Week in images: 01 - 05 February 2021
Thursday, 04 February 2021 14:28
Week in images: 01 - 05 February 2021
Discover our week through the lens
SpaceX to launch NASA astrophysics mission
Thursday, 04 February 2021 12:14
WASHINGTON — SpaceX won a NASA contract Feb. 4 to launch a small astrophysics spacecraft, continuing the company’s string of similar agency contracts over the last two years.
NASA awarded a contract to SpaceX for the launch of the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) spacecraft on a Falcon 9 in June 2024.
Earth from Space: Japan in bloom
Thursday, 04 February 2021 09:00
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the algal blooms swirling around the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of Japan.
How Mars became the prize for the new space race
Thursday, 04 February 2021 05:03
Looking at its achievements over the past decade, nobody would doubt China is aiming to win the new space race. Not only has it been the only country to land on the Moon in about 40 years, and the first to soft land on its far side, it has also planted a flag on lunar soil and brought samples back to Earth.
The race between several nations and private companies, however, is far from over. Bringing Mars rocks back to Earth
Thursday, 04 February 2021 05:03
Jim Bell is a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University and has worked on a number of Mars missions. On Feb. 18, NASA's Mars 2020 mission will be arriving at the red planet, and hopefully will place the Perseverance Rover on the surface. Bell is the primary investigator leading a team in charge of one of the camera systems on Perseverance.
b>What's A Steady DRIP with NASA Satellites
Thursday, 04 February 2021 05:03
When drought hits the Horn of Africa, it's a threat to lives and livelihoods. Communities need access to water for sanitation, hydration, livestock and agriculture -?and in many cases, tapping groundwater supplies is the difference between a "drought" and a "drought emergency." But maintaining the thousands of groundwater pumps that supply fresh water to drought-prone areas in east Africa is a s NASA Selects Firefly Aerospace for Artemis Commercial Moon Delivery in 2023
Thursday, 04 February 2021 05:03
NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, approximately $93.3 million to deliver a suite of 10 science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon in 2023. The delivery, planned for Mare Crisium, a low-lying basin on the Moon's near side, will investigate a variety of lunar surface conditions and resources. Such investigations will help prepare for human missions to t White House: Biden supports NASA program to send astronauts to moon
Thursday, 04 February 2021 05:03
President Joe Biden supports NASA's plan to return Americans to the surface of the moon, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday, relieving some doubt as to the fate of the Trump-era Artemis program under the new administration.
The Trump administration called for NASA to return astronauts to the moon by 2024 as part of an overall mission to ultimately send humans to Mars. But SpaceX launches fourth Starlink mission of 2021
Thursday, 04 February 2021 05:03
Elon Musk's SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida early Thursday with the mission to send a cluster of 60 Starlink communication satellites into low-Earth orbit.
The 21-story, two-stage rocket launched at 1:19 a.m. EST Thursday from Complex 40 at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
While weather at the launch site was favorable, officials said they Head of US Space Force says not many understand its purpose
Thursday, 04 February 2021 05:03
Ever since former President Trump started talking about it early on during his time in office, the Space Force has gained the attention of many Americans, while lawmakers in both parties see it as integral to ensuring that the military gives space the priority it requires in order to fight China and Russia.
The Chief of Space Operations General Jay Raymond said that there might be a public SPIRou Stares at a Young Rebel: the AU Mic Planetary System
Thursday, 04 February 2021 05:03
A team of astronomers using SPIRou, the spectropolarimeter / high-precision velocimeter at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), measured the mass and density of a close-in Neptune-like planet orbiting the hugely-active newborn star AU Microscopii (AU Mic), showing that this warm planet, named AU Mic b, orbits in the equatorial plane of its host.
These observations mark the very first Firefly wins NASA CLPS lunar lander contract
Thursday, 04 February 2021 00:13
Updated 9:30 p.m. Eastern to revise launch plans.
WASHINGTON — NASA has selected Firefly Aerospace to deliver a set of 10 research payloads to the moon in 2023, the latest award in its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
ULA’s Tory Bruno warns of ‘overheated’ space launch market
Wednesday, 03 February 2021 22:25
WASHINGTON — The chief executive of United Launch Alliance warned that there are too many venture-funded space launch companies competing for a static number of customers, and called on the U.S. government to encourage investments in other space activities that don’t exist today.
NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for SPHEREx Astrophysics Mission
Wednesday, 03 February 2021 21:21
NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission. Airbus awarded €650 million contract to build three more Orion service modules
Wednesday, 03 February 2021 19:45
JOHANNESBURG — The European Space Agency (ESA) signed a €650 million ($790 million) contract with Airbus Space and Defence to produce three more service modules for NASA’s Orion crewed spacecraft.
The European Service Module (EMS) is the 15,000-kilogram powerplant of NASA’s Orion spacecraft.