China's commercial rocket SD-3 to make maiden flight in 2022
Wednesday, 03 March 2021 07:39
Smart Dragon-3 (SD-3), the third member of China's Dragon series commercial carrier rockets family, will make its maiden flight in 2022, its developer said Wednesday.
A four-stage solid-propellant rocket, the SD-3 will be the largest and have the highest carrying capacity among the Dragon series, according to the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.
With a maximum diameter of Planetary science intern leads study of Martian crust
Wednesday, 03 March 2021 07:39
The planet Mars has no global magnetic field, although scientists believe it did have one at some point in the past. Previous studies suggest that when Mars' global magnetic field was present, it was approximately the same strength as Earth's current field.
Surprisingly, instruments from past Mars missions, both orbiters and landers, have spotted patches on the planet's surface that are st China shows first high-def pictures of Mars taken by Tianwen 1
Wednesday, 03 March 2021 07:39
The China National Space Administration made public on Thursday morning the first high-definition pictures of Mars taken by the nation's spacecraft.
The pictures - two black-and-white and one color - were shot recently by China's Tianwen 1 robotic probe when the spacecraft was travelling in Mars orbit, according to the administration.
The two black-and-white 7-meter-resolution images ISS Leaks May Be Caused by Metal Fatigue, Micrometeorite Impact, Source Says
Wednesday, 03 March 2021 07:39
A commission of Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos believes that cracks in Russia's Zvezda module at the International Space Station (ISS) were most likely formed due to metal fatigue or micrometeorite impact, a source in the rocket and space sphere said on Wednesday.
The commission unites experts from Roscosmos, the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, the Central Research Institu China tests high-thrust rocket engine for upcoming space station missions
Wednesday, 03 March 2021 07:39
A Chinese high-thrust oxyhydrogen engine designed for the Long March-5 carrier rocket has completed a 520-second test in Beijing in preparation for space station missions, the engine's maker said on Wednesday.
Developed by an institute under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the engine is the most advanced cryogenic liquid rocket engine that has been put into u Webb Telescope completes final functional tests to prepare for launch
Wednesday, 03 March 2021 07:39
February marked significant progress for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which completed its final functional performance tests at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California. Testing teams successfully completed two important milestones that confirmed the observatory's internal electronics are all functioning as intended, and that the spacecraft and its four scientific instruments can send SpaceX launches and lands Starship prototype, which later explodes
Wednesday, 03 March 2021 00:34
WASHINGTON — SpaceX launched a prototype of its Starship next-generation vehicle March 3, landing it safely only to have the vehicle explode minutes later.
The Starship SN10 vehicle lifted off from the company’s Boca Chica, Texas, test site at about 6:15 p.m.
Biden’s first strategic guidance sets broad national security priorities
Tuesday, 02 March 2021 23:05
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden issued a national security blueprint that lays out broad goals and priorities for his administration and identifies China as the United States’ primary competitor.
With regard to space, the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance released March 3 says the United States will “explore and use” outer space but also ensure space remains safe and stable.
VIPER lunar rover mission cost increases
Tuesday, 02 March 2021 22:58
WASHINGTON — A NASA rover mission to look for ice at the south pole of the moon has passed a key review, but now costs significantly more than previously advertised.
NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission passed its confirmation review Feb.
Delayed Indonesian broadband satellite SATRIA fully funded
Tuesday, 02 March 2021 21:56
TAMPA, Fla. — Indonesia’s government has secured financing to continue manufacturing the SATRIA broadband satellite, although its intended orbital slot remains up in the air.
Thales Alenia Space started developing the Ka-band spacecraft in September after receiving partial financing, which spokesperson Sandrine Bielecki told SpaceNews covered work up until this point.
Source of hazardous high-energy particles located in the Sun
Tuesday, 02 March 2021 19:00
The source of potentially hazardous solar particles, released from the Sun at high speed during storms in its outer atmosphere, has been located for the first time by researchers at UCL and George Mason University, Virginia, U.S.
These particles are highly charged and, if they reach Earth's atmosphere, can potentially disrupt satellites and electronic infrastructure, as well as pose a radiation risk to astronauts and people in airplanes. In 1859, during what's known as the Carrington Event, a large solar storm caused telegraphic systems across Europe and America to fail.
Foust Forward | Will Jeff Bezos kick-start Blue Origin? Does he need to?
Tuesday, 02 March 2021 18:49
Back in the 1990s, space advocates had visions of reusable launch vehicles that would lower the cost of getting to orbit, opening the door to everything from space hotels to space solar power satellites. The problem, they argued at conferences as they showed viewgraphs of their designs, was not technical but financial: few were willing to invest in these ventures.
Space Care
Tuesday, 02 March 2021 16:00
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Why does ESA send missions beyond our Earth? To explore unknown worlds, and better understand our place in the Universe. But that answer only gives part of the picture. The first thing people do when they first reach space is to turn back to see our homeworld. Looking down on our planet from above allows ESA with its global partners to monitor climate, disasters and environmental changes – to work together to protect our home.
And danger comes from above as well as below: a close eye on our stormy Sun is vital to gather early warning of
Raymond: Space Force ‘not a political issue’
Tuesday, 02 March 2021 15:20
WASHINGTON — The White House unambiguous statement of support for the Space Force makes it “really clear that this is not a political issue, it’s an issue of national security,” Chief of Space Operations Gen.
Help is a long way away: The challenges of sending humans to Mars
Tuesday, 02 March 2021 14:30
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin stepped out a lunar lander onto the surface of the moon. The landscape in front of him, which was made up of stark blacks and grays, resembled what he later called "magnificent desolation."
When it comes to desolation, however, the moon may have nothing on Mars.
The red planet circles the sun at an average distance of about 140 million miles from Earth. When people eventually visit this world—whether that's in 20 years or 50—they may face a journey lasting 1,000 days or longer. The entire Apollo 11 mission, in contrast, lasted just a little over eight days. If future Mars astronauts get lonely, or if something more serious goes wrong, help is a long way away.
For researchers who study how human bodies and minds respond to the rigors of space travel, the scenario poses a lot of unknowns.