Eutelsat 5 West A successfully retired in graveyard orbit
Thursday, 19 January 2023 19:51
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Eutelsat said Jan. 19 it retired a satellite last week that had helped Europe transition from analog to digital television two decades ago.
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Hera spacecraft to return to binary asteroid to survey crater left by DART
Thursday, 19 January 2023 16:43 Write a comment
One of last year's space highlights was the NASA DART mission's collision with Dimorphos, the small moon of the binary asteroid Didymos (seen left). The impact measurably shifted the target asteroid's orbit around its primary while casting a plume of debris thousand of kilometers out into space.
Next comes ESA's Hera spacecraft which will return to the binary asteroid to perform a close-up survey of the crater left by DART, as well as measuring Dimorphos' mass and make-up, along with that of its central body.
"Hera is due to be launched in October 2024," explains Ian Carnelli, heading the mission. "In order to make that deadline our team has been working hard during the last year to finalize and test the various spacecraft subsystems—including the two CubeSats that will be deployed from Hera itself in the vicinity of Dimorphos. Meanwhile the overall mission passed its system Critical Design Review at the end of 2022, at the same time as Hera received funding for its launcher and operations.
"This coming year is when everything comes together: all elements of the Hera flight model are due to be integrated so that we can perform a full campaign of environmental testing on the spacecraft at ESA's ESTEC Test Center in the Netherlands.
With Starshield, SpaceX readies for battle
Thursday, 19 January 2023 14:00 Write a comment
SpaceX is answering the Pentagon’s call for more commercial allies with Starshield, a business that will leverage its manufacturing might to provide custom- built spacecraft, sensors, and secure communications services.
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Future-proofing ice measurements from space
Thursday, 19 January 2023 13:06 Write a comment
With diminishing ice one of the biggest casualties of our warming world, it’s imperative that accurate measurements continue to be made for scientific research and climate policy, as well as for practical applications such as ship routing.
To ensure that ESA and NASA are getting the best out of their ice-measuring satellites and to help prepare for Europe’s new CRISTAL satellite, the two space agencies along with the British Antarctic Survey and a team of scientists teamed up recently to carry out an ambitious campaign in Antarctica.
Space Capital sees upside to 2022 decline in space investment
Thursday, 19 January 2023 13:00 Write a comment
Last year was rough for space startups. Overall investment dropped 58 percent from its $47.4 billion peak in 2021 to $20.1 billion in 2022.
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NASA faces “difficult choices” for current and future Earth science missions
Thursday, 19 January 2023 12:20 Write a comment
The co-chair of the most recent Earth science decadal survey warned that NASA faces “difficult choices” between continuing current missions and starting new missions given limited funding.
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ClearSpace raises $29 million ahead of first debris removal mission
Thursday, 19 January 2023 08:00 Write a comment
Swiss startup ClearSpace said Jan. 19 it has raised about $29 million to support its first space debris removal mission in 2026.
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Hera’s time of trial
Thursday, 19 January 2023 07:20 Write a comment
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Hera’s time of trial Zero-Covid left in dust as Chinese revellers fuel travel boom
Thursday, 19 January 2023 07:13 Write a comment
Armed with selfie sticks and freshly recovered from Covid, Chinese tourists ambled through bar streets in the country's backpacker haven of Dali, partying the stress of the past three years into oblivion.
As Lunar New Year approaches, China is seeing a domestic travel boom after the government abruptly dismantled its longstanding zero-Covid strategy last month.
"I feel so free," said Hu, Blocking radio waves and electromagnetic interference with the flip of a switch
Thursday, 19 January 2023 07:13 Write a comment
Researchers in Drexel University's College of Engineering have developed a thin film device, fabricated by spray coating, that can block electromagnetic radiation with the flip of a switch. The breakthrough, enabled by versatile two-dimensional materials called MXenes, could adjust the performance of electronic devices, strengthen wireless connections and secure mobile communications against int Raytheon to develop command and control system for U.S. Air Force
Thursday, 19 January 2023 07:13 Write a comment
Raytheon BBN has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Air Force to develop a rocket cargo mission planning, and Command and Control, or C2, system for the U.S. Air Force. The contract has a potential value of $8.7 million over four years and is part of the U.S. Air Force 2030 Science and Technology Strategy's transformational science and technology portfolio.
During the initial 30-month eff Northrop Grumman partners with NASA to shape integration of uncrewed aircraft into national airspace
Thursday, 19 January 2023 07:13 Write a comment
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is collaborating with NASA to develop and test solutions for integrating large, uncrewed aircraft systems into the National Airspace System (NAS). The effort will focus on air cargo operations and is part of NASA's Air Traffic Management-eXploration (ATM-X) Pathfinding for Airspace with Autonomous Vehicles (PAAV) subproject.
"Partnering with NASA, w Airbus and VDL Group join forces to produce an airborne laser communication terminal
Thursday, 19 January 2023 07:13 Write a comment
Airbus and VDL Group have signed a partnership agreement for the development and manufacturing of a laser communication terminal for aircraft, known as UltraAir. Based on the development led by Airbus and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), the two companies will now prepare a demonstration of a prototype and a first flight test in 2024.
As of 2024, Airbus a NASA scales back project to send scientists to ISS
Thursday, 19 January 2023 03:00 Write a comment
A budget shortfall has caused NASA to scale back plans for a project that would support sending scientists to the International Space Station to conduct research.
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SpaceX rocket launches U.S. military satellite into orbit
Thursday, 19 January 2023 02:37 Write a comment
Elon Musk's SpaceX launched one of its Falcon 9 rockets Wednesday morning with a GPS satellite on board, part of a U.S. Space Force program to have a constellation of 32 navigation satellites orbiting the Earth.
The rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 7:24 a.m. EST carrying the fifth Lockheed Martin-made Space Vehicle 6 of the so-called GPS 3 constel