Space Force chief technologist hints at future plans to build a digital infrastructure
Thursday, 13 January 2022 21:53
Lisa Costa, chief technology and innovation officer of the U.S. Space Force, said the service is eyeing investments in edge computing, data centers in space and other technologies needed to build a digital infrastructure.
Astronomers confront massive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A*
Thursday, 13 January 2022 20:48
At the center of the Milky Way is a supermassive black hole, 4.3 million times bigger than the sun, known as Sagittarius A*. Until recently, it was not clear how much of the matter at the heart of the galaxy was Sagittarius A*. Astronomers measured the velocities of four distant stars around the black hole. The movement of the stars indicates the mass at the galaxy's center is composed almost entirely of matter from Sagittarius A*, leaving little room for stars, other black holes, interstellar dust and gas, or dark matter.
Space Norway plots recovery mission for failed subsea cable
Thursday, 13 January 2022 19:11
Space Norway said Jan. 13 it expects to start repairing next month one of two undersea fiber-optic cables it operates between its Svalbard satellite station and mainland Norway, after a failure left the Arctic region without a backup connection.
DoD space policy nominee highlights complex security challenges facing U.S.
Thursday, 13 January 2022 18:58
John Plumb, president Biden's nominee to be assistant secretary of defense for space policy, told lawmakers that the United States has to prepare for the possibility of “conflict extending to, or originating in space.
SpaceX launches third dedicated smallsat rideshare mission
Thursday, 13 January 2022 18:09
A SpaceX Falcon 9 placed more than 100 smallsats into orbit Jan. 13 as the company accelerates the pace of its dedicated rideshare missions.
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Solar power, going down NASA holding out hope for first SLS launch in March
Thursday, 13 January 2022 10:35
NASA officials are holding out hope that the first Space Launch System launch can still take place as soon as March despite a delay in the rollout of the vehicle for a key test until mid-February.
Planet to launch 44 SuperDove satellites on SpaceX's Falcon 9
Thursday, 13 January 2022 09:22
Planet Labs PBC reports announced that the launch of their Flock 4x, consisting of 44 SuperDove satellites, will take place on Thursday, January 13th on SpaceX's Falcon 9 Transporter-3 SSO. This marks the first satellite launch under Planet's new multi-year, multi-launch rideshare agreement with SpaceX.
Planet operates the world's largest constellation of Earth observation satellites; and International collaboration offers new evidence of a gravitational wave background
Thursday, 13 January 2022 09:22
The results of a comprehensive search for a background of ultra-low frequency gravitational waves has been announced by an international team of astronomers including scientists from the Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy at the University of Birmingham.
These light-year-scale ripples, a consequence of Einstein's theory of general relativity, permeate all of spacetime and could ori CPUT launches 3rd Satellite mission this week
Thursday, 13 January 2022 06:30
On Thursday 13 January the Cape Peninsula University of Technology is set to launch its third satellite mission into space from the Cape Canaveral launch site in the USA.
The MDASat (Marine Domain Awareness) constellation has two main priorities namely ocean economy and healthcare and has been mandated by the Department of Science and Innovation to enhance South Africa's ocean's sovereignt Indian Space Agency tests cryogenic engine for its first-ever manned mission
Thursday, 13 January 2022 05:42
India's flagship human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan, has completed the design and testing phases. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to launch two uncrewed missions ahead of the final mission in 2023.
India's space exploration agency ISRO achieved a significant milestone with the successful long-duration cryogenic engine test for the Gaganyaan project on Wednesday. Widespread megaripple activity on Martian North Pole
Thursday, 13 January 2022 05:42
Megaripples, intermediate-scale bedforms caused by the action of the wind, have been studied extensively and thought to be largely inactive relics of past climates, save for a few exceptions. A new paper by Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Matthew Chojnacki shows that abundant megaripple populations were identified across the north polar region of Mars and were found to be migratin Sol 3354: Tantalizingly Out of Reach
Thursday, 13 January 2022 05:42
Today Curiosity is doing a little bit of everything: some contact science, some targeted science, and a little driving. When we started planning this morning, we had a beautiful view of the small ledge in front of us, named "The Prow," which shows some amazing layering. We also can see some disturbances in the sand that may be sliding caused by our approach.
We, the rover planners, were bu Oxygen ions in Jupiter's innermost radiation belts
Thursday, 13 January 2022 05:42
Planets like Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn with global magnetic fields of their own are surrounded by so-called radiation belts: Trapped in the magnetic field, fast moving charged particles such as electrons, protons, and heavier ions whiz around thus forming the invisible, torus-shaped radiation belts. With their high velocities reaching almost the speed of light, the particles can ionize other mo Black hole at center of Milky Way unpredictable and chaotic
Thursday, 13 January 2022 05:42
An international team of researchers, led by postgraduate student Alexis Andres, has found that the black hole at the centre of our galaxy, Sagittarius A*, not only flares irregularly from day to day but also in the long term. The team analysed 15 years' worth of data to come to this conclusion. The research was initiated by Andres in 2019 when he was a summer student at the University of Amster