Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 24, 2025
NASA has awarded a series of new study contracts aimed at advancing capabilities to support life and work on the Moon. These initiatives are part of the Artemis program, the agency's strategy for deep space exploration, and include contracts with nine U.S. companies across seven states. The Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships Appendix R contracts are focused on addressing

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 24, 2025
Rocket Lab is playing a key role in the 45-day journey of Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost spacecraft to the Moon, providing its advanced MAX Flight and MAX Ground Data Software suites. The company has also contributed three cutting-edge photovoltaic assemblies, featuring interconnected space-grade solar cells. These assemblies, strategically mounted on the spacecraft's top deck and sides, d

University Park PA (SPX) Jan 26, 2025
Across cosmic history, powerful forces have acted on matter, reshaping the universe into an increasingly complex web of structures. Now, new research led by Joshua Kim and Mathew Madhavacheril at the University of Pennsylvania and their collaborators at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suggests our universe has become "messier and more complicated" over the roughly 13.8 billion years it's b

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 26, 2025
Blue Origin is preparing for the 29th flight of its New Shepard rocket, set to launch on January 28 at 10:00 AM CST / 1600 UTC from Launch Site One in West Texas. The mission, known as NS-29, will simulate the Moon's gravity for the first time and carry 30 payloads, nearly all of which are focused on testing technologies crucial for lunar exploration. The webcast will begin 15 minutes before lif

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jan 26, 2025
The Hainan commercial spacecraft launch site in China has begun the second phase of its development, which will feature two new launch pads specifically designed for liquid propellant rockets. The expansion is part of an effort to enhance the site's launch capabilities and meet the growing demand for commercial space missions in the country. The second phase will span over 133 hectares alo

Paris, France (SPX) Jan 26, 2025
The European Space Agency's Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) Test Facilities at the ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands have been pivotal in supporting Lithuanian company Blackswan Space in testing their autonomous satellite navigation technology. The collaboration focused on the use of the GRALS (Guidance, Navigation, and Control Rendezvous, Approach, and Landing Simulator), which i

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission captured Cyclone Dikeledi south of Madagascar on 16 January, just a few days after it made landfall on Africa’s southeastern coast causing widespread destruction in several countries and islands.

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ESA’s Civil Security from Space programme aims to save lives and livelihoods by reinforcing terrestrial systems that can become compromised by natural disasters or malicious actions.

It aims to deliver a faster response than is presently possible by ensuring that real-time data is available anywhere through state-of-the-art space-enabled systems, making use of secure networks and reliable cloud computing to ensure the information is resilient and reliable. The programme also aims to enable governments and emergency services to act on an unfolding situation by using smart data gathering and intelligent processing to create a holistic awareness of the situation.

Paris, France (SPX) Jan 23, 2025
The Italian Space Agency (ASI) has awarded a key contract to Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), to contribute to NASA's Surface Biology and Geology - Thermal Infrared (SBG-TIR) Earth Observation mission. This agreement follows a 2023 collaboration pact between ASI and NASA for the SBG-TIR mission. The partnership underscores a long-standing commit

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 22, 2025
The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite is poised to launch in the coming months, bringing an innovative capability to track Earth's surface changes with remarkable precision. Using synthetic aperture radar (SAR), the satellite will deliver high-resolution data, monitoring everything from tectonic shifts to ecosystem changes. NISAR will survey nearly all of Earth's solid l