NOAA's GOES-U satellite completes solar array deployment test
Thursday, 04 May 2023 12:19
GOES-U, the fourth and final satellite in NOAA's GOES-R Series, recently completed a successful test deployment of its solar array to ensure it will function properly in space.
This critical test verified that the satellite's large, five-panel solar array—which is folded up when the satellite is launched—will properly deploy when GOES-U reaches geostationary orbit. During this test, engineers unfurled the five panels on rails that simulated the zero-gravity environment of space. Each solar panel is approximately 13 feet tall by 4.5 feet wide and weighs approximately 45 pounds.
Once GOES-U reaches orbit, the deployed solar panels will form a single solar array wing that will rotate once per day to continuously point its photovoltaic (solar) cells toward the sun. The photovoltaic cells will convert energy from the sun into electricity to power the entire satellite, including the instruments, computers, data processors, sensors, and telecommunications equipment. The solar array will generate more than 5,000 watts of power for the satellite. This is equivalent to the power needed to run a central air conditioning system in your home.
Meteosat Third Generation's first stunning image
Thursday, 04 May 2023 11:00
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Europe’s latest weather satellite, the Meteosat Third Generation Imager, has just delivered its first image of Earth. What does this satellite do exactly? And what does this mean for weather forecasting? Learn more about the Meteosat Third Generation and how this new generation of satellites is set to revolutionise weather forecasting in Europe.
The Meteosat Third Generation image can be downloaded here.
CesiumAstro to supply communications payloads for Space Development Agency satellites
Thursday, 04 May 2023 10:23
CesiumAstro, a company that specializes in communications technologies for satellites and aircraft, will supply electronic phased-array payloads for seven U.S.
Aerovironment awarded $10M JPL to co-design and develop two helicopters for Mars Sample Return mission
Thursday, 04 May 2023 09:49
AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) has been awarded a $10 million contract by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to co-design and co-develop conceptual designs and engineering development units of Mars Sample Recovery Helicopter flight systems.
Future efforts could include detailed design, build, and test of qualification and flight hardware. The helicopters build upon the Ingenuity Ma SpaceX lights up night skies with early Thursday Falcon 9 launch
Thursday, 04 May 2023 09:49
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 56 Starlink satellites early Thursday morning from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Falcon 9 lifted off at the scheduled 3:31 a.m. EDT launch time, with no need for a backup launch. The 56 Starlink Internet satellites were launched from Space Launch Complex 40 and carried to low-Earth orbit. Innovative NASA alloy used for 3D printed rocket
Thursday, 04 May 2023 09:49
In March, the Relativity Space Terran 1 rocket lit up the night sky as it launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This was the first launch of a test rocket made entirely from 3D-printed parts, measuring 100 feet tall and 7.5 feet wide. A form of additive manufacturing, 3D printing is a key technology for enhancing capabilities and reducing cost. Terran 1 included nine addit First pair of Terran Orbital developed spacecraft now operating in GEO orbit
Thursday, 04 May 2023 09:49
Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP), a global leader in satellite-based solutions primarily serving the aerospace and defense industries, has announced mission success for the first pair of Terran Orbital-developed spacecraft operating in or around the geosynchronous orbit (GEO) belt.
The two spacecraft were built for Lockheed Martin and successfully completed their on-orbit demonstrat Cosmology: On the trail of a mysterious force in space
Thursday, 04 May 2023 09:49
When Edwin Hubble observed distant galaxies in the 1920s, he made the groundbreaking discovery that the universe is expanding. It was not until 1998, however, that scientists observing Type Ia supernovae further discovered that the universe is not just expanding but has begun a phase of accelerating expansion.
"To explain this acceleration, we need a source," says Joe Mohr, astrophysicist Scientists find link between photosynthesis and 'fifth state of matter'
Thursday, 04 May 2023 09:49
Inside a lab, scientists marvel at a strange state that forms when they cool down atoms to nearly absolute zero. Outside their window, trees gather sunlight and turn them into new leaves. The two seem unrelated-but a new study from the University of Chicago suggests that these processes aren't so different as they might appear on the surface.
The study, published in PRX Energy on April 28, Spire Global launches a space-powered weather insights platform for the maritime industry
Thursday, 04 May 2023 09:49
Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR) has announced the launch of its new Deep Navigation Analytics (DNA) Platform, a centralized, space-powered hub that delivers essential insights to maritime stakeholders through three layers: maritime weather data APIs, actionable intelligence APIs, decision support solutions and visualizations.
The platform utilizes radio occultation (RO) data acquired by th Star swallows planet in first glimpse of Earth's likely end
Thursday, 04 May 2023 09:49
Scientists said Wednesday that they have observed a dying star swallowing a planet for the first time, offering a preview of Earth's expected fate in around five billion years.
But when the Sun finally does engulf Earth, it will cause only a "tiny perturbation" compared to this cosmic explosion, the US astronomers said.
Most planets are believed to meet their end when their host star run The ultra-fast space winds that shape the evolution of galaxies
Thursday, 04 May 2023 09:49
They are called UFOs, but aliens have nothing to do with them. They are the ultra-fast outflows: space winds that emerge from the surroundings of supermassive black holes and blow at speeds close to that of light. An international research team has explored this still little-understood phenomenon, hunting for these gas emissions, which are crucial to understanding the mechanisms regulating the b Momentus signs contract to carry hosted payload for Hello Space
Thursday, 04 May 2023 09:49
Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS) has signed an agreement with Hello Space, an internet of things (IoT) through satellite tech company, to carry a hosted payload of a demo deployer carrying four pocketqube satellites on the Vigoride-7 mission targeted to launch on the SpaceX Transporter-9 mission no earlier than October 2023.
Hello Space is a satellite IoT service provider company capable of cr What will the Artemis Moon base look like?
Thursday, 04 May 2023 09:49
The next time NASA goes to the Moon, it intends to stay. Under the Artemis program, the US space agency plans to maintain a human presence, for the very first time, on a celestial body other than Earth.
But building a lunar base is no small feat. It will need power generators, vehicles and habitats, and the space industry is racing to meet the technological challenges.
"It's the Super Bo