This is what rolling blackouts look like from space
Sunday, 28 February 2021 13:00
Extreme winter weather hit Texas hard this February. An air mass from the arctic extended deep into the United States from Canada, with disastrous results for the ordinarily warm state. Along with snow and unusually low temperatures, the state's capacity for power generation was significantly reduced by weather-related equipment failures. Images hosted by NASA's Earth Observatory show the effect of controlled, rolling blackouts across the Greater Houston Area.
One image, taken on February 7, shows Houston before the arctic weather system, and another picture taken on the February 16 shows large swaths of the city in darkness. Earth Observatory has conveniently layered the two images with a vertical slider allowing users to slide back and forth, highlighting (or low-lighting as it were) the blackouts' impact.
Hanwha Aerospace bets big on space business
Sunday, 28 February 2021 12:43
SEOUL, South Korea — Hanwha Aerospace, the leading aircraft engine producer in South Korea, is stepping up efforts to expand its space business.
In the latest move, Hanwha struck a 109 billion won ($96.8 million) deal in January to win a controlling 30 percent stake in a domestic satellite maker, Satrec Initiative (SI), by the end of April.
Rocket Lab to go public through SPAC merger and develop medium-lift rocket
Sunday, 28 February 2021 12:27
WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab, a developer of launch vehicles and smallsats, will merge with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to support development of a larger launch vehicle, part of the latest wave of deals to take space companies public.
Ariane 5 bulkhead design assessed for Airbus airliners
Sunday, 28 February 2021 10:07
An adapted version of a composite bulkhead that safeguards satellites during their ascent on the ESA-developed Ariane 5 launch vehicle has been tested for service aboard single aisle Airbus aircraft. Fitted in the rear tail cone, it would serve as a firewall to protect passengers in the event of the rear auxiliary power unit engine catching fire or the main cabin pressure bulkhead rupturing.
SpaceX scrubs 20th Starlink communications satellite launch
Sunday, 28 February 2021 07:13
SpaceX failed to launch a cluster of Starlink commuications satellites Sunday night when the countdown halted 1 minute, 24 seconds before the planned liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
No immediate explanation was given for the scrubbed launch.
Elon Musk's rocket company said its next opportunity to get the Falcon 9 rocket off the ground and send 60 satellites into orb Futuristic space technology concepts selected by NASA for initial study
Sunday, 28 February 2021 07:13
Four advanced space concepts from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been selected to receive grants for further research and development.
Early-stage research into futuristic space ideas - a lunar levitation track system, light bending lunar power system, method for making soil from asteroid material, and more - could help revolutionize NASA's technology toolbox and pioneer new kinds o MDA awarded first production contract for the Canadian Surface Combatant Project
Sunday, 28 February 2021 07:13
MDA reports it has been awarded an initial contract with an expected production value of more than CAD$60 million on the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) project.
Lockheed Martin Canada has contracted MDA to provide the Laser Warning and Countermeasure (LWCM) System that will protect the ships against laser and optical guided threats.
MDA's Canadian-built solutions have the potential War in Space - 2021
Sunday, 28 February 2021 07:13
A new arms race is unfolding among spacefaring nations. Space experts have been telling us about contested space for the last several years. The number of active satellites is exploding from about 1,000 a few years ago to an expected 50,000+ within 10 years. The sky is indeed getting very congested. These satellites provide worldwide communications, GPS navigation, weather forecasting and planet U.S. Military, industry executives, government and researchers to attend Hypersonic Weapons Summit
Sunday, 28 February 2021 07:13
The Hypersonic Weapons Online Summit provides a forum for military leaders, program executive officers, industry executives, academics and researchers to focus emerging initiatives and focus areas that are critical to understanding the US Military senior leadership approach to the ongoing global proliferation of hypersonic weapons and capabilities for FY2021 and beyond.
The event will take Josef Aschbacher is new ESA Director General
Sunday, 28 February 2021 02:51
As of today, 1 March 2021, ESA has a new Director General: Dr Josef Aschbacher, who has taken up duty at ESA Headquarters in Paris, France.
Spacewalking astronauts prep station for new solar wings
Saturday, 27 February 2021 17:01
Spacewalking astronauts ventured out Sunday to install support frames for new, high-efficiency solar panels arriving at the International Space Station later this year.
NASA's Kate Rubins and Victor Glover put the mounting brackets and struts together, then bolted them into place next to the station's oldest and most degraded solar wings.
Indian PSLV rocket launches Brazilian Amazonia-1 satellite
Saturday, 27 February 2021 10:11
HELSINKI — India launched its first mission of the year late Saturday, sending Brazil’s Amazonia-1 Earth observation satellite and 18 smaller payloads into orbit.
NASA spacewalk Sunday will prepare for new solar power
Saturday, 27 February 2021 02:04
NASA will take the first steps Sunday toward a major addition to the International Space Station's solar panels during a two-person spacewalk.
Astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover plan to exit the space station around 6 a.m. EST for the 6 1/2-hour expedition some 250 miles above the Earth.
Rubins and Glover will prepare for the installation of six new solar arrays, which NASA SpaceX plans 20th Starlink launch Sunday evening from Florida
Saturday, 27 February 2021 02:04
Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to launch, for the 20th time, a batch of the company's Starlink communications satellites from Florida on Sunday evening.
Liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 60 spacecraft is scheduled at 8:37 p.m. EST from Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center.
SpaceX has launched more than 1,000 Starlink satellites, although some of those deorbited and burned up in the atmosphere Virgin Galactic posts revenue loss of $238m in Q4
Saturday, 27 February 2021 02:04
Despite the profit challenges, the chief executive of the British aerospace firm told investors he was excited about bringing on new talent to the leadership team and new investments for the company.
Virgin Galactic nosedived 93 percent to $238m, down from $3.7bn the year before, the company said in its fourth quarter reports.
Year-on-year losses were $273m up from $211m in 2019, the