Arqit launches sale of satellite division
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 19:13British cybersecurity software developer Arqit has hired financial adviser Silverpeak to sell its space division following interest from potential buyers, according to a source close to the process.
Just 1 in 5 employees in the space industry are women—this lack of diversity is holding us back, say researchers
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 16:56This week, the Australian Space Summit is celebrating some of our nation's strengths and achievements in the space sector. But it's taking place under the shadow of significant cuts to space technology investment announced in last week's federal budget.
Space technologies play a critical role in responding to many national priorities, such as climate and disaster resilience, connecting regional Australians, contributing to regional security and driving economic growth. Yet, the sector suffers from a branding issue—most people think of rockets and astronauts, rather than the satellites we depend on globally.
This leads to a misunderstanding in government of the importance of space technologies to the issues we are seeking to solve. It also makes it harder to recruit talented people to the field.
So, how do we find enough people with the skills necessary to grow this critical technology sector?
Why diversity and inclusivity matter
The answer is placing a new priority on talent recruitment and expanding diversity and inclusivity in the space sector.
The space sector needs workers from all different backgrounds and disciplines, but is struggling to attract a diverse talent pool.
Enter outer space at your own risk?
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 13:42If you pay a company like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, or Boeing to go into space, perhaps even perform your own spacewalk, should those companies be bound by safety regulations issued by the FAA? Currently, the answer is “no,” thanks to a law that bans federal regulation of commercial space enterprises.
Space test shows magnolia may be best for wooden artificial satellite LignoSat
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 13:09An international project led by Kyoto University tested and confirmed the high durability of space wood at the International Space Station—the ISS. The experiment results showed minimal deterioration and good stability of the samples selected for the wooden artificial satellite LignoSat.
The research group conducted a preliminary inspection involving strength tests and elemental and crystal structural analyses of the wood samples, retrieved from space by Astronaut Koichi Wakata and returned to Earth from the ISS on SpaceX CRS-26—a Commercial Resupply Service mission.
Despite the extreme environment of outer space involving significant temperature changes and exposure to intense cosmic rays and dangerous solar particles for ten months, tests confirmed no decomposition or deformations, such as cracking, warping, peeling, or surface damage.
Three wood specimens were tested and showed no deformation after space exposure. The experiment results also confirmed no mass change in each wood specimen before and after space exposure.
China calls for space station commercial cargo proposals
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:56China’s human spaceflight agency is seeking to foster a commercial, low-cost transportation system to deliver cargo to and from its Tiangong space station.
Sales rocket for Zenno's fuel-free satellite pointing system
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:12Zenno Astronautics (Zenno) reports has surpassed $75M in product sales (USD 48M) for its world-first superconducting magnetorquer for spacecraft attitude control, the Z01. Built on Zenno's proprietary superconducting magnet technology, Z01 is a fuel-free satellite pointing system designed to significantly increases the range of capabilities for attitude control in space, including fully au
Space Forge enables reusable satellites with new way of returning from space to Earth
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:12Space Forge reveals their patent protected design of a planet-friendly reusable re-entry system, which will enable the low cost and reliable return of satellites to Earth. Although the cost of launching satellites into space has become lower through the use of reusability, all current commercial space return vehicles use ablative heat shields which require replacement after every flight. S
Terran Orbital PTD-3 enables 200Gbits space-to-ground optical link
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:12Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP) announced a significant achievement in space-to-ground communication, successfully enabling a 200 gigabits per second optical link through the Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 3 (PTD-3) satellite. The NASA satellite hosts the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) payload, funded by NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) and developed by MIT Linco
LiveEO and Capella Space offer fast, high-res SAR imaging to asset managers
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:12LiveEO, a market leader in Earth observation analytics and solutions for high-value infrastructure and energy asset monitoring, has announced a partnership with Capella Space, the world's leading provider of high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. As the first certified Capella Analytics Partner, LiveEO will integrate all-weather, 24/7 SAR imagery from Capella Space into its adva
Research announcement for technology development leveraging ISS is open for concepts
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:12The International Space Station National Laboratory is soliciting flight concepts for technology development that would utilize the space-based environment of the orbiting laboratory. This solicitation, "Technology Advancement and Applied Research Leveraging the ISS National Lab," is open to a broad range of technology areas, including chemical and material synthesis in space, bonding, tra
InVADER mission to test its robotic laser divebot on a deep-sea expedition
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:12A team of scientists and engineers from the SETI Institute, Impossible Sensing, NASA JPL, and other institutions will test their innovative robotic laser system on a deep-sea expedition aboard the E/V Nautilus. The mission, called InVADER (In-situ Vent Analysis Divebot for Exobiology Research), aims to advance technologies to explore, characterize and sample the seabed here on Earth. In particul
New deal inked to space test meta-optical surfaces
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:12A new engineering study has been commissioned by the European Space Agency (under PECS, the Program for European Cooperating States), to prove the reliability of meta-optical elements for space use in a collaboration between the ESA, Bulgarian start-up company LaboraXpert and TMOS, the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems. In the first st
EarthCARE, when a satellite sheds light on the clouds
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:12EarthCARE is an important new satellite designed and built by Airbus to help scientists better understand climate change on clouds, aerosols and radiation. Under construction for the European Space Agency (ESA), Airbus successfully completed the Electro-Magnetic Compatibility tests in April 2023 and now this latest ESA "Earth Explorer" satellite is getting closer to launch next year. The i
Axiom Space's second crewed mission gets green light
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:12Axiom Space's second, entirely private space mission is on track for a Sunday launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, officials said Monday. The launch is planned for 5:37 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A. Should bad weather set in, controllers could try again the next day. If the weather does not cooperate
NASA Gears Up to Train Artemis II crew for Moon mission
Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:12The four astronauts who will fly on NASA's Artemis II flight are getting ready to begin their training in June, as NASA prepares for the first crewed mission on the agency's path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will compl