We could detect extraterrestrial satellite megaconstellations within a few hundred light-years
Monday, 10 May 2021 11:12
Starlink is one of the most ambitious space missions we've ever undertaken. The current plan is to put 12,000 communication satellites in low-Earth orbit, with the possibility of another 30,000 later. Just getting them into orbit is a huge engineering challenge, and with so many chunks of metal in orbit, some folks worry it could lead to a cascade of collisions that makes it impossible for satellites to survive. But suppose we solve these problems and Starlink is successful. What's the next step? What if we take it further, creating a mega-constellation of satellites and space stations? What if an alien civilization has already created such a mega-constellation around their world? Could we see it from Earth?
This is the idea behind a recent article posted on the arXiv. It's based on an idea about how civilizations might grow over time, known as the Kardashev scale. It's based on the level of energy a civilization can tap into; Type I uses energy on a global scale, type II a star's worth of energy, and so on.
Protests over SpaceX contract put timetable for lunar return in limbo
Monday, 10 May 2021 11:09
Two space companies that are protesting NASA's $2.9 billion lunar contract award to SpaceX allege the deal would make future moon landings more risky, while the claims leave the timetable for a crewed mission in limbo.
The companies that are protesting the award, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and space tech firm Dynetics, have filed formal complaints with the Government Accountability Office, US DoD close to finalizing recommendations for Space Force National Guard
Monday, 10 May 2021 11:09
The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) called on the US Department of Defense to provide the US Congress with recommendations for a potential Space Force Reserve element. Presently, members of the National Guard are conducting space missions in seven US states and the territory of Guam.
Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the US National Guard Bureau, revealed on Tuesday that he bel International cutting-edge SWOT satellite to survey the world's water
Monday, 10 May 2021 11:09
How much water sloshes around in Earth's lakes, rivers, and oceans? And how does that figure change over time? The upcoming Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission plans to find out. Targeting a late-2022 launch date, this SUV-size satellite will measure the height of Earth's water. SWOT will help researchers understand and track the volume and location of water - a finite resource - a Air Force announces successful simulated hypersonic 'kill chain' test
Monday, 10 May 2021 11:09
A B-52 bomber conducted a successful test of the simulated hypersonic kill chain, using a hypersonic weapon to neutralize a target, the U.S. Air Force said.
The test was a "successful simulated hypersonic kill chain employment from sensor to shooter and back," during the Northern Edge 21 exercises in Alaska, an Air Force statement said on Thursday.
As the B-52 traveled from Barks Perseverance rover captures sound of Ingenuity flying on Mars
Monday, 10 May 2021 11:09
NASA's Perseverance rover has for the first time captured the low-pitched whirring of the Ingenuity helicopter's blades as it flies through the rarefied Martian atmosphere.
The space agency on Friday released new footage shot by the six-wheeled robot of its rotorcraft companion making its fourth flight on April 30 - this time accompanied by an audio track.
The nearly three-minute-long v Skyborg ACS has successful first flight
Monday, 10 May 2021 11:09
The Skyborg leadership team conducted a two-hours and ten minute flight test April 29 of the Skyborg autonomy core system (ACS) aboard a Kratos UTAP-22 tactical unmanned vehicle at Tyndall AFB, Florida.
Termed Milestone 1 of the Autonomous Attritable Aircraft Experimentation (AAAx) campaign, the ACS performed a series of foundational behaviors necessary to characterize safe system operatio Scientists at NREL report new synapse-like phototransistor
Monday, 10 May 2021 11:09
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed a breakthrough in energy-efficient phototransistors. Such devices could eventually help computers process visual information more like the human brain and be used as sensors in things like self-driving vehicles.
The structures rely on a new type of semiconductor - metal-halide perovskites - Nanostructured device stops light in its tracks
Monday, 10 May 2021 11:09
Understanding how light waves oscillate in time as they interact with materials is essential to understanding light-driven energy transfer in materials, such as solar cells or plants. Due to the fantastically high speeds at which light waves oscillate, however, scientists have yet to develop a compact device with enough time resolution to directly capture them.
Now, a team led by MIT resea Iceye unveils new wide-area imaging capability
Monday, 10 May 2021 11:00
SAN FRANCISCO – Iceye unveiled a new product May 10, wide-area Scan imaging focused on areas as large as 10,000 square kilometers.
Since Iceye flew the first small synthetic-aperture radar satellites in 2018, the company has developed a variety of products to help customers zoom in on specific areas or detect changes over time.
SpaceX to launch lunar mission paid with cryptocurrency Dogecoin
Monday, 10 May 2021 07:10
SpaceX will launch a satellite to the Moon next year funded entirely with the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, Canadian company Geometric Energy Corporation, which will lead the lunar mission, announced Sunday.
The satellite, dubbed DOGE-1, will be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the first quarter of 2022, the Calgary-based company said in a statement.
The cubic satellite, weighing 88 pounds (40 kilograms), will aim to obtain "lunar-spatial intelligence from sensors and cameras on-board," according to the statement.
The "DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon" will be "the first-ever commercial lunar payload in history paid entirely with" Dogecoin, Geometric Energy Corporation said, without specifying how much the project cost.
"We're excited to launch DOGE-1 to the Moon!" Tom Ochinero, SpaceX vice president of commercial sales, said in the statement.
"This mission will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce."
The announcement comes the day after SpaceX founder Elon Musk hosted the live sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live" (SNL), during which he praised Dogecoin, originally created as a joke but legitimized through the eccentric tech entrepreneur's tweets.
Image:
Installing Juice at ESTEC SpaceX sets booster reuse milestone on Starlink launch
Sunday, 09 May 2021 14:05
WASHINGTON — SpaceX launched a set of Starlink satellites May 9 on a Falcon 9 whose first stage was making its tenth flight, a long-awaited goal in the company’s reusability efforts.
The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 2:42 a.m.
String of satellites baffles residents, bugs astronomers
Sunday, 09 May 2021 08:20
A string of lights that lobbed across the night sky in parts of the U.S. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday had some people wondering if a fleet of UFOs was coming, but it had others— mostly amateur stargazers and professional astronomers— lamenting the industrialization of space.
Large Chinese rocket segment disintegrates over Indian Ocean
Sunday, 09 May 2021 08:18
A large segment of a Chinese rocket re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated over the Indian Ocean on Sunday, the Chinese space agency said, following fevered speculation over where the 18-tonne object would come down.
Officials in Beijing had said there was little risk from the freefalling segment of the Long March-5B rocket, which had launched the first module of China's new space station into Earth orbit on April 29.
But the US space agency NASA and some experts said China had behaved irresponsibly, as an uncontrolled re-entry of such a large object risked damage and casualties.
"After monitoring and analysis, at 10:24 (0224 GMT) on May 9, 2021, the last-stage wreckage of the Long March 5B Yao-2 launch vehicle has re-entered the atmosphere," the China Manned Space Engineering Office said in a statement, providing coordinates for a point in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives.