Copernical Team
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope completes final functional tests to prepare for launch
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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 and receive data properly through the same network they will use in space. These milestones move Webb closer to being ready to launch in October.
These tests are known as the comprehensive systems test, which took place at Northrop Grumman, and the ground segment test, which took place in collaboration with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
Cristofoready
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Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti poses in the Cupola module of the International Space Station with two 100-day patches to mark her 200th day in space. She is now set to return to her ‘home away from home’ for even more days in space.
Samantha first flew to the International Space Station on a Soyuz spacecraft in 2014 for a mission known as ‘Futura’. Her second flight follows the second missions of her fellow 2009 astronaut classmates Alexander Gerst in 2018, Luca Parmitano in 2019 and Thomas Pesquet in 2021. It could also see a direct on-Station handover with Matthias
Giant iceberg breaks off Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica
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New Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar images show a giant iceberg breaking off from the northern section of Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf New rocket, Firefly's Alpha, may be ready to launch by April
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Texas-based Firefly Aerospace plans to launch its new Alpha rocket from California in April and send a lunar lander to the moon by 2023.
The 95-foot-high launch vehicle is designed to lift satellite payloads that weigh just over a ton into low-Earth orbit, or slightly lighter loads to a higher orbit.
Firefly has existed for only four years, and would join a small, but growing, group AFRL rocket propulsion division hosts virtual AIAA meeting
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The Air Force Research Laboratory's Rocket Propulsion Division hosted a virtual conference of the Management Committee (Integration and Outreach Division) of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), chaired by Ray Flores, deputy director, Office of the Inspector General, HQ Air Force Materiel Command, February 23-24.
Dr. Suren Singhal, deputy manager, Office of the C China has over 300 satellites in orbit
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China's satellite application system has made great progress in 2020, with more than 300 satellites in orbit for various applications, according to a recent report released by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
Among them are Beidou navigation satellites, remote sensing satellites for meteorological and marine monitoring, and communication satellites.
China start US Space Force Chief Sees 'Fused Connection' With Commercial Industry as Key to Success
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Because of its small size and high dependency on advanced technology, the US Space Force is perhaps better positioned than any branch of the US military to become a cash-cow for private industry.
A top US Space Force official has praised the falling costs of space flight in recent years, saying that nearly all of its space activities are now capable of being performed by private industry. Ice frozen under Mars' surface offers major resource to aid future settlements
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Frozen water is hiding beneath the dust-covered surface of Mars, and scientist Ali Bramson wants to find it. She sees a chance to both sustain future human explorers and answer questions about the red planet's climate.
Bramson, a Purdue University assistant professor of planetary science, was part of recent research to determine the location and depth of the subsurface ice. The results of Perseverance Hardware One Day after Landing
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This first HiRISE image of the Perseverance Rover on the surface of Mars also shows many parts of the descent system that got it safely there. Each inset shows an area about 650 feet (200 meters) across.
The rover itself sits at the center of a blast pattern created by the hovering skycrane (labeled as "descent stage") that lowered it there. The skycrane flew off to crash as at a safe dist Getting your payload to orbit
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Launch vehicles and satellites are commonly built by different contractors in separate locations by two different talent pools. Satellite engineers and managers are not generally intimately familiar with launch vehicle design, manufacture and operations. Launch vehicle engineers and managers are not generally intimately familiar with satellite design, manufacture and operations.
At some point