Second Scout gets the go-ahead
Monday, 29 March 2021 07:55Following the selection of the first Scout satellite mission last December, ESA has also given the greenlight to start negotiations with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd in the UK to lead the development of the second Scout mission – HydroGNSS.
SpaceX postpones Starship test flight
Monday, 29 March 2021 04:58SpaceX postponed a test flight Monday for the company's Starship moon and Mars rocket in Boca Chica, Texas. Company CEO Elon Musk posted on Twitter that the flight was called off because a federal inspector couldn't reach the remote site in time. Musk calls it Starbase, and it is about 23 miles east of Brownsville. "Postponed to no earlier than tomorrow [Tuesday]" Musk wrote.
SwRI scientists discover a new auroral feature on Jupiter
Monday, 29 March 2021 04:58The SwRI-led Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) orbiting Jupiter aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft has detected new faint aurora features, characterized by ring-like emissions, which expand rapidly over time. SwRI scientists determined that charged particles coming from the edge of Jupiter's massive magnetosphere triggered these auroral emissions. "We think these newly discovered faint ultraviolet
String theory solves mystery about how particles behave outside a black hole photon sphere
Monday, 29 March 2021 04:58A paper by the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) Director Ooguri Hirosi and Project Researcher Matthew Dodelson on the string theoretical effects outside the black hole photon sphere has been selected for the "Editors' Suggestion" of the journal Physical Review D. Their paper was published on March 24, 2021. In a quantum theory of point particles,
Black hole seeds key to galaxies behemoths
Monday, 29 March 2021 04:58A new black hole breaks the record - not for being the smallest or the biggest - but for being right in the middle. The recently discovered 'Goldilocks' black hole is part of a missing link between two populations of black holes: small black holes made from stars and supermassive giants in the nucleus of most galaxies. In a joint effort, researchers from the University of Melbourne a
New study finds satellites contribute significant light pollution to night skies
Monday, 29 March 2021 04:58Scientists reported new research results today suggesting that artificial objects in orbit around the Earth are brightening night skies on our planet significantly more than previously understood. The research, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, finds that the number of objects orbiting Earth could elevate the overall brightness of the n
Nine global space startups to join Australia's first space dedicated incubator program
Monday, 29 March 2021 04:58The University of South Australia's Innovation and Collaboration Centre (ICC) has announced nine startups have been merit selected for a place in the Venture Catalyst Space program, supported by the South Australian Government's Space Innovation Fund. A leader in space innovation and business acceleration, the program is the first of its kind in Australia. Startups will receive the i
MyGalileoSolution and MyGalileoDrone: A word from the winners
Monday, 29 March 2021 04:58The winners of the MyGalileoSolution and MyGalileoDrone were announced at Entrepreneurship Day, organised by the GSA in March 2021 to promote EGNSS-based creativity and business opportunities. The goal was also to raise awareness of the role of downstream space in achieving the EU's common goals. The winners spoke about their experience during the competition and how it was helping to take their
Utilis secures $6m from Beringea to harness satellites to protect critical infrastructure and global water supplies
Monday, 29 March 2021 04:58Utilis, a pioneer of satellite-based infrastructure intelligence, has announced that it has raised $6m from Beringea, the transatlantic venture capital firm. The funding will be used to accelerate the growth of its data-driven analytics which enables detection of water leaks and infrastructure asset management, reflecting the rising focus on resource preservation around the world during the clim
Corridor test of Proba-3's formation flying sensors
Monday, 29 March 2021 04:58The longest corridor in ESA's largest establishment was turned into a test site for one of the Agency's most ambitious future missions, Proba-3. The two satellites making up this mission will line up so that one casts a shadow onto the other, revealing inner regions of the Sun's ghostly atmosphere. But such precision formation flying will only be possible through a vision-based sensor system all
Axelspace and KSAT expands their partnership
Monday, 29 March 2021 04:58In a newly signed agreement, Axelspace Corporation and KSAT are expanding their existing partnership on Global Ground Network support to also include data distribution from AxelGlobe, powered by the constellation of GRUS, a 100Kg microsatellite for optical Earth observation. With the successful launch of 4 satellites (GRUS-1B, 1C, 1D and 1E) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on March
Inmarsat takes Dutch government to court over 3.5 GHz auction plan
Sunday, 28 March 2021 20:51TAMPA, Fla. — Inmarsat is launching legal action over the Dutch government’s plan to auction 3.5 GHz spectrum, which the British satellite operator uses for maritime safety services.
NASA begins final assembly of spacecraft destined for asteroid Psyche
Sunday, 28 March 2021 19:31A major component of NASA's Psyche spacecraft has been delivered to the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the phase known as assembly, test, and launch operations is now underway. Over the next year, the spacecraft will finish assembly and undergo rigorous checkout and testing before it's shipped to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for an August 2022 launch to the main asteroid belt.
The Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) Chassis, crafted by Maxar Technologies' team in Palo Alto, California, is the size of a van and represents more than 80% (by mass) of the hardware that will ultimately make up the Psyche spacecraft. The large, box-shaped structure made a dramatic entrance as it rolled into the white-walled clean room of JPL's storied High Bay 1 of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility.
SpaceX says no Starship launch on Monday
Sunday, 28 March 2021 19:20SpaceX has postponed the latest test flight of its prototype interplanetary Starship rocket from the company's south Texas facility, Elon Musk said Monday.
"FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) inspector unable to reach Starbase in time for launch today," the company's founder and CEO tweeted.
"Postponed to no earlier than tomorrow."
No launch window has so far been provided for Tuesday.
The company is hoping to finally perform a successful test flight after the last three attempts ended in spectacular explosions, and had been granted a five hour window for spaceflight activities by local authorities on Monday.
Congress raises concerns about FAA’s handling of Starship launch license violation
Sunday, 28 March 2021 18:58WASHINGTON — As SpaceX gears up for another test flight of a Starship prototype, the Federal Aviation Administration is facing new scrutiny from Congress for how it handled SpaceX’s violation of its launch license on an earlier test flight.