Beijing, China (SPX) Nov 02, 2022
Solar sail, a form of longevous spacecraft without propellant demand, attracts numerous aerospace researchers' attention. Its prolongable peculiarity enables its tremendous potential in diverse interplanetary missions. Due to the harsh space environment, it is inevitable that the spacecraft with long time on-orbit suffers the performance degradation and accident. Especially, the force model will

Washington (AFP) Nov 1, 2022
SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket from Florida Tuesday, the first flight since 2019 of the world's most powerful rocket. Mission USSF-44, transporting cargo for the US Space Force, including the TETRA 1 satellite, blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center around 9:40 am (1340 GMT). Several minutes later, the rocket's two side boosters made their way back to Earth - the craft's m

Beijing (XNA) Nov 01, 2022
China's Mengtian space lab module, the third major component of the nation's Tiangong space station, was launched on Monday afternoon in a key step to complete the in-orbit assembly of Tiangong. The lab module's carrier - a Long March 5B heavy-lift rocket - blasted off at 3:37 pm from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southernmost island province of Hainan. After flying more th

Vienna VA (SPX) Nov 02, 2022
Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR), a leading global provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, was awarded a contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to deliver a preliminary design for a satellite that would carry an array of sensors to very low Earth orbit (VLEO) for in-situ ionosphere measurements. The award is part of DARPA's Ouija program, which

Durham NH (SPX) Nov 02, 2022
Research from a team of physicists at the University of New Hampshire is advancing the understanding of how protons, which comprise 95% of the mass of the visible universe, interact with each other. The results provide a benchmark for testing the strong force, one of the four fundamental forces in nature. "There's a lot still unanswered about both of those things, the proton and the strong

San Antonio TX (SPX) Nov 02, 2022
On September 26, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft crashed into Dimorphos, a moonlet of the near-Earth asteroid Didymos, at 14,000 miles per hour. Prior to the impact, Southwest Research Institute engineers and scientists performed an experiment to study the cratering process that produces the mass of ejected materials and measures the subsequent momentum enhancement of t

Washington DC (UPI) Nov 1, 2021
NASA's InSight spacecraft is nearing the end of its life after four years on Mars. The Mars InSight lander was sent to the Red Planet in 2018 to study its crust, mantle and core. Heavy dust buildup on its solar panels, the chief source of its power supply, is bringing it within weeks of becoming inoperable, NASA said Tuesday. Officials said the lander is operating at about 20% of

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 02, 2022
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has confirmed that it will attempt to catch an Electron rocket with a helicopter as it returns to Earth from space during the Company's next launch. Rocket Lab's 32nd Electron launch, the "Catch Me If You Can" mission, is scheduled to launch from Pad B at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 during a launch window opening on November 04, UTC. Electron will carry