TransAstra receives Space Force contract to explore in-orbit propulsion systems
Saturday, 20 May 2023 12:20U.S. orbital logistics and space mining company TransAstra Corporation announced Friday that the U.S. Space Force has awarded it a Phase One Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to explore new applications for the company's patented, propellant-agnostic Omnivore thruster. The groundbreaking propulsion technology provides thrust typically six times faster and eight times cheap
After SpaceX, NASA taps Bezos's Blue Origin to build Moon lander
Saturday, 20 May 2023 08:50Two years after awarding Elon Musk's SpaceX a contract to ferry astronauts to the surface of the Moon, NASA on Friday announced it had chosen Blue Origin, a rival space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, to build a second lunar lander.
Blue Origin's lander was selected for the Artemis 5 mission, currently scheduled to take place in 2029. The company will first have to demonstrate it can safely land on the Moon without a crew.
Bezos, the founder and former CEO of Amazon, said on Twitter he was "honored to be on this journey with @NASA to land astronauts on the Moon—this time to stay.
Technical strengths and lower cost led NASA to select Blue Origin lander
Friday, 19 May 2023 19:01NASA selected Blue Origin to develop a second Artemis lunar lander because of technical strengths such as an aggressive schedule of test flights as well as its lower cost.
HASC chairman questions ‘continued delays’ in settling dispute over Space Command’s location
Friday, 19 May 2023 18:20The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.
NASA picks Bezos' Blue Origin to build lunar landers for moonwalkers
Friday, 19 May 2023 16:51Jeff Bezos' rocket company has won a NASA contract to land astronauts on the moon, two years after it lost out to SpaceX.
Blue Origin received a $3.4 billion contract Friday to lead a team to develop a lunar lander named Blue Moon.
Could NASA resurrect the Spitzer space telescope?
Friday, 19 May 2023 16:20NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope served the astronomy community well for 16 years. From its launch in 2003 to the end of its operations in January 2020, its infrared observations fueled scientific discoveries too numerous to list.
Infrared telescopes need to be kept cool to operate, and eventually, it ran out of coolant. But that wasn't the end of the mission; it kept operating in "warm" mode, where observations were limited. Its mission only ended when it drifted too far away from Earth to communicate effectively.
Now NASA thinks they can reboot the telescope.
The Spitzer was one of four powerful space-based observatories in NASA's Great Observatories program. The other three are the Hubble, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.
NASA selects Blue Origin to develop second Artemis lunar lander
Friday, 19 May 2023 15:17NASA has selected Blue Origin to develop a lunar lander to transport astronauts on Artemis missions starting at the end of the decade.
FCC denies Dish Network 5G plan over Starlink interference concerns
Friday, 19 May 2023 14:33U.S. regulators voted May 18 to protect Starlink’s access to 12 GHz spectrum, which Dish Network had hoped to use for terrestrial 5G in a plan SpaceX warned would deny its satellite broadband network to most Americans.
NASA's Lucy spacecraft adjusts course for asteroid flyby in November
Friday, 19 May 2023 14:19On May 9, NASA's Lucy spacecraft carried out a trajectory correction maneuver to set the spacecraft on course for its close encounter with the small main belt asteroid Dinkinesh. The maneuver changed the velocity of the spacecraft by only about 7.7 mph (3.4 m/s).
Even though the spacecraft is currently traveling at approximately 43,000 mph (19.4 km/s), this small nudge is enough to move the spacecraft nearly 40,000 miles (65,000 km) closer to the asteroid during the planned encounter on Nov. 1, 2023. The spacecraft will fly a mere 265 miles (425 km) from the small, half-mile-(sub-km)-sized asteroid, while traveling at a relative speed of 10,000 mph (4.5 km/s).
The Lucy team will continue to monitor the spacecraft's trajectory and will have further opportunities to fine tune the flight path if needed.
The Lucy team is also continuing to analyze the data collected from its spring instrument calibration campaign and make other preparations for the mission's first asteroid encounter. This encounter will provide a valuable test of the spacecraft's systems and procedures to make sure that everything operates as expected during the mission's high-speed asteroid encounters.
Inmarsat orders 3 smallsats to bolster L-band safety services
Friday, 19 May 2023 11:00Inmarsat has ordered three small geostationary satellites from 3D printing specialist Swissto12 for a launch in 2026 to fortify its L-band safety services.
Space Force looks at options for relieving Cape Canaveral launch congestion
Friday, 19 May 2023 10:14With increasing activity pushing Florida’s launch sites to their limits, the Space Force is studying ways to move some of that activity elsewhere, including to California.
Axiom astronauts to train at the European Astronaut Centre
Friday, 19 May 2023 08:11Facilities at ESA's European Astronaut Centre are buzzing with training activities. While a new generation of ESA astronauts began their basic training last month, private astronauts Peggy Whitson and John Shoffner, part of Axiom Space's Crew-2, visited the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) near Cologne, Germany, in February to receive training by ESA instructors for their upcoming journey to the International Space Station.
The Axiom-2 crew is currently scheduled to launch no earlier than 21 May 2023.
New sensors with the HOTS for extreme missions
Friday, 19 May 2023 07:30Modern technologies are laden with sensors - a now-customary fact of life in much of the world. On smart watches and phones, and in cars and homes, sensors help monitor health, adjust various settings for comfort, and warn of potential dangers. More widely, sensors are deployed across countless commercial and defense systems, including in the oil and gas sector, the automotive industry, alternat
Momentus deploys Qosmosys satellite and on-orbit support of Caltech hosted payload
Friday, 19 May 2023 07:30Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS) has deployed the Qosmosys Zeus-1 payload from its Vigoride-5 Orbital Service Vehicle and is now providing comprehensive hosted payload support services for Caltech's Space-based Solar Power Project payload. The Qosmosys Zeus-1 payload was deployed in orbit on May 10, 2023. Effective May 15, 2023, Momentus is providing on-orbit support to Caltech, including prov
China's next space exploration to feature new faces
Friday, 19 May 2023 07:30China's next manned mission, the Shenzhou XVI, is scheduled to be launched within this month to transport three astronauts to the Tiangong space station, according to plans made by the China Manned Space Agency. It will become the first crewed mission to the Tiangong station after its completion, which was done through the Shenzhou XIV and XV flights. The Shenzhou XVI crew members, w