NanoAvionics Completes Standardization of Nano- and Microsatellite Buses
Thursday, 30 May 2024 13:20During a live broadcast, Kongsberg NanoAvionics ("NanoAvionics") announced the full standardization of its nano- and microsatellite buses. This move aims to cut lead times to as little as four months for bus manufacturing, reduce costs, and enhance reliability. The standardization enables quicker and more cost-effective mission launches. For missions with specific requirements, NanoAvionics cont
Innovative Startups Join South Australia's Space Ecosystem
Thursday, 30 May 2024 13:20Four innovative space startups from around the globe have joined South Australia's Venture Catalyst Space program. This initiative supports early-stage technology-based space startups in scaling their businesses. Since its inception in 2018, Venture Catalyst Space has supported 36 startups, helping them secure $31 million in investments and grants and create over 220 space jobs. The progra
AST SpaceMobile and Verizon Plan Nationwide Coverage with Space-Based Cellular Service
Thursday, 30 May 2024 13:20AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTS), and Verizon (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) have announced a strategic partnership with a $100 million commitment from Verizon to provide direct-to-cellular AST SpaceMobile service for Verizon customers when needed. "This new partnership with Verizon will enable AST SpaceMobile to target 100% coverage of the continental United States on premium 850 MHz spectrum wit
NASA astronauts return to Space Coast ahead of Starliner launch
Thursday, 30 May 2024 13:07NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Kennedy Space Center on May 28 as their much-delayed flight to the International Space Station aboard Boeing's CST-100 Starliner looks like it may finally happen Saturday.
The duo are slated to climb back aboard the capsule and fly atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 at 12:25 p.m., with a backup launch opportunity on Sunday. ULA said the weather forecast calls for 90% good conditions at the launch site for both days, although the weather also has to be clear along the launch corridor in the event of an emergency abort.
Dubbed the Crew Flight Test, the mission marks the first human spaceflight for Starliner as Boeing tries to play catchup to SpaceX as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. SpaceX launched its first crewed test flight of its Crew Dragon on May 30, 2020, so Starliner's launch will come just over four years since that flight.
Wilmore and Williams came within two hours of launch back on May 6.
Webb finds most distant known galaxy
Thursday, 30 May 2024 13:00Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have found a record-breaking galaxy observed only 290 million years after the big bang.
Over the last two years, scientists have used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to explore what astronomers refer to as Cosmic Dawn – the period in the first few hundred million years after the big bang where the first galaxies were born. These galaxies provide vital insight into the ways in which the gas, stars, and black holes were changing when the universe was very young. In October 2023 and January 2024, an international team of
ISS research shows spaceflight affects tumor-bearing fruit fly hosts and their parasites
Thursday, 30 May 2024 12:56Like humans, fruit flies (a model organism for spaceflight research) also exhibit immune system dysfunction in space. Despite decades of studies on fruit flies and wasps, little was known about how their immune systems interact with natural parasites in space. Drosophila parasitoid wasps modify blood cell function to suppress host immunity.
South Korea targets Mars mission with new space center
Thursday, 30 May 2024 12:52South Korea aims to make a Mars landing by 2045, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday, outlining plans to spend about $70 billion over the coming decades on space exploration.
The newly created Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) will lead the drive to make the land of K-pop a new space powerhouse, following the United States, Russia and China.
"I have always believed that there is an infinite dream and future in outer space," Yoon said on Thursday.
"KASA will strive to land a homegrown probe on the moon by 2032 and plant the Taegeukgi (South Korean flag) on Mars by 2045," he said.
South Korea sent up its first lunar orbiter, Danuri, in 2022 on a SpaceX Falcon rocket.
It also successfully launched its homegrown Nuri rocket and placed working satellites into orbit last year after two failed attempts.
Seoul is now gearing up for its fourth launch of the Nuri rocket in the second half of 2025.
Modeled after the United States' NASA, KASA says it will act as an "aerospace control tower", overseeing aerospace policy, satellite development and space missions, including moon exploration.
Commercialization is Key to Continued US Space Leadership
Thursday, 30 May 2024 12:38Will France opt in or out of the U.S. Space Command’s Operation Olympic Defender?
Thursday, 30 May 2024 11:00Chinese reusable rocket maker to cooperate on new MEO constellation
Thursday, 30 May 2024 10:47AI startup Wallaroo tapped to help Space Force operationalize machine learning
Thursday, 30 May 2024 09:00Space industry faces new limits on hazardous chemicals
Thursday, 30 May 2024 08:40Health and environmental challenges and regulations in ESA Member States regarding the use of hazardous chemicals are set to further impact space programmes, the space sector and its supply chains.