Kepler telescope glimpses population of free-floating planets
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 04:32
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Tantalising evidence has been uncovered for a mysterious population of "free-floating" planets, planets that may be alone in deep space, unbound to any host star. The results include four new discoveries that are consistent with planets of similar masses to Earth, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The study, led by Iain McDonald of the University of Manchester Pathfinder satellite paves way for constellation of tropical-storm observers
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 04:32 Write a comment
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was one of the most brutal on record, producing an unprecedented 30 named storms. What's more, a record-tying 10 of those storms were characterized as rapidly intensifying - some throttling up by 100 miles per hour in under two days.
To provide a more consistent watch over Earth's tropical belt where these storms form, NASA has launched a test satellite, Tiangong: astronauts are working on China's new space station - here's what to expect
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 04:32 Write a comment
Three astronauts on China's new space station have just performed the country's first space walk and are busy configuring the module for future crews. Named Tiangong ("heavenly palace"), the station is the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA)'s signature project to develop China's ambitions for having humans in orbit around Earth for a long amount of time.
In planning since the late 1990s, OneWeb names winners of 2021 Innovation Challenge
Wednesday, 07 July 2021 02:50 Write a comment
SAN FRANCISCO – IRT Saint Exupéry, Mbryonics, Morpheus Space, Oledcomm and R3-IoT were the winners of OneWeb’s 2021 Innovation Challenge, a campaign to designed to “rethink satellite connectivity” and establish new partnerships, according to London-based OneWeb.
OneWeb announced the winners July 1 during an online event tracking the launch of 36 broadband communications satellites on an Arianespace Soyuz rocket from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome.
Satellogic to public through SPAC deal
Tuesday, 06 July 2021 18:50 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Earth imaging company Satellogic announced July 6 it will go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), raising the funding it needs to build out a constellation of 300 spacecraft.
Satellogic said it will merge with CF Acquisition Corp.
China conducts third orbital launch inside four days
Tuesday, 06 July 2021 18:01 Write a comment
HELSINKI — China launched a Tianlian data tracking and relay communications satellite Tuesday, marking the country’s third successful mission in four days.
The heart of a lunar sensor
Tuesday, 06 July 2021 12:37 Write a comment
Image:
The heart of the Exospheric Mass Spectrometer (EMS) is visible in this image of the key sensor that will study the abundance of lunar water and water ice for upcoming missions to the Moon.
This spectrometer is being delivered to NASA today as part of the PITMS instrument for its launch to the Moon later this year.
EMS is based on an ‘ion trap’, an ingenious detector device that allows researchers to identify and quantify sample atoms and molecules in a gas and allows to establish a corresponding mass spectrum. Scientists at The Open University and RAL Space are developing EMS
Significant solar flare erupts from sun
Tuesday, 06 July 2021 10:39 Write a comment
The sun emitted a significant solar flare peaking at 10:29 a.m. EDT on July 3, 2021. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event.
Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however—when intense enough—they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.
To see how such space weather may affect Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings and alerts.
This flare is classified as an X1.5-class flare.
X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.
JWST passes launch review
Tuesday, 06 July 2021 10:26 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The James Webb Space Telescope is one step closer to launch after a review of its Ariane launch vehicle, while NASA continues a separate review of the name of the spacecraft itself.
Raytheon to develop Long Range Standoff nuclear missiles in $2B contract
Tuesday, 06 July 2021 08:11 Write a comment
The Pentagon this week awarded Raytheon a contract worth up to $2 billion to develop a new nuclear cruise missile.
The contract, announced Thursday, calls for development of the new missiles through 2027, when a first flight could occur and a decision about production may be made.
The series of air-launched, Long-Range Standoff weapons would replace the Air Launched Cruise or AGM Space Force selects first 50 transfers from Army, Navy, Marine Corps
Tuesday, 06 July 2021 08:11 Write a comment
Fifty active-duty Army, Navy and Marine Corps personnel have been chosen to transfer to the U.S. Space Force and will join the branch in July, the Space Force said on Wednesday.
The group will test integration efforts to bring additional personnel into the new military branch, founded in 2019 with a mandate to deter aggression and protect the interests of the United States in space. Britain to spend $4.8M developing inter-missile communication system
Tuesday, 06 July 2021 08:11 Write a comment
Britain invested $4.8 million for smarter missile systems - allowing munitions to communicate and react quickly to changing threats - the British Ministry of Defense said on Thursday.
The contract was awarded to the Defense Science Technology Laboratory for the Co-operative Strike Weapons Technology Demonstrator, which the British government is charging with improving current systems NASA rocket, satellite tag-team to view the giant electric current in the sky
Tuesday, 06 July 2021 08:11 Write a comment
Some 50 miles up, where Earth's atmosphere blends into space, the air itself hums with an electric current. Scientists call it the atmospheric dynamo, an Earth-sized electric generator. It's taken hundreds of years for scientists to lay the groundwork to understand it, but the principles that keep it running are only just now being revealed in detail.
Following up on its predecessor's 2013 Report that China building new ICBM silos 'concerning': US
Tuesday, 06 July 2021 08:11 Write a comment
The United States expressed concern on Thursday over a report that China is building more than 100 new silos for intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The Washington Post, citing a study of commercial satellite images by a California-based group, reported on Thursday that the silos were being built in a desert near the northwestern city of Yumen.
The James Martin Center for Nonproliferati Visualizing quieter supersonic flight
Tuesday, 06 July 2021 08:11 Write a comment
NASA's X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology X-plane is designed to fly faster than the speed of sound without producing sonic booms - those loud, startling noises which can be disruptive to humans and animals.
Currently, commercial aircraft aren't allowed to fly faster than the speed of sound over land because of the objectionable sonic booms they cause for those on the ground.
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