HawkEye 360 reaches contractual milestone for delivering space-based radio frequency mapping
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 07:12
HawkEye 360 reports it has secured new contracts totaling over $50 million in potential value since the start of the year as its next generation satellites have become operational.
"HawkEye 360 is experiencing an exceptional year, with record growth in customer engagements and bookings," said HawkEye 360 CEO John Serafini.
"We're building depth of customers across the United States, Unique asteroid holds clues to early Solar System
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 07:12
Set to launch next year, NASA's Psyche mission marks the first time the agency has set out to explore an asteroid richer in metal than rock or ice. More than 150 years have passed since novelist Jules Verne wrote "Journey to the Center of the Earth," but reality has yet to catch up with that science fiction adventure. While humans can't bore a path to our planet's metallic core, NASA has its sig SwRI scientists confirm decrease in Pluto's atmospheric density
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 07:12
When Pluto passed in front of a star on the night of August 15, 2018, a Southwest Research Institute-led team of astronomers had deployed telescopes at numerous sites in the U.S. and Mexico to observe Pluto's atmosphere as it was briefly backlit by the well-placed star. Scientists used this occultation event to measure the overall abundance of Pluto's tenuous atmosphere and found compelling evid Spire Global and SpaceChain announce new partnership
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 07:12
Spire Global has entered into a new partnership with SpaceChain, a global space-as-a-service solutions provider developing the world's first decentralized satellite infrastructure (DSI). Together, Spire and SpaceChain are launching a mission to demonstrate the feasibility of blockchain technology computation in space and resolve land-based centralized infrastructure issues.
Many in the blo Watch live: briefings for next Space Station mission
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 06:15
Learn the latest about the launch of Crew-3 to the International Space Station during two virtual briefings this Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 October live on ESA Web TV Two.
Spire Global data to feed maritime-traffic algorithms
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 22:02
LatConnect 60 will feed Spire Global Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel-tracking data into algorithms the Australian Earth-observation startup is developing with Curtin University to prevent maritime collisions.
Orbital Micro Systems and Thomas Keating forge weather data pact
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 20:45
ST. LOUIS – Orbital Micro Systems announced an agreement Oct. 5 with UK technology firm Thomas Keating Ltd. to jointly fund design, development and testing of millimeter-wave instruments for commercial weather satellites. OMS launched the first commercial cubesat equipped with a microwave radiometer in 2019.
Late-time small-body asteroid disruptions can protect the Earth
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 18:57
If an asteroid is determined to be on an Earth-impacting trajectory, scientists typically want to stage a deflection, where the asteroid is gently nudged by a relatively small change in velocity, while keeping the bulk of the asteroid together.
A kinetic impactor or a standoff nuclear explosion can achieve a deflection.
ODNI to share unclassified science and technology priorities
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 18:42
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is preparing unclassified documents to share its science and technology priorities with industry and academia, John Beieler, ODNI science and technology director.
Space data used to detect sources of GPS disruptions
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 18:18
Radio-frequency data collected by HawkEye 360 satellites can be used to locate GPS interference hotspots
How low can satellites go? VLEO entrepreneurs plan to find out
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 18:14
NRO’s strategy to buy satellite imagery shaped by thriving commercial market
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 17:39
The U.S. satellite imagery industry will soon see the details of a highly anticipated procurement by the National Reconnaissance Office.
Working overtime: NASA's deep space atomic clock completes mission
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 17:12
For more than two years, NASA's Deep Space Atomic Clock has been pushing the timekeeping frontiers in space. On Sept. 18, 2021, its mission came to a successful end.
The instrument is hosted on General Atomics' Orbital Test Bed spacecraft that was launched aboard the Department of Defense Space Test Program 2 mission June 25, 2019. Its goal: to test the feasibility of using an onboard atomic clock to improve spacecraft navigation in deep space.
Currently, spacecraft rely on ground-based atomic clocks. To measure a spacecraft's trajectory as it travels beyond the Moon, navigators use these timekeepers to precisely track when those signals are sent and received. Because navigators know that radio signals travel at the speed of light (about 186,000 miles per second, or 300,000 kilometers per second), they can use these time measurements to calculate the spacecraft's exact distance, speed, and direction of travel.
Thomas becomes Space Station commander
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 14:30
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On 4 October 2021 ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet became commander of the International Space Station, taking over from Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut and fellow Crew-2 member Akihiko Hoshide. Thomas will hold this role until shortly before Crew-2 return to Earth in November. Thomas officially accepted his new position during a traditional ceremony, broadcast live from the International Space Station, where a symbolic handover of a key from Aki to Thomas denoted the change of command. The full title of this role is International Space Station crew commander. While overall command of the Station lies with ground-based
New spin on space research
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 13:54
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The ESA-owned Short Arm Human Centrifuge has been upgraded, installed and inaugurated at the Olympic Sport Centre Planica facility near Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. Soon to be home to ESA bedrest studies, this recently enhanced clinical research centre will help further scientists’ knowledge of human physiology in space.
Run by the Jozef Stefan Institute on behalf of ESA, bedrest studies at the facility offer scientists a way to see how the human body adapts to weightlessness. This allows researchers to test techniques, known as “countermeasures”, to counteract the negative effects of living in space.
The Short-Arm Human Centrifuge offers an