DARPA orders six satellites from Blue Canyon Technologies for Blackjack program
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 11:02WASHINGTON — Blue Canyon Technologies has received a contract option worth $26.5 million to produce six satellites for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a company spokesman told SpaceNews.
DARPA has exercised the option to buy six more satellites in addition to four the agency ordered in June under a $14.1 million contract.
Tianwen 1 probe enters preset parking orbit
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 10:23China's Tianwen 1 robotic probe entered its preset parking orbit above Mars on Wednesday and will fly in this orbit for about three months before releasing its landing capsule, said the China National Space Administration. The spacecraft, which has entered a crucial stage in China's first interplanetary exploration mission after seven months of lengthy space voyage, conducted its third nea
Benchmark Space Systems and Orbit Fab Breaking Ground on Mobile Refueling Stations in Space
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 10:23Orbit Fab, the Gas Stations in Space company, and Benchmark Space Systems (BSS), a leading provider of in-space mobility solutions, has announced a green, hydrogen-peroxide based refueling and servicing infrastructure partnership to extend satellite missions and provide the essential fuel for the evolving ecosystem in space. As part of the teaming, Orbit Fab will bundle its RAFTI fluid tra
NASA welds Confidence Article for next evolution of SLS
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 10:23Technicians are manufacturing and testing the first in a series of initial weld confidence articles for the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) for future flights of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The Exploration Upper Stage will be used on the second configuration of the SLS rocket, known as Block 1B, and will provide in-space p
SwRI scientists image a bright meteoroid explosion in Jupiter's atmosphere
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 10:23From aboard the Juno spacecraft, a Southwest Research Institute-led instrument observing auroras serendipitously spotted a bright flash above Jupiter's clouds last spring. The Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) team studied the data and determined that they had captured a bolide, an extremely bright meteoroid explosion in the gas giant's upper atmosphere. "Jupiter undergoes a huge number of im
Big galaxies steal star-forming gas from their smaller neighbours
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 10:23Large galaxies are known to strip the gas that occupies the space between the stars of smaller satellite galaxies. In research published this week astronomers have discovered that these small satellite galaxies also contain less 'molecular' gas at their centres. Molecular gas is found in giant clouds in the centres of galaxies and is the building material for new stars. Large galaxie
Big Data to model the evolution of the cosmic web
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 10:23The Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) has led an international team which has developed an algorithm called COSMIC BIRTH to analyse large scale cosmic structures. This new computation method will permit the analysis of the evolution of the structure of dark matter from the early universe until the formation of present day galaxies. This work was recently published in the journal Monthly
Swift helps tie neutrino to star-shredding black hole
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 10:23For only the second time, astronomers have linked an elusive particle called a high-energy neutrino to an object outside our galaxy. Using ground- and space-based facilities, including NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, they traced the neutrino to a black hole tearing apart a star, a rare cataclysmic occurrence called a tidal disruption event. "Astrophysicists have long theorized that
Scientists claim that all high-energy cosmic neutrinos are born by quasars
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 10:23Scientists of the P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LPI RAS), the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and the Institute for Nuclear Research of RAS (INR RAS) studied the arrival directions of astrophysical neutrinos with energies more than a trillion electronvolts (TeV) and came to an unexpected conclusion: all of them are born near black holes in
'Space Bridge' across the world will help UK and Australia get ahead in global space race
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 10:23The world's first Space Bridge will unlock improved access to trade, investment and academic research opportunities, better advice to businesses and innovative bilateral collaborations. The UK and Australia share future ambitions for space and have similar plans to increase the size and job creation potential of the sector. This agreement will further develop the longstanding relationship betwee
Indian PM Modi backs Indian Space Agency's version of Google Maps
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 10:23Earlier this month, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) partnered with national tech firm MyAppIndia to develop an alternative to Google Maps. Indians cheered the news, calling it the biggest challenge to the western Big Tech monopoly, which has thrived in India for some time now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the government's move to deregulate map and geo-sp
China explores space with self-reliance, open mind
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 10:23Chinese President Xi Jinping met representatives of space scientists and engineers who participated in the research and development of the Chang'e-5 lunar mission in Beijing Monday. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, also visited an exhibition on the lunar samples brought back by the Chang'e-5 probe
China launches trio of Yaogan-31 ocean reconnaissance satellites
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 09:12HELSINKI — A Long March 4C rocket sent a latest series of three Yaogan-31 reconnaissance satellites into orbit late Tuesday.
ESA plans mission to explore lunar caves
Tuesday, 23 February 2021 08:52In a first step towards uncovering the Moon's subterranean secrets, in 2019 we asked for your ideas to detect, map and explore lunar caves. Five ideas were selected to be studied in more detail, each addressing different phases of a potential mission.