Copernical Team
Lunar Outpost Partners with Castrol for Lunar Mission Operations
Lunar Outpost has announced that Castrol will be the lead collaborator for its Mission Control Center during the upcoming Lunar Voyage 1 mission, set to launch later this year. This Mission Control Center will serve as the operational hub for Lunar Voyage 1 (LV1), providing crucial oversight and decision-making capabilities.
The LV1 mission will target Shackleton Connecting Ridge near the Neuraspace Enhances Space Traffic Management Through EISCAT Partnership
Neuraspace has expanded its network of partners by joining the EISCAT Scientific Association as an affiliate institution. EISCAT Scientific Association, known for providing high-latitude incoherent radar scattering facilities for scientific research since the 1980s, will now collaborate with Neuraspace, a leading European company in space traffic management (STM).
This collaboration grants SpaceX launches second round of Maxar's next-gen satellites into orbit
SpaceX on Thursday successfully launched into orbit two Earth-imaging satellites in its second round to build on its WorldView Legion constellation of satellites for Maxar.
The launch took place at 9 a.m. EDT at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. WorldView's Legion 3 and 4 satellites were carried into space on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 in what was Lockheed Martin Set to Acquire Terran Orbital for $450 Million
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Terran Orbital [NYSE: LLAP], a leading provider of satellite-based solutions primarily serving the aerospace and defense sectors. The transaction, valued at approximately $450 million, is expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2024, pending regulatory and stockholder approvals.
Terran Orbital, known for Researchers develop a test bed for separating valuable material on the moon
It's often better to flesh out technologies fully on Earth's surface before they're used in space. That is doubly true if that technology is part of the critical infrastructure keeping astronauts alive on the moon.
Since that infrastructure will undoubtedly use in-situ resources—known as in-situ resource utilization (ISRU)—developing test beds here on Earth for those ISRU processes is critical to derisking the technologies before they're used on a mission.
That's the plan for a test bed designed by researchers at the German Aerospace Center in Bremen—they designed it to improve how well we gather water and oxygen from lunar regolith. Unfortunately, as their work described in a recent paper published in Frontiers in Space Technologies demonstrates, it will be a challenge to do so.
Water and oxygen are two critical components of any long-term lunar exploration plan.
August's supermoon kicks off four months of lunar spectacles. Here's how to watch
The first of four supermoons this year rises next week, providing tantalizing views of Earth's constant companion.
Stargazers can catch the first act Monday as the full moon inches a little closer than usual, making it appear slightly bigger and brighter in the night sky.
"I like to think of the supermoon as a good excuse to start looking at the moon more regularly," said Noah Petro, project scientist for NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
August's supermoon kicks off a string of lunar spectacles. September's supermoon will coincide with a partial lunar eclipse.
International astronomy group joins calls for a lunar clock to keep time on the moon
Time moves a tad faster on the moon. Now an international group of astronomers has joined calls to give the moon its own clock so that future space missions can keep track of minutes on the celestial body.
The International Astronomical Union voted Thursday encouraging space organizations across the globe to collaborate on a timekeeping standard for the moon, where one day lasts 29.5 Earth days.
"That's the crux of our resolution: to work together to establish this standard time," U.S. Naval Observatory's Susan Stewart said this week at the group's conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
Satellites are making the night sky brighter—as a launch site, NZ has a duty to combat light pollution
New Zealand's space sector has been developing rapidly since the first rocket lifted off in 2017. It now contributes about NZ$1.7 billion in revenue, with plans to grow to $10 billion by 2030.
Last year, New Zealand hosted seven rocket launches, all by the US-listed but local company Rocket Lab. It was in response to Rocket Lab's initial proposal for a launch site that New Zealand developed a regulatory system from scratch in less than two years to meet obligations under international law.
All launch nations have to register every object they send into space, and continue to supervise those objects to ensure no damage or loss occurs to another country's objects or activities. They also have a responsibility to compensate for any harm.
As well, countries must prevent contamination of outer space and Earth's environment, and ensure space activity does not interfere with other countries' rights to free access and participation.
Innovative Sound-Based System Enhances Wind Measurement on Mars
Mars presents a challenging environment for measuring wind speeds due to its extreme temperatures, thin atmosphere, and dusty terrain. Traditional methods, such as gauging the cooling rate of heated materials or using cameras to observe "tell-tales" swayed by the wind, have provided valuable data on Martian weather. However, as plans to send astronauts to the red planet progress, there is a grow Evidence of Hydration Found on Asteroid Psyche by SwRI-Led Team
A team led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has identified hydroxyl molecules on the surface of the metallic asteroid Psyche using data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. The discovery of these hydrated minerals suggests that Psyche has a more complex history than previously understood, providing key insights as NASA's Psyche spacecraft makes its way to the asteroid, currently orb