Copernical Team
German startups launch mini-rocket challenge to SpaceX and co.
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Car-manufacturing powerhouse Germany is rushing to join the private sector space race as it looks to ride a boom in mini-launchers for small satellites and compete with major US firms such as SpaceX.
Three projects in particular are making Germany a serious player in the race to provide mini-launchers for the increasing number of small satellites which observe the Earth and provide connectivity for the internet of things and smart vehicles.
At the end of July, German company Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) carried out a first successful test of its "RFA One" rocket, igniting the engine for eight seconds at its development site in Kiruna, Sweden.
The rocket's "staged combustion" system is used by Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, but is yet to be rolled out in Europe.
Russia’s forests store more carbon than previously thought
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Russia has the largest area of forest on the planet, with more than a fifth of the world's trees. A new study, led by Russian scientists using data from ESA’s Climate Change Initiative, has produced new estimates of biomass contained in Russian forests, and confirms that the vast forested area is storing more carbon than previously estimated.
NASA begins launch preparations for first mission to the Trojan asteroids
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Boeing delays key uncrewed test flight to ISS
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Boeing said Tuesday it was delaying an uncrewed flight of its Starliner capsule to the International Space Station (ISS), pushing back a key test it last attempted in 2019.
The spaceship had been due to launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket built from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:20 pm Eastern time (1720 GMT).
"We're confirming today's #Starliner Orbital Flight Test-2 launch is scrubbed," Boeing Space tweeted.
Boeing said more details would be forthcoming soon, but a weather update in the morning had placed the chances of launch at only 50 percent.
The test flight was supposed to take place Friday but had to be rescheduled after a Russian science module inadvertently fired its thrusters following docking with the ISS, pushing the orbital outpost off kilter.
Mediterranean continues to bake
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This map generated using data from Copernicus Sentinel-3 shows the temperature of the land surface on 2 August 2021. Next batch of OneWeb satellites set to launch August 20
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Russia will launch the next batch of OneWeb satellites from the Baikonur cosmodrome on August 20, Dmitry Rogozin, the director general of state space corporation Roscosmos, confirmed on Saturday.
The launch was originally set for August 5, but was postponed due to some of the satellites having faulty parts. Earlier in the month, a space industry source told Sputnik that the launch was resc The truth about space traffic management
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Those familiar with air traffic management architectures understand the constraints of aircraft flying in the atmosphere, vehicle dynamics and command and control techniques. Unfortunately, space traffic has many more degrees of freedom and much less control capability. Add to this the completely uncontrolled nature of space debris and the reality that most debris objects cannot be tracked and m British military launches its own Space Command with official opening
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Britain established its Space Command on Friday in a ceremonial opening, with responsibilities split between three specific groups to form a joint space command, Britain's Ministry of Defense announced on Friday.
The British military budget includes $1.95 billion, over 10 years, for space capabilities, part of a defense budget increase of $33.34 billion in the next four years.
Of Hypersonic missile booster rocket fails to ignite in test
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In a test of a hypersonic booster rocket, a test rocket was successfully released from a B-52H bomber but failed to ignite, the U.S. Air Force said this week.
The test of the rocket propelling the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon was its second, and occurred on Wednesday at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
An Air Force statement on Thursday said that the booster test roc India set to launch powerful new satellite for trans-border movement detection
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Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, several Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) projects have been delayed, including key programmes like Chandrayaan-3 and the ambitious manned mission Gaganyaan. However, starting next month, the agency will again take up launch activities at the Sriharikota spaceport.
The Indian government on Thursday announced that the country's first state-of