NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe passes system integration review
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 08:59
The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) marked the completion of an important step on the path to spacecraft assembly, test, and launch operations in late September 2023 at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland.
The IMAP team met with a review panel to evaluate the plan for integrating all systems onto the spacecraft, such as the scientific instrumentation, electrical and communication systems, and navigation systems.
Successful completion of this System Integration Review (SIR) means that the project can proceed with assembling and testing the spacecraft in preparation for launch. This process is a bit like a carefully choreographed dance where the instruments and support systems are delivered to different facilities, tested together in chambers in Los Alamos, New Mexico; San Antonio, Texas; and Princeton, New Jersey; and shipped back to be integrated and tested again altogether.
Historic wind tunnel facility testing NASA's Mars ascent vehicle rocket
Monday, 25 September 2023 19:47
The MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle) team recently completed wind tunnel testing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in a facility that has been a critical part of NASA missions going all the way back to the Apollo program.
U.S. Space Force and Astroscale to co-invest in a refueling satellite
Monday, 25 September 2023 18:16
Image: Spacecraft bus for satellite servicing mission arrives at NASA Goddard
Monday, 25 September 2023 16:40
On Sept. 20, 2023, the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) spacecraft bus arrived at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, after its journey from a Maxar facility in California. Following this critical milestone, engineers at Goddard can begin to integrate the mission's servicing payload onto the bus and begin to test the integrated spacecraft in simulated space environments.
When integration and testing are complete, OSAM-1 will be ready to demonstrate robotic satellite servicing technologies in space. The OSAM-1 mission is planned to be the first to robotically refuel a spacecraft not designed for on-orbit servicing. The servicer will rendezvous with, grapple, and berth the government-owned Landsat 7 spacecraft, and then use a suite of tools to replenish its hydrazine fuel tank.
In addition to the mission's servicing objectives, OSAM-1 will also include an assembly demonstration provided by commercial partner Maxar, the same company that provided the spacecraft bus. That demonstration will use a robotic arm from the Space Infrastructure Dexterous Robot (SPIDER) payload to assemble a functional Ka-band antenna on orbit from stowed hexagonal pieces.
SpaceX sets up 200th reflight with Cape Canaveral launch Saturday night
Monday, 25 September 2023 16:37
SpaceX's reusability juggernaut keeps rolling with a planned Space Coast launch Saturday night that would mark the 200th time the company has relied on a previously launched booster to get its payloads to space.
A Falcon 9 rocket flying on the Starlink 6-18 mission carrying 22 of its Starlink satellites is set to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:07 p.m. with three more options Saturday night from 9:57 p.m. until 12:05 a.m. Sunday. Another four backup options fall Sunday night between 8:41 p.m. and 11:39 p.m.
The first-stage booster is making a record-tying 17th flight with a planned recovery landing down range on droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.
Space Launch Delta 45's weather squadron predicts 95% chance for good conditions, and in the event of a 24-hour delay, chances would be 90% sliding to 80% chance across the three-hour window.
It marks the 200th reuse of a booster among its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. If it sticks the landing, it will be the 228th successful recovery since the first success in December 2015.
The first steps of the Huginn mission
Monday, 25 September 2023 14:00
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ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen has begun his Huginn mission, turning the International Space Station into his home and workplace. After piloting on Crew Dragon Endurance as the first non-US pilot, Andreas has started performing European experiments and technology demonstrations with many more to come throughout the mission.
Beijing to foster commercial space and satellite constellations as key future industries
Monday, 25 September 2023 13:02
Turning up gravity for space fungi study
Monday, 25 September 2023 07:39
Fungi in space have been a plot point in Star Trek: Discovery, but they are also a very real problem for astronauts and space stations. United Nations co-sponsored testing by a team from Macau in China subjected fungi to hypergravity with ESA’s fast-spinning centrifuge.
Andreas Mogensen: International Space Station commander
Monday, 25 September 2023 07:00
ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will become the commander of the International Space Station, the sixth European to take the role. Tune in to ESA WebTV channel 2 tomorrow, 26 September at 15:40 CEST (14:40 BST) to watch the ceremony when Andreas becomes the commander.
Fast-tracking fusion energy's arrival with AI and accessibility
Sunday, 24 September 2023 20:16
As the impacts of climate change continue to grow, so does interest in fusion's potential as a clean energy source. While fusion reactions have been studied in laboratories since the 1930s, there are still many critical questions scientists must answer to make fusion power a reality, and time is of the essence.
As part of their strategy to accelerate fusion energy's arrival and reach carbo Harnessing high-dimensional quantum states
Sunday, 24 September 2023 20:16
Quantum technology's future rests on the exploitation of fascinating quantum mechanics concepts - such as high-dimensional quantum states. Think of these as states basic ingredients of quantum information science and quantum tech. To manipulate these states, scientists have turned to light, specifically a property called orbital angular momentum (OAM), which deals with how light twists and turns Six of nine planetary boundaries now exceeded
Sunday, 24 September 2023 20:16
Copenhagen, Denmarl (SPX) Sep 19, 2023
A new study updates the planetary boundary framework and shows human activities are increasingly impacting the planet and, thereby, increasing the risk of triggering dramatic changes in overall Earth conditions.
For over 3 billion years, the interaction between life (represented by the planetary boundary, Biosphere Integrity) and climate have control NASA’s First Asteroid Sample Has Landed, Now Secure in Clean Room
Sunday, 24 September 2023 20:00
After years of anticipation and hard work by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer) team, a capsule of rocks and dust collected from asteroid Bennu finally is on Earth. It landed at 8:52 a.m. MDT (10:52 a.m. EDT) on Sunday, in a targeted area of the Department of Defense’s Uta