WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force has air traffic controllers to handle military airspace issues but the Federal Aviation Administration has overall responsibility for air safety. A similar arrangement is needed for the space domain, the commander of U.S.

WASHINGTON — Among the 143 satellites that flew to orbit Jan. 24 on SpaceX’s record-breaking rideshare were technology demonstrations and payloads of interest to the U.S. military, including satellite components, in-space laser communications and remote sensing.

Fire affects an estimated four million square kilometres of Earth’s land each year and is responsible for releasing aerosols and greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Understanding the influence that this has on atmospheric chemistry and representing these emissions in future climate predictions is, however, complex and remains poorly understood. To improve the situation, a team of scientists working as part of ESA’s Climate Change Initiative is using satellite observations, such as from Copernicus Sentinel-3, to gain a global view of land burned by fire.

This recording was made on 18 November 2020 by the Heliospheric Imager (SoloHI) camera on board the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft.

Three Solar System planets are visible in the foreground: Venus (left), Earth (middle), and Mars (right). Stars are visible in the background, appearing to move in Solar Orbiter’s recording while the spacecraft travels around the Sun. The planets are also moving slightly in the SoloHI field-of-view, but their apparent motions are different because of their individual orbital motions around the Sun.

Venus is the brightest object in the video, roughly 48 million kilometres away from Solar Orbiter.

HELSINKI — The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is moving ahead with testing of its new H3 rocket as it seeks to replace its aging flagship H-IIA launch vehicle.

WASHINGTON — The first Starlink satellites launched to polar orbit are equipped with laser crosslinks, a technology the company plans to add to other satellites next year.

SpaceX included 10 Starlink satellites on its Transporter-1 dedicated rideshare launch Jan.

Lights, camera, action for NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover. The duo will install European payloads outside the International Space Station during a spacewalk on 27 January, guided by the know-how of their colleagues.

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen is seen in this image installing the Columbus Ka-band or ColKa terminal that will enable faster communication with Europe during a ‘dress rehearsal’ in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in 2018. 

Andrea will serve as ground IV, directing Mike and Victor through the installation of the small fridge-sized device by radio from NASA’s mission