London, UK (SPX) Feb 04, 2025
Astroscale Limited has reached a critical threshold with the first in-space deployment of its second-generation (Gen 2) docking plate. This hardware, now traveling aboard SpaceX's Transporter-12 rideshare mission that launched on Jan 14, 2025, sets the stage for more robust satellite servicing capabilities. Integrated on an Astro Digital Corvus-XL bus, the Gen 2 docking plate showcases for

London UK (SPX) Feb 04 2025
A space-based effort could soon uncover the nature of dark matter, one of the universe's most perplexing forces. Although invisible, this substance composes nearly 85 percent of cosmic mass, challenging scientists for decades. Now, a group at the University of Southampton has outlined a strategy to track dark matter by measuring faint disturbances in zero gravity. Researchers plan to fire

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 04, 2025
A team of researchers led by Dr. Sofia Sheikh from the SETI Institute, in collaboration with the Characterizing Atmospheric Technosignatures project and the Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence Center, investigated whether an extraterrestrial society with technology akin to ours might detect Earth and the evidence of humanity. They sought to identify which signals would be visible and how fa

Paris, France (SPX) Feb 04, 2025
A space rock crashed into the martian surface in February 2021, generating seismic waves that extended 1640 km to reach NASA's InSight lander. The collision carved out a crater about 21 m wide and disturbed roughly 1400 m. ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), through its Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS), captured the explosive moment. Marsquakes, the martian counterparts

This new NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month presents HH 30 in unprecedented detail. This target is an edge-on protoplanetary disc that is surrounded by jets and a disc wind, and is located in the dark cloud LDN 1551 in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. 

Today, ESA, the Finnish government and the Finnish Meteorological Institute took the initial steps towards establishing a ‘supersite’ for Earth observation calibration and validation in Sodankylä in Finnish Lapland.

Envisaged as a joint investment, this world-class site would bring benefits to both ESA, by helping to further ensure satellites deliver accurate data over high latitude environments, and to Finland by providing Finnish businesses with new opportunities to develop and test environmental sensors and technology.

‘Here there be dragons’ – medieval mapmakers would daub such warnings on dangerous or unknown recesses of mariners’ charts. Fast forward to the 21^st century and the space surrounding our planet holds ‘dragons’ of its own: fierce radiation belts that surround Earth, Jupiter and other planets, and storms of particles originating from the Sun that travel far into space. A dedicated class of engineers work to safeguard space missions from such dangers.

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 03, 2025
Recent analysis using NASA radar technology has revealed that a long-active landslide zone on the Palos Verdes Peninsula has expanded, raising concerns about infrastructure and safety. Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California utilized airborne radar data to examine the gradual movement of the Palos Verdes Peninsula landslides. Their study found that betwe

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 30, 2025
Planet Labs Germany GmbH, a prominent provider of daily Earth observation data and insights, has announced a new multi-year contract with the European Space Agency (ESA). This agreement sees Planet officially joining the Copernicus Contributing Missions, offering its commercial satellite data alongside ESA's Sentinel satellites for enhanced geospatial analysis. As part of the deal, Planet