Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 13, 2022
This morning's planning kicked off with great news! Our Sol 3620 SAM data of the Canaima drill sample was interesting enough to proceed with planning a Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) experiment. This type of activity is one of SAM's specialties and can help characterize the chemistry of the rock we're parked in front of, including the presence of compounds essential to life as we kno

Paris (ESA) Oct 13, 2022
We have now discovered 30 039 near-Earth asteroids in the Solar System - rocky bodies orbiting the Sun on a path that brings them close to Earth's orbit. The majority of these were discovered in the last decade, showing how our ability to detect potentially risky asteroids is rapidly improving. An asteroid is called a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) when its trajectory brings it within 1.3 Astro

Utrecht, The Netherlands (SPX) Oct 13, 2022
At a slow pace, the Moon is moving away from the Earth and the Earth is rotating more slowly around its axis. To say something about these changes in the distant past, geologists use information stored in rocks and fossils. But the further back in time they look, the more difficult it becomes to retrieve this information. An international team of earth scientists has now managed to accurately de

Long Beach CA (SPX) Oct 13, 2022
Building on their shared record for successful collaboration in responsive space, Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR), a global provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, has entered a binding Launch Service Agreement with leading launch provider, Virgin Orbit (Nasdaq: VORB), to purchase multiple launches over several years. The first launch is expected to take place in 2023.

Wallops Island, VA (SPX) Oct 13, 2022
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) reports that the Electron rocket to be launched in the Company's first mission from U.S. soil has arrived at Launch Complex 2 in Virginia. The mission will deploy satellites for radio frequency geospatial analytics provider HawkEye 360 and will be Rocket Lab's first lift-off from Launch Complex 2 at Virginia Space's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within

Alameda CA (SPX) Oct 13, 2022
Astra Space, Inc. ("Astra") (Nasdaq: ASTR) announced that it has reached an agreement with Maxar Technologies ("Maxar") (TSX:MAXR) to supply Astra Spacecraft Engines. The propulsion systems will be used in Maxar's proliferated low Earth orbit (LEO) spacecrafts, which support a wide variety of global coverage missions, including Earth observation, communications and national security. Astra expec

Washington (AFP) Oct 12, 2022
Dennis Tito, an American entrepreneur who in 2001 became the first person to pay for their own space voyage, said Wednesday he plans to fly with his wife Akiko on a future SpaceX mission around the Moon. The voyage will take place after Elon Musk's company has finished developing its prototype Starship rocket and has flown a first commercial flight that will include Japanese billionaire Yusa

Washington DC (UPI) Oct 12, 2021
After a string of setbacks, the U.S. space agency, NASA, said Wednesday it would try again to conduct its Artemis I test flight to the moon on Nov. 14. NASA said it's found a 69-minute launch window that opens shortly after noon EST on Nov. 14 for the mission. Crews in late September were forced to scrub a launch and move the $4.1 billion rocket from the launch pad back to its st

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 13, 2022
Micrometeorites are a potential hazard for any space mission, including NASA's Mars Sample Return. The tiny rocks can travel up to 50 miles per second. At these speeds, "even dust could cause damage to a spacecraft," said Bruno Sarli, NASA engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. Sarli leads a team designing shields to protect NASA's Mars Earth Entry System from

Washington DC (UPI) Oct 12, 2021
A Japanese rocket attempting to launch a satellite into space self-destructed after it failed to reach trajectory after liftoff on Wednesday. The Epsilon-6 rocket took off from the Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Wednesday. The rocket, though, deviated from its intended trajectory shortly after leaving the launching pad. Officials from the Japan Aerospace Explor