One tends to think of mountain glaciers as slow moving, their gradual passage down a mountainside visible only through a long series of satellite imagery or years of time-lapse photography. However, new research shows that glacier flow can be much more dramatic, ranging from about 10 metres a day to speeds that are more like that of avalanches, with obvious potential dire consequences for those living below.

Antofagasta, a port city in northern Chile, is featured in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.

Washington DC (The Conversation) Apr 30, 2021
For most people, getting to the stars is nothing more than a dream. On April 28, 2001, Dennis Tito achieved that lifelong goal - but he wasn't a typical astronaut. Tito, a wealthy businessman, paid US$20 million for a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to be the first tourist to visit the International Space Station. Only seven people have followed suit in the 20 years since, but that number is

Washington DC (SPX) Apr 30, 2021
The FAA has authorized the next three launches of the SpaceX Starship prototype. The agency approved multiple launches because SpaceX is making few changes to the launch vehicle and relied on the FAA's approved methodology to calculate the risk to the public. The FAA authorized the launches on Wednesday, April 28. Prior to the launch of SN15, the FAA will verify that SpaceX implemented cor

Beijing (Sputnik) Apr 30, 2021
China plans to launch two cargo spaceships and two manned spacecraft for building its own orbit station within this year, Hao Chun, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) director, said on Thursday. Earlier in the day, the country successfully sent off the core module of China's new space station Tiangong, which means "heavenly palace," by launching a rocket from Wenchang spaceport, locate

Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Apr 30, 2021
The International Space Station is our home in low-Earth orbit. Humans have been living and working continuously on the station for more than 20 years. Astronauts and cosmonauts visiting the space station have arrived on the space shuttle, the Russian Soyuz, and now, the SpaceX Crew Dragon, with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner to be added to the mix. With these new flights on U.S. commercial spacecra

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 30, 2021
Venus is an enigma. It's the planet next door and yet reveals little about itself. An opaque blanket of clouds smothers a harsh landscape pelted by acid rain and baked at temperatures that can liquify lead. Now, new observations from the safety of Earth are lifting the veil on some of Venus' most basic properties. By repeatedly bouncing radar off the planet's surface over the last 15 years

Beijing (XNA) Apr 30, 2021
Commercial enterprises will have opportunities to take part in the construction and operation of the nation's space station, according to a senior space official. Hao Chun, head of the China Manned Space Agency, told China Daily in an interview earlier this month that his agency, which administers the space station program, will take advantage of private space companies' technologies and c

Wenchang, China (Xinhua) Apr 30, 2021
China on Thursday sent into space the core module of its space station, kicking off a series of key launch missions that aim to complete the construction of the station by the end of next year. The Long March-5B Y2 rocket, carrying the Tianhe module, blasted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan at 11:23 a.m. (Beijing Time).

TAMPA, Fla. — Maxar Technologies has appointed Chris Johnson as senior vice president of space programs delivery (SPD), overseeing spacecraft and robotic systems from design to distribution.

Johnson has spent more than 20 years at Boeing, where he was most recently president of Boeing Satellite Systems International.