Taking Earth’s temperature from space
Thursday, 14 March 2024 14:00
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Climate change exacerbates droughts by making them more frequent, longer, and more severe. This can have a wide range of impacts on the environment, agriculture, ecosystems and communities including water scarcity, crop failure and food shortages.
The upcoming Copernicus Land Surface Temperature Monitoring, LSTM, mission will improve sustainable agricultural productivity in a world of increasing water scarcity and variability.
The mission will carry a high spatial-temporal resolution thermal infrared sensor to provide observations of land-surface temperature.
These data are key to understand and respond to climate variability, manage water resources for agricultural production, predict droughts and also to address land
Shoebox-sized Milani CubeSat joining Hera asteroid mission
Thursday, 14 March 2024 11:59 Write a comment
The shoebox-sized Milani CubeSat, which will perform close-up mineral prospecting of the Dimorphos asteroid, is ready for delivery to ESA’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence. The spacecraft will carry Milani and a second CubeSat, the Juventas radar imaging spacecraft for probing into the target asteroid, which together will be ESA’s first CubeSats to operate in deep space.
Terran Orbital announces plans to produce small satellites for geostationary orbit
Thursday, 14 March 2024 10:00
Surprise Chinese lunar mission hit by launch anomaly
Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:51
SpaceX's Starship-Super Heavy Cleared for Takeoff: FAA Grants Launch License
Thursday, 14 March 2024 08:36 Write a comment
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has officially granted Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) the authorization to launch the Starship-Super Heavy vehicle. This permission, detailed in license number VOL23-129 Rev.2, allows for a series of launches from the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Complex in Texas.
As of March 13, 2024, SpaceX is sanctioned to carry out both pre-flight gr Arctic Weather Satellite tested for life in orbit
Thursday, 14 March 2024 08:00 Write a comment
ESA’s Arctic Weather Satellite has passed its environmental test campaign with flying colours – meaning that the satellite has been declared fit for liftoff and its life in the harsh environment of space.
This new satellite, which is slated for launch in June, has been designed to show how it can improve weather forecasts in the Arctic – a region that currently lacks data for accurate short-term forecasts.
From Munich to the Moon
Thursday, 14 March 2024 07:30 Write a comment
The European mission control centre near Munich, Germany, is set to undergo a transformation into a Moon mission control centre, tasked with supporting operations for missions to a lunar space station, the lunar surface and beyond.
NASA restructures Earth System Observatory to reduce costs
Thursday, 14 March 2024 00:50
Space Force selects startup Defense Unicorns to update software at launch ranges
Wednesday, 13 March 2024 22:03
Omnispace to test direct-to-smartphone LEO plans with Africa’s biggest telco
Wednesday, 13 March 2024 20:17
Evolved adapter for future NASA space launch system flights readied for testing
Wednesday, 13 March 2024 19:54 Write a comment
A test version of the universal stage adapter for NASA's more powerful version of its SLS (Space Launch System) rocket arrived at Building 4619 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on Feb. 22 from Leidos in Decatur, Alabama. The universal stage adapter will connect the rocket's upgraded in-space propulsion stage, called the exploration upper stage, to NASA's Orion spacecraft as part of the evolved Block 1B configuration of the SLS rocket.
It will also serve as a compartment capable of accommodating large payloads, such as modules or other exploration spacecraft. The SLS Block 1B variant will debut on Artemis IV and will increase SLS's payload capability to send more than 84,000 pounds to the moon in a single launch.
In Building 4619's Load Test Annex High Bay at Marshall, the development test article will first undergo modal testing that will shake the hardware to validate dynamic models. Later, during ultimate load testing, force will be applied vertically and to the sides of the hardware. Unlike the flight hardware, the development test article has flaws intentionally included in its design, which will help engineers verify that the adapter can withstand the extreme forces it will face during launch and flight.
Japan space rocket explodes seconds after launch
Wednesday, 13 March 2024 19:49 Write a comment
A rocket made by a Japanese company exploded seconds after launch on Wednesday, in a spectacular failure for the start-up's bid to put a satellite into orbit.
Tokyo-based Space One's 18-metre (60-foot) Kairos rocket blasted off in the coastal Wakayama region of western Japan, carrying a small government test satellite.
But around five seconds later, the solid-fuel rocket erupted in fire,