InSight gets a few extra weeks of Mars science
Wednesday, 22 June 2022 10:56
As the power available to NASA's InSight Mars lander diminishes by the day, the spacecraft's team has revised the mission's timeline in order to maximize the science they can conduct. The lander was projected to automatically shut down the seismometer - InSight's last operational science instrument - by the end of June in order to conserve energy, surviving on what power its dust-laden solar pan Chinese official says its Mars sample mission will beat NASA back to Earth
Wednesday, 22 June 2022 10:56
A senior Chinese space official said on Monday the country is on track to bring back rocks from the surface of Mars two years ahead of the planned joint effort by NASA and the European Space Agency to do the same thing.
Sun Zezhou, the chief designer of China's first Mars mission, Tianwen 1, said in a talk celebrating the 120th anniversary of Nanjing University, that China is ready to send China develops new coating for spacecraft thermal control
Wednesday, 22 June 2022 10:56
Chinese scientists have developed a metallic-based thermal-control coating for the Shenzhou-14 crewed spaceship that will protect the taikonauts from extreme heat and cold during their six-month stay in orbit.
The new coating works in two ways: providing low solar absorption to help reduce the sun's effect on the spacecraft's interior temperature; and providing low infrared emittance to bl Go ahead for second round of micro-launcher payload competition
Wednesday, 22 June 2022 10:56
On 20 June 2022, the German Space Agency (DLR) launched the second round of its competition for zero-cost flights of small satellites on microlaunchers developed and constructed in Germany. This marks the start of the implementation phase for a total of three additional flights being offered by the space companies Isar Aerospace Technologies GmbH and Rocket Factory Augsburg AG in 2023 and 2024. A blueprint for life forms on Mars
Wednesday, 22 June 2022 10:56
The extremely salty, very cold, and almost oxygen-free environment under the permafrost of Lost Hammer Spring in Canada's High Arctic is the one that most closely resembles certain areas on Mars. So, if you want to learn more about the kinds of life forms that could once have existed - or may still exist - on Mars, this is a good place to look.
After much searching under extremely difficul Students take their imagination to the lunar surface in the latest Moon Camp Challenge
Wednesday, 22 June 2022 10:56
From a base built by rovers and astronauts using in-situ resources at the lunar south pole to a north pole facility with surface and subsurface living/working areas, the 2021-2022 Moon Camp Challenge's winning projects once again highlighted students' ability to envision the future of space exploration.
This fourth edition of the Moon Camp Challenge involved a record participation of 5,649 Getting all the possible science in - Sols 3507-3511
Wednesday, 22 June 2022 10:56
This weekend plan is a four sol plan to allow a no planning day on Monday, for the commemoration of "Juneteenth," and we crammed a lot in. This workspace is relatively similar in appearance to the last workspace (which is not that far away) but still had more potential targets than we could ever hope to capture, even in a big four sol plan.
There is a finite amount of time that we can fill NASA encouraged by SLS countdown rehearsal
Wednesday, 22 June 2022 10:50
NASA officials said they met most, but not all, of the objectives in a countdown rehearsal of the Space Launch System, and were still determining if they were ready to move ahead with the vehicle’s first launch.
ESA brings sci-fi-inspired extended reality to space
Wednesday, 22 June 2022 09:30
Virtual and augmented reality have increasingly been used for fun over the past few years. But in science fiction, these 'extended reality' (or XR) technologies are more than fun – they are actively used in character’s daily lives. Now with seven new projects boosting human-machine interfaces, ESA is aiming to bridge this gap and develop for space the XR applications we are familiar with from science fiction.
Kuaizhou-1A returns to flight with test satellite launch
Wednesday, 22 June 2022 08:14
A Chinese Kuaizhou-1A rocket sent the Tianxing-1 satellite into orbit late Tuesday, marking a return to flight six months after the solid light-light launcher suffered failure.
SmallSat Alliance unveils Collegiate Space Competition
Tuesday, 21 June 2022 22:43
The SmallSat Alliance is inviting U.S. university students to propose space-related solutions for formidable technical and policy challenges as part of the Collegiate Space Competition.
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NASA's InSight gets a few extra weeks of Mars science
Tuesday, 21 June 2022 19:50
The mission's team has chosen to operate its seismometer longer than previously planned, although the lander will run out of power sooner as a result.
As the power available to NASA's InSight Mars lander diminishes by the day, the spacecraft's team has revised the mission's timeline in order to maximize the science they can conduct.
SpaceX warns 5G plan would deny Starlink to most Americans
Tuesday, 21 June 2022 19:48
SpaceX warned June 21 that its Starlink broadband network would become unusable for most Americans if a proposal to use the 12 GHz band for terrestrial 5G is approved.
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NASA Moon rocket test met 90% of objectives
Tuesday, 21 June 2022 16:47
NASA's fourth attempt to complete a critical test of its Moon rocket achieved around 90 percent of its goals, but there's still no firm date for the behemoth's first flight, officials said Tuesday.
Known as the "wet dress rehearsal" because it involves loading liquid propellant, it is the final item to cross off the checklist before the Artemis-1 mission slated for this summer: an uncrewed lunar flight that will eventually be followed by Moon boots on the ground, likely no sooner than 2026.
Teams at the Kennedy Space Center began their latest effort to complete the exercise on Saturday.
Their objectives were to load propellant into the rocket's tanks, conduct a launch countdown and simulate contingency scenarios, then drain the tanks.
House Appropriations Committee warns of cost pressures in Space Force programs
Tuesday, 21 June 2022 15:40
The House Appropriations Committee in a report accompanying the fiscal year 2023 defense appropriations bill warned about schedule and cost risks in Space Force acquisition programs.
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