Kennedy Space Center, United States (AFP) Oct 13, 2023
It's a world like no other: a metal-rich asteroid that could be the remnants of a small planet, or perhaps an entirely new type of celestial body unknown to science. A NASA spacecraft blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center Friday bound for Psyche, an object 2.2 billion miles (3.6 billion kilometers) away that could offer clues about the interior of planets like Earth. "We're going to

Week in images: 09-13 October 2023

Discover our week through the lens

Image: The landscape around the city of Bentiu in South Sudan is featured in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image.

New research, based largely on information from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and ESA’s CryoSat satellite missions, has revealed alarming findings about the state of Antarctica's ice shelves: 40% of these floating shelves have significantly reduced in volume over the past quarter-century. While this underscores the accelerating impacts of climate change on the world's southernmost continent, the picture of ice deterioration is mixed.

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Oct 13, 2023
EX-Fusion Inc. has established a Collaborative Research Cluster focused on advancing liquid metal devices for the realization of commercial laser fusion reactors in collaboration with Tokyo Institute of Technology. The signing ceremony to formalize this partnership was held on October 11, marking the official commencement of their joint efforts. The 'EX-Fusion Liquid Metal Collaborative Re

Princeton NJ (SPX) Oct 12, 2023
Researchers have developed a method that can reveal the location of errors in quantum computers, making them up to ten times easier to correct. This will significantly accelerate progress towards large-scale quantum computers capable of tackling the world's most challenging computational problems, the researchers said. Led by Princeton University's Jeff Thompson, the team demonstrated a wa

Paris (AFP) Oct 11, 2023
Russian mercenary group Wagner in 2022 signed a contract with a Chinese firm to acquire two satellites and use their images, aiding its intelligence work as the organisation sought to push Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to a document seen by AFP. The contract was signed in November 2022, over half a year into Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in which the Wagner group under its founder Y

Washington DC (SPX) Oct 13, 2023
As space travel extends to greater duration and distance, missions may require a propellant refill in space. To achieve this, spacecraft may require larger tanks and efficient refueling along with tanks that have the capability of isolating propellant from ullage fluid (a gas and vapor mixture) during a vent. The goal of this Challenge is to develop a novel solution for the venting of ulla

Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) Oct 13, 2023
Sidus Space, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIDU)has entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain institutional investors for the purchase and sale of 2,000 shares of its Series A Convertible Preferred Stock, stated value $1,000 per share in a registered direct offering. The shares of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock are initially convertible into an aggregate of 19,700,552 shares of common stock

San Jose CA (SPX) Oct 13, 2023
Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS), a U.S. commercial space company that offers satellite buses, transportation, and other in-space infrastructure services, has signed a contract with RIDE! Space for transportation and orbital delivery services in the first quarter of 2024. RIDE! Space will be flying its Gaindesat and Djibouti payloads on a single mission. "We are thrilled to mark this his