Paris, France (SPX) Jan 30, 2025
The European Space Agency's (ESA) Planetary Defence Office is closely tracking asteroid 2024 YR4, a newly discovered near-Earth object that has a minimal chance of impacting Earth in December 2032. Asteroid 2024 YR4 was first detected on December 27, 2024, by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile. Following its discovery, automated astero

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 30, 2025
Japanese collaborators detected all five nucleobases - building blocks of DNA and RNA - in samples returned from asteroid Bennu by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission. Asteroids, small airless bodies within the inner Solar System, are theorized to have contributed water and chemical building blocks of life to Earth billions of years ago. Although meteorites on Earth come from asteroids, the combinat

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jan 30, 2025
Satcube has unveiled upgraded government satellite communication terminals, designed to enhance security and undetectability for mission-critical operations. These latest innovations bring advanced features to the widely used Satcube Ku and Secure terminals, enabling seamless, high-speed broadband connectivity in under a minute. The user-friendly interface remains intuitive, employing the

Washington DC (UPI) Jan 29, 2025
SpaceX on Wednesday night launched a Spanish communications satellite from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and retired the first-stage booster rather than landing on a droneship. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 8:34 p.m. EST from pad 39A. The first-stage cutoff was at 2:40 and the satellite deployed at 31:24 and was to be 2,236 miles above Earth, according to Space.com. Because th

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jan 31, 2025
Magnetic skyrmions, which range in size from nanometers to micrometers, exhibit particle-like properties and can be efficiently manipulated using electrical currents. This makes them a promising candidate for next-generation data storage and computing technologies. However, simulating the intricate internal structure of skyrmions remains computationally demanding. A practical alternative i

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 31, 2025
The Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Space ISAC) has announced a major new benefit for its members: access to the Accelerating Space Capabilities 100 (ASC-100), an international network of Testbeds and Proving Grounds. This initiative aims to accelerate the development and integration of innovative space technologies into both commercial and government systems. ASC-100 provid

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jan 31, 2025
On January 29, 2025, senior officials from the European Space Agency (ESA) and Arianespace formalized the launch contract for ESA's PLATO science mission. The agreement was signed by Carole Mundell, ESA's Director of Science; Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA's Director of Space Transportation; and Steven Rutgers, Chief Commercial Officer of Arianespace. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is playing a key

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 31, 2025
For the first time, astronomers have identified a long-theorized but previously unobserved component essential to star formation: magnetic fields within merging galaxies. Much like a pressure cooker uses a weighted lid to retain heat and pressure, these magnetic fields may regulate the extreme environments where stars are born. An international team, including researchers from the Center f

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 31, 2025
Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 1 has reached the 15th day of its planned 45-day journey to the Moon, marking an important milestone in its transit. Among the key scientific payloads onboard is the Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS) 1.1 instrument, developed at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. This sophisticated imaging system is designed to capture high-re

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 31, 2025
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore successfully completed a spacewalk at 1:09 p.m. EST on Jan. 30. This marked the ninth spacewalk for Williams and the fifth for Wilmore, contributing to the 274th extravehicular activity (EVA) dedicated to the assembly, maintenance, and upgrades of the International Space Station (ISS). Notably, Williams set a new milestone by surpassing forme