Space is getting crowded with satellites and space junk. How do we avoid collisions?
Thursday, 26 October 2023 13:57
Reports this week suggest a near-collision between an Australian satellite and a suspected Chinese military satellite.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, the US government issued the first ever space junk fine. The Federal Communications Commission handed a US$150,000 penalty to the DISH Network, a publicly traded company providing satellite TV services.
It came as a surprise to many in the space industry, as the fine didn't relate to any recent debris—it was issued for a communications satellite that has been in space for more than 21 years. It was EchoStar-7, which failed to meet the orbit requirements outlined in a previously agreed debris mitigation plan.
The EchoStar-7 fine might be a US first, but it probably won't be the last. We are entering an unprecedented era of space use and can expect the number of active satellites in space to increase by 700% by the end of the decade.
As our local space gets more crowded, keeping an eye on tens of thousands of satellites and bits of space junk will only become more important.
Tesat optical terminals selected for Lockheed Martin satellites pass ground tests
Thursday, 26 October 2023 13:52
Atmospheric Waves Experiment launching to space station to study atmospheric waves via airglow
Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:39
NASA's Atmospheric Waves Experiment, or AWE, mission is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in November 2023, where it will make use of a natural, ethereal glow in Earth's sky to study waves in our planet's atmosphere.
Built by Utah State University's Space Dynamics Laboratory in North Logan, Utah, AWE will be mounted on the exterior of the space station.
New technologies for the future of European space
Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:30
What do bacteria-based food production, avalanche monitoring and the mapping of Venus have in common? They can all be found among the topics of the 47 research and development activities funded by ESA's Discovery & Preparation programme between January and June 2023.
NASA improves GIANT optical navigation technology for future missions
Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:29
Goddard's GIANT optical navigation software helped guide the OSIRIS-REx mission to the Asteroid Bennu. Today its developers continue to add functionality and streamline useability for future missions. As NASA scientists study the returned fragments of asteroid Bennu, the team that helped navigate the mission on its journey refines their technology for potential use in future robotic and crewed m Rocket Lab receives FAA authorization to resume launches
Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:29
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has received authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to resume Electron launches from Launch Complex 1. The authorization comes after Rocket Lab experienced an in-flight anomaly on September 19th during the Company's 41st Electron launch. The FAA, the federal licensing body for U.S. launch vehicles, has now confirmed that Rocket Lab's laun NASA's First Two-way End-to-End Laser Communications System
Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:29
NASA is demonstrating laser communications on multiple missions - showcasing the benefits infrared light can have for science and exploration missions transmitting terabytes of important data. The International Space Station is getting a "flashy" technology demonstration this November. The ILLUMA-T (Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Term UK and Axiom sign agreement on plans for historic human spaceflight mission
Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:29
The agreement between the UK Space Agency and Axiom Space sets out plans for the 2 organisations to work together to pursue a commercially sponsored, UK astronaut mission. The announcement comes as Science Minister George Freeman, is due to open the London Stock Exchange today (25 October), where he will speak about opportunities to bring further investment into the UK space sector.
On thi How could a piece of the Moon become a Near-Earth asteroid
Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:29
team of astronomers has found a new clue that a recently discovered near-Earth asteroid, Kamo`oalewa, might be a chunk of the moon. They hypothesized that the asteroid was ejected from the lunar surface during a meteorite strike-and they found that a rare pathway could have allowed Kamo`oalewa to get into orbit around the sun while remaining close to the orbits of the Earth and the Moon.
T Mystery of the Martian core solved
Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:29
For four years, NASA's InSight lander recorded tremors on Mars with its seismometer. Researchers at ETH Zurich collected and analysed the data transmitted to Earth to determine the planet's internal structure. "Although the mission ended in December 2022, we've now discovered something very interesting," says Amir Khan, a Senior Scientist in the Department of Earth Sciences at ETH Zurich. Sampling unique bedrock at the margin unit
Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:29
The Mars 2020 team has been exploring a new area of the Margin Unit at Jezero Crater, where distinct carbonate signatures have been observed from orbit. Importantly, carbonates that form in rocks can store a record of the climate during formation, and they can also preserve biosignatures (residues of ancient life).
Perseverance is on its way to a particularly interesting region of the Marg Terran Orbital awarded $4.7 Million Contract by European Space Agency
Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:29
Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP), a global leader in satellite-based solutions primarily serving the aerospace and defense industries, has announced its wholly-owned international subsidiary, Tyvak International s.r.l., has been chosen as a prime contractor under a $4.7 million or euro 4.5 million contract by the European Space Agency (ESA) for a proximity operations and in-orbit servici Tightbeam tech set to revolutionize Global Marine Internet through Aalyria-HICO Partnership
Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:29
Aalyria Technologies and HICO Investment Group are joining forces to revolutionize maritime communications, having recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The agreement sets forth the scope and aims of a partnership that seeks to introduce Aalyria's Tightbeam high-speed, free-space optics communications systems across the maritime sector in various global regions, including the Midd China discloses tasks of Shenzhou-17 crewed space mission
Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:29
The Shenzhou-17 astronauts will perform various in-orbit space science and application payload tests and experiments, a senior official from the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced at a press conference on Wednesday.
They will carry out extravehicular activities (EVAs), install extravehicular payloads and conduct space station maintenance and other tasks, said Lin Xiqiang, deputy di High-resolution atmospheric modeling gets a boost with next-gen GEOS-Chem software
Thursday, 26 October 2023 11:29
In a significant leap forward for atmospheric science, researchers from Washington University's McKelvey School of Engineering have rolled out an advanced version of GEOS-Chem, known as High Performance GEOS-Chem. This next-generation software paves the way for researchers, policymakers, and citizen scientists to conduct highly detailed studies of air quality and greenhouse gases, using meteorol