China's 1st reusable rocket on way, says expert
Thursday, 04 March 2021 14:14Designers at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology have started developing the first reusable model in the nation's Long March carrier rocket family, said a senior rocket scientist. Jiang Jie, an expert at the academy and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said on Wednesday that research and development of the reusable variant of the Long March 8 rocket was proceeding we
Australian Space Consortium to Leverage Quantum-Based Technologies
Thursday, 04 March 2021 14:14Q-CTRL, a startup that applies the principles of control engineering to power quantum technology, has announced it will provide the first quantum sensing and navigation technologies for space exploration beginning with uncrewed lunar missions by the SEVEN SISTERS space industry consortium in Australia. Commencing in 2023, the missions are designed to find accessible water and other resourc
NASA Aeropods win industry recognition
Thursday, 04 March 2021 14:14Aerodynamically stable and designed to hang from a kite string, Aeropods offer a low-cost, low-risk, opportunity for scientists and students to gather imagery and atmospheric data from an aerial perspective. Geoff Bland, Research Engineer at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va. and his team won the Educational Institution and Federal Laboratory Partnership award in 2020 from
Marshall Spinoffs increase 3D printing capabilities, tackle foot odor
Thursday, 04 March 2021 14:14Newly reported NASA Marshall Space Flight Center spinoffs offer an unlikely pair of benefits for space and commercial applications. An insert made from space-age material helps reduce pungent shoe odors, and an advanced 3D printer enables printing of electronics on demand. The technologies are featured in the latest edition of NASA's Spinoff publication, released December 2020. "Technologi
Week in images: 01 - 05 March 2021
Thursday, 04 March 2021 14:05Week in images: 01 - 05 March 2021
Discover our week through the lens
Space doctors in the virtual house
Thursday, 04 March 2021 13:50ESA’s first online space physicians training course took place from 21–22 January 2021, attracting over 50 participants from across Europe and the world.
Whitesides steps down from Virgin Galactic
Thursday, 04 March 2021 12:40Updated 9:45 a.m. Eastern.
WASHINGTON — The longtime chief executive of Virgin Galactic, who moved into a new position at the company last year, has left the company but will continue to be an adviser to it.
Visit ESA virtually with new Discover ESA platform
Thursday, 04 March 2021 10:07Do you want to visit all ESA establishments and see what we’re doing to explore space and protect our planet? Now you can, by taking virtual tours from your own homes, thanks to the Discover ESA interactive experience.
Earth from Space: Galápagos Islands
Thursday, 04 March 2021 09:00The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Galápagos Islands – a volcanic archipelago situated some 1000 km west of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean.
Biden lauds NASA team for giving US 'dose of confidence'
Thursday, 04 March 2021 08:51President Joe Biden on Thursday congratulated the NASA team responsible for last month's successful landing of an six-wheeled rover on Mars and for giving the country a "dose of confidence" at a moment when the nation's reputation as a scientific leader has been tattered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden speaking in video conference call with the leadership of space agency's jet propulsion laboratory team expressed awe over the Feb. 18 landing of Perseverance.
Perseverance, the biggest, most advanced rover ever sent by NASA, became the ninth spacecraft since the 1970s to successfully land on Mars, traveling some 300 million miles in nearly seven months, as part of an ongoing quest to study whether there was once life on the planet.
Planet-hunting eye of Plato
Thursday, 04 March 2021 08:22ExoMars goes for a spin
Thursday, 04 March 2021 08:00- The full ExoMars 2022 mission comprising the carrier module, descent module, Kazachok surface platform and Rosalind Franklin rover have completed essential ‘spin tests’ in preparation for their journey to Mars
- Rosalind Franklin’s rover twin on Earth has executed trial science activities for the first time, including drill sample collection and close-up imaging
- A new parachute strategy has been adopted ahead of the next series of high altitude drop tests
SpaceX successfully launches 20th Starlink mission
Thursday, 04 March 2021 07:27SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket loaded with dozens of additional Starlink communications satellites into space early Thursday after previous launch attempts were delayed. The rocket lifted off at 3:24 EST from the historic pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with the mission to put 60 more Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit as part of the plan to offer l
SpaceX: more risks, better rockets?
Thursday, 04 March 2021 07:27A prototype of SpaceX's unmanned rocket Starship exploded on Wednesday, the third time a test flight ended in flames. The mishaps may seem like disasters but experts say these incidents are part of the spaceship's development, and even, in a way, beneficial. - What is Starship? - SpaceX is developing the rocket with the goal of sending humans to the Moon on it from 2023, and then t
NASA, Japanese astronauts plan spacewalk Friday
Thursday, 04 March 2021 07:27Astronauts Kate Rubins and Soichi Noguchi are scheduled to conduct the 236th spacewalk in International Space Station history Friday morning. Rubins, of NASA, and Noguchi, of the Japanese Space Agency, will spend about 6 1/2 hours outside the orbiting space station starting about 7 a.m. EST. They will perform such maintenance as venting ammonia from an external fixture and instal