SpaceX nails booster landings after foggy military launch
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 14:35
SpaceX launched its mega Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time in more than three years Tuesday, hoisting satellites for the military and then nailing side-by-side booster landings back near the pad.
Thick fog shrouded NASA's Kennedy Space Center as the rocket blasted off at midmorning. The crowd at the launch site couldn't even see the pad three miles (5 kilometers) away, but heard the roar of the 27 first-stage engines.
Both side boosters peeled away two minutes after liftoff, flew back to Cape Canaveral, and landed alongside one another, just a few seconds apart. The core stage was discarded at sea, its entire energy needed to get the Space Force's satellites to their intended extra-high orbit.
Millennium Space’s Tetra-1 sets new fast-paced precedent for space-based innovation
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 14:24
Designed and delivered for the U.S. Space Force in just 15 months, the small satellite catapults the space industry into a new era of rapid R&D.
The post Millennium Space’s Tetra-1 sets new fast-paced precedent for space-based innovation appeared first on SpaceNews.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches first U.S. national security mission
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 14:01
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy lifted off Nov. 1 at 9:41 a.m. Eastern from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, carrying the U.S. Space Force USSF-44 mission to geostationary Earth orbit.
Heavy payload balloon lifted to near-space heights
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 13:51
A high-altitude scientific balloon containing 1.2-ton payloads was lifted into the sky and reached an altitude of 30km in a demonstration test that helped validate the payload capacity of a near-space balloon platform.
The flight test was conducted in northwestern China's Qinghai Province on September 30, 2022, by a research team from the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), marking a further step in the development of China's high-altitude balloon platform.
Delivering payloads from the ground to the stratospheric region known as "near-space," the balloon platform can carry tons of scientific instruments, especially large-sized ones such as unmanned air vehicles over aerial-based launches.
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The balloon is ascending into the sky. Credit: AIR -
The balloon is inflated.
Surviving space: Extreme plant adaptation
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 13:47
Which plants have the best chances for survival in space?
That's the question being addressed by Principal Investigators Anna-Lisa Paul and Robert Ferl in the Epigenetic Adaptation to the Spaceflight Environment—Accumulated Genomic Change Induced by Generations in Space (Plant Habitat-03) investigation, which will soon launch to the International Space Station aboard Northrop Grumman's 18th commercial resupply services mission for NASA.
From one generation to the next?
This investigation will take advantage of the unique environment aboard the space station to study an intriguing phenomenon.
Japanese lunar lander, with NASA rideshare, to launch this month
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 10:40
Japanese lunar lander developer ispace is in the final phases of preparations for the launch of its first lunar lander mission, a flight that will include a NASA lunar cubesat mission as a secondary payload.
The post Japanese lunar lander, with NASA rideshare, to launch this month appeared first on SpaceNews.
Arianespace and Space Machines sign MOU to study last-mile services
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 10:38
Last week, during the French Space Tour organized by Business France in Australia, Arianespace and Space Machines Company announced the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to define the terms and conditions of possible future cooperation.
Arianespace works on several opportunities with customers looking for direct GEO injection or specific LEO/MEO orbits. In order to provide t Largest potentially hazardous asteroid detected in eight years
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 10:38
Twilight observations with the US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab, have enabled astronomers to spot three near-Earth asteroids (NEA) hiding in the glare of the Sun. These NEAs are part of an elusive population that lurks inside the orbits of Earth and Venus. One of the asteroids is the largest obje CAPSTONE 2 weeks from lunar arrival
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 10:38
Advanced Space LLC., a leading space tech solutions company with breakthrough navigation technology, completed its fourth trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) for CAPSTONE on Thursday. TCM-4 was the fourth of six planned maneuvers en route to the Moon, targeting the precise orbit for the CAPSTONE demonstration. This follows the restoration of the spacecraft's capabilities as it has recovered fro AFWERX AFVentures enhances SBIR/STTR program to increase tech transition
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 10:38
AFWERX AFVentures began the new fiscal year with multiple enhancements to the Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer, or SBIR/STTR, Program after Congress reauthorized the program, Sept. 30, 2022. These improvements aim to further encourage domestic small businesses to engage in Air Force and Space Force research and development with potential for commercialization 18 SDS, France's COSMOS integrate SDA knowledge during 'Operator Exchange'
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 10:38
The 18th Space Defense Squadron (18 SDS) hosted five French space operators from the Operational Center for Military Surveillance of Space Objects (COSMOS) to integrate Space Domain Awareness (SDA) expertise during an 'Operator Exchange' here Oct. 3-6, 2022.
The 4-day event, facilitated by the 18 SDS's Space Situational Awareness Partnership and Coalition Engagement (SPACE) office, aimed t Let the Detour Begin - To Gediz Vallis Ridge We Go: Sols 3637-3638
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 10:38
This is a two sol weekend plan, as Saturday is a soliday. On the first sol, we characterize the workspace in front of us and then drive on the second sol to a new workspace. We are now officially on our detour, a short round trip to image and capture geochemistry of the "Gediz Vallis ridge" up on the pediment, before coming back down to the "Marker Band valley" and rejoining the MSAR (Mount Shar NASA laser project benefits animal researchers, UW scientists show
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 10:38
Scientists researching forest carnivores such as martens, foxes and coyotes spend hours clambering through rugged terrain, sometimes in deep snow, placing and baiting camera traps to learn about animals' behavior in relation to their habitat.
In recent years, this on-the-ground work has received a big boost from what might seem to be an unlikely source: NASA.
In a new scholarly paper USSPACECOM Deputy Commander discusses deep space exploration
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 10:38
U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. John Shaw, U.S. Space Command deputy commander, participated in the Accelerating Sustainable Deep Space Exploration panel, alongside Mr. Jim Free, NASA Exploration Development Systems Mission Directorate associate administrator at ASCEND's 2022 Conference in Las Vegas, Oct. 24, 2022.
The session aimed to "outline the challenges of deep space, review similar histor BlackSky wins $10M follow-on contract for high-frequency imagery services with Asian government ally
Tuesday, 01 November 2022 10:38
BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY) was awarded a one-year $10 million contract to provide on-demand, real-time high-resolution imagery services to an international ministry of defense customer in Asia.
"BlackSky's growing traction in international markets reflects strong global demand for high-frequency, dawn-to-dusk imagery and analytics," said BlackSky Vice President of International