from the mission.
Stitched together from 122 images taken on Nov. 18, 2020, the mission's 2,946th sol, the panorama was captured by the Mast Camera, or Mastcam, which serves as the rover's main "eyes.
45th Space Wing forecasts more than 50 launches in 2021
Monday, 11 January 2021 20:05![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![](https://spacenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/200326-F-DJ189-1002-300x200.jpg)
WASHINGTON — As many as 53 space missions are projected to lift off in 2021 from Florida’s Space Coast, the vice commander of the 45th Space Wing said Jan. 12.
“We have 53 launches in our forecast with one already on the books,” Col.
L3Harris develops electronic antenna for command and control of military satellites
Monday, 11 January 2021 18:54![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![](https://spacenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/L3Harris_MultiBand-MultiMission-visual_Dec-2020-e1610477309993-300x166.jpg)
WASHINGTON — L3Harris Technologies announced Jan. 12 it completed the development of an electronic phased array ground antenna for the U.S. Space Force.
The prototype “multi-band multi-mission” antenna is one three that were developed under a Defense Innovation Unit 2019 contract.
White House executive order promotes development of space and defense nuclear power systems
Monday, 11 January 2021 17:04![](/plugins/content/jlexcomment/assets/icon.png)
![Kilopower](https://spacenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/kilopower-moon-300x166.jpg)
WASHINGTON — Less than a month after issuing a policy directive on space nuclear power, the White House released an executive order Jan. 12 seeking to promote the development of small nuclear reactors for space and defense applications.