Copernical Team
China's space station core module, cargo craft pass factory review
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The core module of China's planned space station has passed a factory review, along with the project's Tianzhou-2 cargo craft and the core module mission products of the space application systems, the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) said Thursday.
The completion of the factory review, conducted by experts at China's manned space program, means the construction project of the Analyzing different solid states of water on other planets and moons
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Just like on Earth, water on other planets, satellites, and even comets comes in a variety of forms depending on multiple factors such as pressure and temperature. Aside from the gaseous, liquid, and solid states we are accustomed to, water can form a different type of crystalline solid called clathrate hydrate.
Although they look similar to ice, clathrate hydrates have actually small wate Florida's Space Coast the Number 1 Launch Site in the World in 2020
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Historical launches like the return to crewed space flight and Mars2020 helped propel Florida's Space Coast to their busiest launch year in decades, putting the region on the top of the list for launch activity in the world.
In 2020, 31 successful attempts flew from Florida's Space Coast surpassing the record in 1966 of 29 successful launches out of 31 orbital attempts and two suborbital a NanoAvionics' built satellite for Aurora Insight to fly on SpaceX's Transporter 1 mission
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NanoAvionics, a leading nanosatellite bus manufacturer and mission integrator, has announced that the first of two nanosatellites, built and integrated for US radio frequency spectrum and wireless data provider Aurora Insight, will be part of SpaceX's "Transporter 1" rideshare launch onboard a Falcon 9.
The nanosatellite, nicknamed "Charlie", forms one half of the two-satellite mission con New Year, New Record for Australia's Gilmour Space
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Australia's leading rocket company, Gilmour Space Technologies, has ushered in the New Year with a successful hotfire of the world's largest single-port hybrid rocket engine. [See video]
"We achieved a record 91 kilonewtons (or 9 tonnes-force) of thrust in this initial verification test of our main engine," said Adam Gilmour, CEO and co-founder of Gilmour Space, a Queensland-based company Mystery of Martian glaciers revealed
Halted rocket test could stall NASA moon shot, redo possible
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Testing the waters: Analyzing different solid states of water on other planets and moons
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Just like on Earth, water on other planets, satellites, and even comets comes in a variety of forms depending on multiple factors such as pressure and temperature.
NASA explores solar wind with new view of small sun structures
The first CubeSat with a Hall-effect thruster has gone to space
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Student-led teams aren't the only ones testing out novel electric propulsion techniques recently. Back in November, a company called Exotrail successfully tested a completely new kind of electric propulsion system in space—a small Hall-effect thruster.
Hall effect thrusters themselves have been around for awhile. However, they have been limited in their practicality, primarily because of their size. Normally they are about the size of a refrigerator and require kilowatts of power, making them impractical for any small satellites.
That's where Exotrail's novel system shines. It is about the size of a 2 liter bottle of soda (or pop if you're from that part of the world), and only requires around 50 watts of power. This makes the propulsion system ideal for satellites ranging from 10 to 250 kg.
The demonstration system launched aboard a PSLV rocket on November 7th, and completed its first in flight maneuvers using the Hall effect thruster in December. With those tests successfully completed the team plans further testing to prove how useful these thrusters can be for collision avoidance, orbital maintenance, and intentional deorbiting.