Moscow (AFP) Dec 19, 2021
After a decade-long hiatus, Russia is relaunching an ambitious bid for dominion over the world's budding space tourism industry, jostling with zealous billionaires, the United States, and rising China. Russia flaunted its comeback this month dispatching two cosmic adventurers - Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant - to the International Space Station (ISS) in its first lau

Paris (AFP) Dec 18, 2021
The much-delayed launch of the James Webb space telescope will go ahead on December 24, NASA and the company overseeing the launch confirmed on Saturday. The project, begun in 1989, was originally expected to deploy the instrument - which will be the largest and most powerful telescope ever to be launched into space - in the early 2000s. But multiple problems forced delays and a tripli

Paris, France (SPX) Dec 20, 2021
Virgin Orbit, the responsive launch and space solutions company that has announced a planned business combination with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II, has announced an agreement to acquire a 17.5% stake in geospatial analytics company Hypersat LLC. This investment will further expand Virgin Orbit's space solutions business by providing highly accurate electro-optic and hyperspectral imagery

Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 20, 2021
Sounds from a Ganymede flyby, magnetic fields, and remarkable comparisons between Jupiter and Earth's oceans and atmospheres were discussed during a briefing on NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in New Orleans. Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio has debuted a 50-second audio track generated

Beijing (XNA) Dec 20, 2021
China is making preparations for a moon landing that will place its astronauts on the lunar surface, according to a senior official at the China Manned Space Agency. Dong Nengli, head of the agency's technology bureau, said at a news conference at the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee in Beijing on Friday afternoon that space program planners and engineers are researching t

Tallinn, Estonia (SPX) Dec 20, 2021
Katriin Kristmann, a doctoral student in chemical and materials science at TalTech (Tallinn University of Technology), began research aimed at developing technology for the production of monograin layer solar cells on the Moon. The results of the research activity are planned to be used to provide electricity to future lunar outposts of the European Space Agency (ESA) and its international

Austin TX (SPX) Dec 20, 2021
CesiumAstro, Inc., with support from The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is accelerating radio frequency (RF) active phased array antenna development enabling dual function communications and sensing for lunar and cislunar applications across common Ka-band, TDRS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite), and 5G mmWave frequency bands. High-performance communication links f

Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 20, 2021
Our Sol 3326 drive was successful, completing our shot through the Maria Gordon notch, with its spectacular structures and deep shadows, and continuing our climb up Mount Sharp. To keep MAHLI safe over the upcoming holiday break, this plan was the last chance to take images with MAHLI's cover open until we plan the sols post-holiday, so the team was on the hunt for a good target. For MAHLI

Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 20, 2021
We had quite a few special investigations lately, which took the front seat (read: all our power and time) lately. They ranged from boulders to DAN investigations that saw the rover parked very close to a cliff face. We are starting this 3 sol plan with DAN passive observations to wrap up before driving away from the cliff face and a post drive DAN active. The atmospheric investigations ha

Beijing (XNA) Dec 20, 2021
The debut flight of Huayi-1 suborbital rocket took place on Friday afternoon at a testing field in northwestern China, carrying an experimental satellite to an altitude of 250 kilometers, according to a joint statement from the rocket and satellite makers. The Huayi-1 rocket blasted off at 2:30 pm, transporting the Agile Testbed experimental satellite and a biological experimental payload