High wind delays Michael Strahan's space trip with 5 others
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 16:21
Moth balls thrust satellites into space
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 16:10
The chemical in moth balls, naphthalene, will be tested in space in a new satellite rocket propulsion system, Bogong, developed at The Australian National University (ANU).
Scientists have designed the innovative thruster, with a familiar odor, in only six months from design to delivery. Primary testing was conducted on campus at ANU.
The Bogong will launch into space in mid-2022 amid a group of half a dozen small satellites that Australian space services company Skykraft will test for tracking and communication with aircraft, facilitated by the Canberra-based space company Boswell Technologies.
ANU Ph.D. scholar Mr Dimitrios Tsifakis, came up with the idea for using hot naphthalene as opposed to hot charged gas plasma systems as a rocket thruster for small satellites.
"Naphthalene is ideal because when it is heated it goes straight from solid to gas, with no liquid sloshing about in the thruster," he said.
"It is cheap, non-corrosive and easily available.
"You can get moth balls in the supermarket. Everyone knows that old smell in granny's wardrobe; now it is the newest thing in space technology.
Singapore's first 3D-printed artefact to be launched to the moon
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 16:01
The Moon Gallery Foundation is developing an art gallery to be sent to the Moon, contributing to the establishment of the first lunar outpost and permanent museum on Earth's only natural satellite. The international initiative will see one hundred artworks from artists around the world integrated into a 10 cm x 10 cm x 1 cm grid tray, which will fly to the Moon by 2025. The Moon Gallery aims to expand humanity's cultural dialog beyond Earth. The gallery will meet the cosmos for the first time in low Earth orbit in 2022 in a test flight.
The test flight is in collaboration with Nanoracks, a private in-space service provider.
Ariane 5 moved to meet Webb
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 13:00
The Ariane 5 launch vehicle which will launch the James Webb Space Telescope was moved to the final assembly building at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 29 November 2021.
GHGSat to launch three spacecraft on Falcon 9
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 12:02
GHGSat, a Canadian company planning a constellation of satellites to monitor greenhouse gas emissions, announced Dec. 8 it will launch its next three satellites on a Falcon 9 in mid-2022.
Soyuz launches Japanese private astronauts to ISS
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 11:34
A Soyuz spacecraft launched Dec. 8 carrying two Japanese private astronauts and a Roscosmos cosmonaut on the first flight in more than a decade for space tourism company Space Adventures.
Mirror, mirror, on the Moon
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 11:21
Image:
Mirror, mirror, on the Moon, how far away are you?
MoonLIGHT or Moon Laser Instrumentation for General relativity/geophysics High-accuracy Tests is seeking the answer to this and more questions on general relativity, the gravitational dynamics of the Earth-Moon system and the deep lunar interior.
MoonLIGHT is a laser retroreflector, imaged here, which allows laser beams sent from Earth to be reflected back from the Moon to receivers on our planet. This allows very precise measurement of the distances between the reflector and the ground station.
Known as lunar laser ranging, this technique has been in use since the Apollo missions to investigate
A Saarland space feast sprinkled with science
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 10:10
European food has always been out of this world, but this week ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer shared a taste of his home region, Saarland – with a serving of science – during a space-based Saint Nicholas feast.
Russian rocket blasts off carrying Japanese billionaire to the ISS
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 09:31
A Russian rocket lifted off on Wednesday carrying a Japanese billionaire to the International Space Station, marking the country's return to space tourism after a decade-long pause that saw the rise of competition from privately held US companies.
Online fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa and his production assistant Yozo Hirano blasted off from the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan BlackSky continues operational momentum with two back-to-back launches in six days
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 09:31
BlackSky plans to add another two satellites to its constellation Wednesday with the Rocket Lab mission titled "A Data with Destiny." Satellites from the SpaceX mission Thursday began delivering revenue-generating insights for customers less than 24 hours following launch and increased constellation revisit rates to six consistent visits per day in key markets during daylight hours.
"Black Rocket Lab to launch three dedicated Electron missions for EO firm Synspective
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 09:31
Rocket Lab USA has signed a deal with Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective to carry out three dedicated Electron launches.
The first two missions are scheduled for lift-off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in 2022, with a third to follow in 2023. Each mission will deploy a single StriX satellite, growing Synspective's synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation developed to deliver Milestone mission for China's first commercial rocket company
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 09:31
Galactic Energy, a carrier rocket maker in Beijing, has become the first private enterprise in China to have conducted two orbital missions that placed satellites in outer space.
The company's CERES 1 Y2 rocket, the second of its kind, blasted off at 12:12 pm Tuesday at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China's Gobi Desert and flew for about 14 minutes before deploying five Astra announces launch for NASA from Cape Canaveral in January
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 09:31
Astra Space, Inc. has announced plans to deploy its first satellite in orbit for NASA in January 2022. The launch from Cape Canaveral will be conducted out of Space Launch Complex 46 (SLC-46) and will be Astra's first launch out of Cape Canaveral.
"This historic launch site has been prepared for a new commercial launch partner in less than year, which is a tremendous milestone for our comb SES Government Solutions releases new unified operational network
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 09:31
SES Government Solutions has announced its new Common Operational Picture (COP) platform, Hydra, built exclusively to serve the U.S. Government and military. Managed and operated in-house, Hydra is a modular web-based monitoring and control system that provides end-to-end situational awareness in a single unified operational network platform.
Hydra collects, normalizes, and organizes data Space Force General Claims China Moves 'Twice the Rate' of US in Space Race, May Overtake It by 2030
Wednesday, 08 December 2021 09:31
Top American generals have repeatedly expressed fears about the speed of development of the latest generation of military technologies in the main rival countries for the US - China and Russia - noting, to their own regret, the bureaucracy and slowness of the development of the latest weapons by the US.
General David Thompson, Vice Chief of Space Operations for the US Space Force, stated t