Ariane 6 first flight timeline
Thursday, 04 July 2024 14:21
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Ariane 6 first flight timeline EarthCARE offers a sneak peek into Earth’s energy balance
Thursday, 04 July 2024 14:20
Offering a foretaste of what’s to come once it is fully commissioned, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite has returned the first images from its broadband radiometer instrument. These initial images offer a tantalising glimpse into the intricacies of our planet’s energy balance – a delicate balance that governs our climate.
Airbus secures $2.5 billion German military satellite contract
Thursday, 04 July 2024 13:42
Engineers send 3D printer into space
Thursday, 04 July 2024 13:30
Imagine a crew of astronauts headed to Mars. About 140 million miles away from Earth, they discover their spacecraft has a cracked O-ring. But instead of relying on a dwindling cache of spare parts, what if they could simply fabricate any part they needed on demand?
A team of Berkeley researchers, led by Ph.D. student Taylor Waddell, may have taken a giant leap toward making this option a reality. On June 8, they sent their 3D printing technology to space for the first time as part of the Virgin Galactic 07 mission.
Their next-generation microgravity printer—dubbed SpaceCAL—spent 140 seconds in suborbital space while aboard the VSS Unity space plane. In that short time span, it autonomously printed and post-processed a total of four test parts, including space shuttles and benchy figurines from a liquid plastic called PEGDA.
"SpaceCAL performed well under microgravity conditions in past tests aboard parabolic flights, but it still had something to prove," said Waddell.
A concentrated beam of particles and photons could push us to Proxima Centauri
Thursday, 04 July 2024 13:00
Getting to Proxima Centauri b will take a lot of new technologies, but there are increasingly exciting reasons to do so. Both public and private efforts have started seriously looking at ways to make it happen, but so far, there has been one significant roadblock to the journey—propulsion.
To solve that problem, Christopher Limbach, now a professor at the University of Michigan, is working on a novel type of beamed propulsion that utilizes both a particle beam and a laser to overcome that technology's biggest weakness.
SpaceX completes Starlink launch, brings Direct to Cell satellite total to 103
Thursday, 04 July 2024 12:32
SpaceX early Wednesday launched a new round of Starlink satellites into orbit in its first launch for the month of July after it saw a slight delay.
The liftoff at pad 40 took place in at 4:55 a.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida after a 2-hour delay.
The Falcon 9 rocket carried with it 20 Starlink satellites that were successfully put into space above Eart Orbit Fab Delivers First Grip In-space Refueling Nozzle Following Successful Testing
Thursday, 04 July 2024 12:32
Orbit Fab has announced the completion of testing of its refueling payload and testing of the GRIP capture and active in-space refueling nozzle with automated docking, which eliminates the need for complex robotic arms for refueling.
After completing rigorous GRIP testing and in-space refueling simulations, Orbit Fab has successfully retired major technical risks ahead of key government an PLD Space invests 10 million euros in MIURA 5 launch complex in French Guiana
Thursday, 04 July 2024 12:32
The launcher company PLD Space has announced an investment of 10 million euros in MIURA 5 Launch Complex at Guiana Space Center (CSG), Europe's spaceport in Kourou (French Guiana), owned by the French Space Agency (CNES) and the European Space Agency (ESA). With the first launch of its rocket at the end of 2025, PLD Space will become the first non-institutional launch operator that will go to or Space Pioneer Issues Apology After Engine Test Explosion
Thursday, 04 July 2024 12:32
Chinese commercial company Space Pioneer issued an apology to the public on Tuesday after a test of the first stage engines of the Tianlong-3 rocket failed in Henan province causing explosions in the mountainous area and disturbances to people's lives.
Tianlong-3, a two-stage kerosene-liquid oxygen rocket comparable to SpaceX's Falcon 9, experienced the failure during a test of its nine en NASA Seeks Feedback on Requirements for New Commercial Space Stations
Thursday, 04 July 2024 12:32
NASA is asking American companies to provide input on the agency's requirements for end-to-end services as part of the Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development Program.
In the future, the agency plans to transition its operations in low Earth orbit to commercially owned and operated destinations to ensure continued access and presence in space for research, technology development, and intern Space Renaissance International Achieves Observer Status At U.N. COPUOS
Thursday, 04 July 2024 12:32
Space Renaissance International (SRI) is proud to announce it has been granted provisional observer status for three years at the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). This milestone decision was achieved during the 67th COPUOS General Assembly held from June 19-28, 2024, in Vienna, Austria.SRI joins four other newly approved non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Starliner undergoing thruster testing before indefinite return flight
Thursday, 04 July 2024 12:32
An initial eight-day Boeing Starliner test mission to the International Space Station will be extended indefinitely to test the spacecraft's thrusters.
Test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are safely aboard the ISS and are not stranded in space, NASA commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said during a briefing Friday.
But there is no targeted return date "until we get th HERA crew complete 45-day simulated journey to Mars
Thursday, 04 July 2024 12:32
Four dedicated explorersJason Lee, Stephanie Navarro, Shareef Al Romaithi, and Piyumi Wijesekarajust returned from a 45-day simulated journey to Mars, testing the boundaries of human endurance and teamwork within the space agencys HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog) habitat at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Their groundbreaking work on HERAs Campaign 7 Mission 2 contributes to the s