
Copernical Team
Rocket Lab claims 'mission success' after deploying 2 commercial satellites into orbit

Britain backs Rolls Royce effort to develop micro-reactor to power moon base

Spirit AeroSystems, Astraius join forces to boost UK launch ambitions

Virgin Orbit suspends operations, in wake of failed orbital launch

Earth from Space: Okavango Delta, Botswana

Hubble’s neighbourhood watch

Week in images: 13-17 March 2023

Week in images: 13-17 March 2023
Discover our week through the lens
How students built Ireland's first satellite

How students built Ireland's first satellite
Satellite powered by 48 AA batteries and a $20 microprocessor shows a low-cost way to reduce space junk

Common sense suggests that space missions can only happen with multimillion-dollar budgets, materials built to withstand the unforgiving conditions beyond Earth's atmosphere, and as a result of work done by highly trained specialists.
But a team of engineering students from Brown University has turned that assumption on its head.
They built a satellite on a shoestring budget and using off-the-shelf supplies available at most hardware stores. They even sent the satellite—which is powered by 48 Energizer AA batteries and a $20 microprocessor popular with robot hobbyists—into space about 10 months ago, hitching a ride on Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket.
Prototype telescope launched to the International Space Station

A prototype telescope designed and built by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers has been launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida to the International Space Station (ISS).
Known as the Stellar Occultation Hypertemporal Imaging Payload (SOHIP), the telescope uses LLNL patented-monolithic optics technology on a gimbal to observe and measure atmospheric gravity waves and turbulence.