Air Force Materiel Command takes on role as servicing major command for Space Force
Monday, 09 August 2021 06:33
Air Force Materiel Command is adding on a new role as the designated Servicing Major Command for the U.S. Space Force.
Recently the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force took steps to define AFMC's role as the designated Servicing MAJCOM for the U.S. Space Force. These actions included a memorandum of understanding providing a strategic overview of support provided to the USSF by the USAF. A Gearing up for third Sentinel-2 satellite
Monday, 09 August 2021 05:40
With the first Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite in orbit since 2015 and the second since 2017, engineers are busy preparing the mission’s follow-on pair to eventually pick up the baton to supply images for a myriad of applications from food security to monitoring the decline of Earth’s ice. Slated for launch at the beginning of 2024, Sentinel-2C has just started a punishing five-month testing programme to ensure that it is fit for its life in space.
Gravity assists: nature balances her books
Monday, 09 August 2021 05:30
On Earth, fuel is a limited, precious resource. In space, we trade energy freely with the planets.
Starliner investigation continues
Sunday, 08 August 2021 13:59
Boeing is continuing its investigation into the thruster issue that delayed the launch of its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle but could soon run into schedule conflicts on both the International Space Station and with its launch vehicle.
Mars Perseverance team assessing first sampling attempt
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
Data sent to Earth by NASA's Perseverance rover after its first attempt to collect a rock sample on Mars and seal it in a sample tube indicate that no rock was collected during the initial sampling activity.
The rover carries 43 titanium sample tubes, and is exploring Jezero Crater, where it will be gathering samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and dust) for future analysis on Earth. CAPSTONE's cubesat prepares for Lunar mission
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
Small spacecraft will play a big role in lunar exploration, including a Moon-bound CubeSat launching later this year. The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, mission team is making the final preparations for the spacecraft that will make CubeSat history over a series of technological and operational firsts for the small platform. China's Mars rover travels over 800 meters on red planet
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
China's Mars rover Zhurong has traveled more than 800 meters on the surface of the red planet as of Friday, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration.
Zhurong has been traversing a complex terrain full of rocks, craters and dunes, and its rear hazard-avoidance camera captured a picture of the rover just moving across the rocks. Virgin Galactic restarting space tickets from $450,000
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
After flying its founder Richard Branson to space, Virgin Galactic is restarting ticket sales beginning at $450,000, the company announced Thursday.
The new price is about double the $200,000 to $250,000 paid by around 600 people who previously booked seats on Virgin's spaceship between 2005 and 2014, as the company looks to cash in on the success of last month's fully-crewed test flight. SpaceX briefly puts together largest rocket in history at Texas base
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
SpaceX briefly constructed the largest rocket ever made Friday, attaching the U.S. aerospace company's Starship spacecraft to the Super Heavy booster at its facility in Texas.
The combined height of the structure was 400 feet, nearly 40 feet taller than the next largest Saturn V rocket built by NASA.
The SpaceX rocket, though, will have about twice as much thrust as Saturn V, 70 NASA continues RS-25 testing with 6th installment at Stennis
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
NASA conducted its sixth RS-25 single-engine hot fire Aug. 5 on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, a continuation of its seven-part test series to support development and production of engines for the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on future missions to the Moon.
Operators fired the engine for more than eight minutes (500 seconds), the sa NASA is recruiting for yearlong simulated Mars Mission
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
Mars is calling! NASA is seeking applicants for participation as a crew member during the first one-year analog mission in a habitat to simulate life on a distant world, set to begin in Fall 2022.
As NASA ventures farther into the cosmos, the astronaut experience will change. In preparation for the real-life challenges of future missions to Mars, NASA will study how highly motivated indivi Mars rock drilling begins after NASA's helicopter helps plan rover's route
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
Aided by the latest photos from Mars helicopter Ingenuity, NASA's robotic rover Perseverance prepared to drill its first rock sample, the space agency said.
The agency decided the drilling will occur at an area called Crater Floor Fractured Rough. NASA planned to send the first signals Thursday to start the drilling process, which could take several days, according to the agency. Hi-res measurements of asteroid surface temperatures obtained from Earth
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
A close examination of the millimeter-wavelength emissions from the asteroid Psyche, which NASA intends to visit in 2026, has produced the first temperature map of the object, providing new insight into its surface properties. The findings, described in a paper published in Planetary Science Journal (PSJ) on August 5, are a step toward resolving the mystery of the origin of this unusual object, NASA begins recruitment for long-duration Mars Mission Analog Study
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
As NASA ventures farther into the cosmos, the astronaut experience will change. In preparation for the real-life challenges of future missions to Mars, NASA will study how highly motivated individuals respond under the rigor of a long-duration, ground-based simulation.
NASA is now accepting applications for participation as a crew member during the first one-year analog mission in a habita Astronomers find evidence of possible life-sustaining planet
Sunday, 08 August 2021 00:03
Astronomers have found signs of a planet that may have a life-supporting atmosphere, according to a study published Thursday.
The study, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, focuses on a planetary system named after the star it orbits, L 98-59, according to a press release. Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, the team of astronomers found a roc 
