Gravitational lenses could allow a galaxy-wide internet
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 13:06
As Carl Sagan once said, "The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars." And our first emissaries to the stars will be robotic probes. These interstellar probes will be largely autonomous, but we will want to communicate with them. At the very least, we will want them to phone home and tell us what they've discovered. The stars are distant, so the probes will need to make a very long-distance call.
Currently, we communicate with space probes throughout the solar system via the Deep Space Network (DSN). This is a collection of antenna stations located around the world. Each station has one large 70-meter dish and several smaller dishes. Such large radio dishes are necessary because the signals from a space probe are rather faint, and they grow fainter with increasing distance.
When we start sending probes to other stars, we're going to need an interstellar communication network.
Space vs. materials – orbital testing outside Space Station
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 12:00
Space leaves its mark on materials: exposure to such a harsh environment can darken, crack or crater their surfaces – or even erode them away entirely. The nothingness of hard vacuum can also provoke ‘outgassing’ vapours from materials that might degrade delicate mission systems. Accordingly ESA and the French space agency CNES are giving European researchers the chance to pit the latest aerospace materials directly against space.
NASA engineers analyze navigation needs of Artemis moon missions
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 11:53
Space communications and navigation engineers at NASA are evaluating the navigation needs for the Artemis program, including identifying the precision navigation capabilities needed to establish the first sustained presence on the lunar surface.
"Artemis engages us to apply creative navigation solutions, choosing the right combination of capabilities for each mission," said Cheryl Gramling, associate chief for technology in the Mission Engineering and Systems Analysis Division at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "NASA has a multitude of navigation tools at its disposal, and Goddard has a half-century of experience navigating space exploration missions in lunar orbit."
Alongside proven navigation capabilities, NASA will use innovative navigation technologies during the upcoming Artemis missions.
"Lunar missions provide the opportunity to test and refine novel space navigation techniques," said Ben Ashman, a navigation engineer at Goddard. "The moon is a fascinating place to explore and can serve as a proving ground that expands our navigation toolkit for more distant destinations like Mars.
Redwire to go public through a SPAC merger
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 11:07
WASHINGTON — Redwire, a firm that has acquired several space technology companies in the last year, announced March 25 that it will go public by merging with a special-purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC).
Redwire said it will merge with Genesis Park Acquisition Corp.
GAO to probe choice of Alabama as Space Command's headquarters
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 11:00
The Government Accountability Office will open a review of the selection of Huntsville, Ala., as the permanent headquarters of the U.S. Space Command.
The GAO informed Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., of the decision, his office said on Friday.
On Feb. 1, Lamborn was among several bipartisan Colorado legislators who requested an investigation of the decision, announced in the last wee GAO: DoD should better coordinate hypersonic weapons programs
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 11:00
The Defense Department's push to achieve hypersonic weapons should better define the roles and duties of those in leadership, a government report published Monday says.
The Government Accountability Office noted that the development of hypersonic weapons and related technologies has cost about $14 billion since it started in 2015, through 70 identified efforts.
The Defense Depart Cutting edge ground recorders selected to measure future X-59 Quiet Supersonic Flights
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 11:00
For the deserts of Southern California, the major milestones of aviation have long been marked by the unique sights, and sounds, of flight.
From the late Chuck Yeager's breaking of the sound barrier in 1947, to the space shuttles' approach and landing at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center (then Dryden) in Edwards, and through today, one recognizable sound is the sonic boom - a loud, s Parsons awarded $250M Seabed-to-Space ISR contract
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 11:00
Parsons Corporation has been awarded a shared ceiling value $250 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) multiple award task order contract by the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific for research, development, test, and technical engineering for maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and information operations.
The contract has a three-yea Lockheed Martin awarded $3.7B to modernize key missile defense mission
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 11:00
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA), in a competitive downselect phase, selected Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and partner Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE: AJRD) to deliver the nation's most advanced missile defense system, the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI).
The $3.7 billion contract for Next Generation Interceptor is the first step in the development and demonstration phase delivering on MDA's re AFRL directed energy industry days
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 11:00
The Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate will host a Virtual Briefing for Industry to introduce the new Directed Energy Technology Experimentation Research (DETER), Advanced Research Announcement (ARA) April 13 - 14 from 10 a.m. to noon Mountain Standard Time each day.
"We are looking forward to hosting our first briefing for industry days," said Marcella Cantu, DETER Dubai reports launch of DMSat-1 Atmospheric Monitoring Microsatellite
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 11:00
Dubai Municipality announced the successful launch and deployment of DMSat-1, an atmospheric monitoring microsatellite built by Space Flight Laboratory (SFL). DMSat-1 launched Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz rocket.
SFL developed DMSat-1 under contract to the Dubai-based Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The 15-kg Pentagon extends contract options for nuclear microreactor prototype
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 11:00
The Department of Defense awarded contract options this week to two companies to create a final prototype for a transportable advanced nuclear microreactor.
BWXT Advanced Technologies and X-energy, both of which won contracts last year to develop portable nuclear reactors, will continue that work under the new options, according to a Pentagon press release.
The teams are working US military must accelerate use of artificial intelligence, JAIC chief says
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 11:00
The U.S. military must scale up its artificial intelligence use or be left behind by adversaries, Lt. Gen. Michael Groen told an industry conference this week.
Data must be standardized, cloud services must be adopted and AI must be integrated into military operations, Groen, chief of the Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, told the National Defense Industrial Association c Florida company licenses NASA tech that keeps electronics cool
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 11:00
From shutting down unexpectedly to exploding, electronics can wreak havoc when they overheat. A Florida-based company called Protodromics LLC has licensed a NASA technology that takes advantage of a physical force called electrohydrodynamics (EHD) to pump water or other fluids and cool overheated electronics. Due to the technology's low power consumption, modular nature, and small size, it can b Warming drives 'fundamental' changes to ocean, scientists warn
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 11:00
Climate change has wrought major changes to ocean stability faster than previously thought, according to a study published Wednesday, raising alarms over its role as a global thermostat and the marine life it supports.
The research published in the journal Nature looked at 50 years of data and followed the way in which surface water "decouples" from the deeper ocean.
Climate change has