Spacewalks become 'routine' after 12th mission
Tuesday, 18 April 2023 10:37Shenzhou XV mission members conducted their fourth spacewalk on Saturday, surpassing previous crews, according to China Manned Space Agency. In a news release on Sunday afternoon, the agency said that mission commander Major General Fei Junlong and Senior Colonel Zhang Lu completed the spacewalk and then returned to the Wentian science module. The third crew member, Senior Colonel Deng Qin
Icy Moonquakes: Surface Shaking Could Trigger Landslides
Tuesday, 18 April 2023 10:37A new NASA study offers an explanation of how quakes could be the source of the mysteriously smooth terrain on moons circling Jupiter and Saturn. Many of the ice-encrusted moons orbiting the giant planets in the far reaches of our solar system are known to be geologically active. Jupiter and Saturn have such strong gravity that they stretch and pull the bodies orbiting them, causing moonqu
China's space station achieves 100 pct regeneration of oxygen resources
Tuesday, 18 April 2023 10:37China's space station, with the Shenzhou-15 crew now in orbit, can produce 100 percent of its oxygen supply through its onboard regeneration system, according to a space technology conference in Harbin, capital of China's northernmost Heilongjiang Province. The development reflects that fundamental transformation of the environmental control and life-support system for China's manned space
Trailblazing Aeolus mission winding down
Tuesday, 18 April 2023 10:10On 30 April 2023, all nominal operations of Aeolus, the first mission to observe Earth’s wind profiles on a global scale, will conclude in preparation for a series of end of life activities.
ESA working on human spaceflight scenarios for European space summit
Tuesday, 18 April 2023 09:41The European Space Agency is preparing for a space summit this fall to win support for a new human spaceflight initiative as well as a new launch strategy.
AWS chooses 14 startups for its third space accelerator program
Tuesday, 18 April 2023 08:00Amazon Web Services said April 18 it picked 14 U.S.
SpaceX reschedules Starship test flight for Thursday
Tuesday, 18 April 2023 03:43SpaceX has rescheduled for Thursday the first test flight of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, designed to send astronauts to the Moon, Mars and beyond, after a technical glitch forced a halt to the countdown. A planned liftoff Monday of the gigantic rocket was called off less than 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled launch because of a pressurization issue in the first-stage boos
Export control update on the way
Tuesday, 18 April 2023 03:16Export control rules promised in 2019, when the U.S.
Speed and safety are top priorities for regulators
Monday, 17 April 2023 21:10Efforts to streamline and accelerate space licensing procedures to keep up with rapid innovation are bearing fruit, according to a Space Symposium panel of regulators.
Lamborn urges military leaders to be less secretive on space issues
Monday, 17 April 2023 21:01Solar sails could guide interplanetary travel, says new study
Monday, 17 April 2023 19:50Space travel has brought us to our next-door neighbor, the moon, and to the depths of our larger solar community inhabited by giants such as Saturn and Jupiter.
In 1982, Voyager 2 whisked past Uranus closer than any other spacecraft has since, and now is sailing—46 years after its launch—through the constellation of Pavo, some 179 light years from Earth.
But there have been few comparable satellite missions in recent years. Cost is the main obstacle, but time frame is also a factor. The design for such long journeys takes years to calculate, and planning and construction of a space vehicle would take about a decade. Factoring in the time a satellite would require to reach distant targets means our next peek into the stars will likely not come any time soon.
A team of scientists led by Slava Turyshev of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, which launched the Voyager satellites back in 1977, is anxious to get space exploration back on track. The team proposes a novel means of travel that could get us to the stars faster and cheaper.
Solar sails could guide interplanetary travel, says new study (Update)
Monday, 17 April 2023 19:50Space travel has brought us to our next-door neighbor, the moon, and to the depths of our larger solar community inhabited by giants such as Saturn and Jupiter.
In 1982, Voyager 2 whisked past Uranus closer than any other spacecraft has since, and now is sailing—46 years after its launch—through the constellation of Pavo, some 179 light years from Earth.
But there have been few comparable satellite missions in recent years. Cost is the main obstacle, but time frame is also a factor. The design for such long journeys takes years to calculate, and planning and construction of a space vehicle would take about a decade. Factoring in the time a satellite would require to reach distant targets means our next peek into the stars will likely not come any time soon.
A team of scientists led by Slava Turyshev of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, which launched the Voyager satellites back in 1977, is anxious to get space exploration back on track. The team proposes a novel means of travel that could get us to the stars faster and cheaper.
Keeping watch on aggressor satellites a key challenge for U.S. Space Force
Monday, 17 April 2023 18:31The U.S. Space Force is facing a new challenge in its role to safeguard the country's satellites from foreign threats, as Russian and Chinese satellites engage in disruptive maneuvers and follow other nations' spacecraft in orbit.
Lockheed Martin declares success demonstrating tech for in-orbit satellite servicing
Monday, 17 April 2023 18:19The Linuss experiment — short for Lockheed Martin’s In-space Upgrade Satellite System — went to orbit on the USSF-44 national security mission launched by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.
The moon may be the best place to transport rocket fuel
Monday, 17 April 2023 17:56When astronauts return to the moon in the next few years, the plan is to have them stay for good while establishing a permanent outpost on Earth's nearest celestial neighbor. Like all space missions, a lunar outpost will require fuel for long-term sustainability, but would it be better to mine fuel on the moon or get fuel resupply from the Earth? This is what a team of researchers led by Bocconi University in Italy hope to address as they addressed the best option in terms of deriving fuel from either the Earth or the moon.
Mattia Pianorsi, who is a junior researcher of the Space Economy Laboratory at the SDA Boccini School of Management and a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of St. Gallen, recently told Universe Today the main objective of the study was to ascertain the economic and technical feasibility of mining fuel from the moon's water ice deposits or from the Earth.
Both options would use an orbiting depot (OD) which Pianorsi says would be used "as a distribution channel for satellites as well as rockets in space.