NOAA proposes future geostationary constellation with East, West and Center satellites
Sunday, 10 January 2021 19:50
SAN FRANCISCO – NOAA’s National Satellite, Data and Information Service is recommending flying three satellites over the United States in the satellite constellation that will follow the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R Series (GOES-R).
In addition, to operating satellites in orbits similar to those of the current GOES East and GOES West satellites, NOAA recommends placing a third spacecraft over the center of the United States, Pam Sullivan, GOES-R system program director, said Jan.
Researchers find Mars has a Chandler wobble
Sunday, 10 January 2021 17:50
A combined team of researchers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology and the Royal Observatory of Belgium, has found evidence that Mars has a Chandler wobble. In their paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the group describes their study of decades of data from Mars probes and what it showed them.
Approximately a century ago, astronomer Seth Carlo Chandler discovered that imperfectly round objects (such as planets) sometimes spin off their axis for periods of time. The phenomenon has come to be known as the Chandler wobble, and has been documented for planet Earth, which veers from its axis for distances up to 30 feet in a pattern that repeats approximately every 433 days. Researchers have suggested that other planets likely have a Chandler wobble, but until now, it has never been observed because measuring it on the planet scale requires precise measurements over many years. In this new effort, the researchers obtained the right kind of data from space probes that orbited Mars over many years: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey.
Coronal holes during the solar maximum
Sunday, 10 January 2021 16:28
NASA Highlights Astrophysics Missions at ‘Super Bowl of Astronomy’
Sunday, 10 January 2021 14:54
Experts from across NASA will discuss topics ranging from black holes to exploding stars to planets beyond our solar system at the 237th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Intelsat orders two satellites from Airbus
Sunday, 10 January 2021 11:58
WASHINGTON — Intelsat has ordered two geostationary communications satellites from Airbus Defence and Space that will support the satellite operator’s aviation connectivity business.
The companies announced Jan. 8 the order of two spacecraft from Airbus’ OneSat family of fully reconfigurable geostationary satellites.
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Cosmic neon lights How far we've come: Galileo’s 500th ESA Engineering Board
Sunday, 10 January 2021 07:34
The end of 2020 marked a notable milestone for Europe’s Galileo First Generation, as the programme chalked up its 500th ESA Engineering Board.
SpaceX Dragon capsule to make first of its kind science splashdown
Saturday, 09 January 2021 09:55
By capsule, helicopter, boat, plane, and car, space station science experiments are about to make a first of a kind journey back to researchers on Earth.
On Jan. 11, the SpaceX cargo Dragon spacecraft carrying out the company's 21st commercial resupply services (CRS-21) mission for NASA undocks from the International Space Station, heading for splashdown off Chang'e 4 probe resumes work for 26th lunar day
Saturday, 09 January 2021 09:55
The lander and rover of the Chang'e-4 probe have resumed work for the 26th lunar day on the far side of the moon.
The lander woke up at 3:13 a.m. on Friday (Beijing time), and the rover Yutu-2, or Jade Rabbit-2, woke up at 10:29 a.m. on Thursday, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration.
Landing on the moon on Jan. 3, 2019 Tiny NASA cameras to watch commercial lander form craters on moon
Saturday, 09 January 2021 09:55
This little black camera looks like something out of a spy movie - the kind of device one might use to snap discrete photos of confidential documents.
It's about half the size of a computer mouse.
But the only spying this camera - four of them, actually - will do is for NASA researchers wondering what happens under a spacecraft as it lands on the Moon.
It's a tiny technology wi NASA Selects 4 Concepts for Small Missions to Study Universe's Secrets
Saturday, 09 January 2021 09:55
NASA has chosen four small-scale astrophysics missions for further concept development in a new program called Pioneers. Through small satellites and scientific balloons, these selections enable new platforms for exploring cosmic phenomena such as galaxy evolution, exoplanets, high-energy neutrinos, and neutron star mergers.
"The principal investigators of these concept studies bring innov The world's first integrated quantum communication network
Saturday, 09 January 2021 09:55
Chinese scientists have established the world's first integrated quantum communication network, combining over 700 optical fibers on the ground with two ground-to-satellite links to achieve quantum key distribution over a total distance of 4,600 kilometers for users across the country. The team, led by Jianwei Pan, Yuao Chen, Chengzhi Peng from the University of Science and Technology of China i BlackSky awarded IARPA contract to develop next generation artificial intelligence platform
Saturday, 09 January 2021 09:55
BlackSky has won an award from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) for a multi-phase, multi-year research contract. IARPA is responsible for leading research programs to overcome difficult challenges relevant to the U.S. intelligence community.
BlackSky has been selected to aid in the development of IARPA's Space-based Machine Automated Recognition Technique (SMART Orbit Logic Leverages Blockchain for Constellation Communication over Dynamic Networks
Saturday, 09 January 2021 09:55
Orbit Logic has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract sponsored by NASA to develop Space Communication Reconstruction and Mapping with Blockchain Ledgering (SCRAMBL) - a secure and distributed communication system that will facilitate cooperation among heterogeneous satellite assets to satisfy constellation-level mission requirements. The solution is being dev NASA, FAA Partnership Bolsters American Commercial Space Activities
Saturday, 09 January 2021 09:55
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) signed a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) reaffirming the agencies' longstanding relationship to foster robust American commercial space transportation capabilities, including commercial crew and cargo activities.
The NASA-FAA MOU follows the success of NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 launch - the first crewed mission from American soil to be li