First NASA asteroid sample return mission on track for fall '23 delivery
Monday, 17 October 2022 16:26
NASA's first asteroid sample return spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx, fired its thrusters for 30 seconds on Sept. 21 and nudged its trajectory toward Earth. The resulting course correction keeps the vehicle on track to deliver a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023, completing a seven-year mission.
The delivery itself, however, is not a simple parcel drop on Earth's front doorstep: NASA's OSIRIS-REx—formally the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security—Regolith Explorer—must approach Earth at a precise speed and direction to deliver its sample return capsule into Earth's atmosphere. "If the capsule is angled too high, it will skip off the atmosphere," said Mike Moreau, OSIRIS-REx deputy project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Angled too low, it will burn up in Earth's atmosphere."
To ensure a safe delivery, "Over the next year, we will gradually adjust the OSIRIS-REx trajectory to target the spacecraft closer to Earth," said Daniel Wibben, trajectory-and-maneuver design lead with KinetX Inc.
SES to appeal Intelsat C-band sharing decision
Monday, 17 October 2022 16:11
SES filed plans Oct. 14 to appeal a court’s decision last month that disallowed its bid to equally split nearly $9 billion of anticipated C-band clearing proceeds with Intelsat.
The post SES to appeal Intelsat C-band sharing decision appeared first on SpaceNews.
Satellite broadband players poised to compete for U.S. military customers
Monday, 17 October 2022 15:12
While Starlink continues to build momentum in the U.S. defense market, other industry players are positioning to compete for military customers
The post Satellite broadband players poised to compete for U.S.
Ariane 6 stands tall on its launch pad
Monday, 17 October 2022 13:00
The Ariane 6 launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana now hosts for the first time a fully assembled example of ESA’s new heavy-lift rocket, following the addition of an upper composite to the core stage and four boosters already in place. The upper composite – consisting of two half-fairings and a payload mock-up with the structural adapter needed to join it to the core stage – made the 10 km trip from the encapsulation building to launch pad on 12 October.
China considering mission to Ceres and large dark matter space telescope
Monday, 17 October 2022 12:26
The Chinese Academy of Sciences is considering potential missions including a Ceres orbiter and a huge telescope to hunt for clues about the nature of dark matter.
The post China considering mission to Ceres and large dark matter space telescope appeared first on SpaceNews.
Two solar eclipses are coming to America
Monday, 17 October 2022 10:35
The countdown has begun! Exactly one year from today, the first of two major solar eclipses just six months apart will occur over the Americas. On October 14, 2023, the Moon will pass directly between Earth and the Sun but will cover only 90% of the brilliant solar disk. The remaining 10% will appear as a blazing "ring of fire" around the Moon's dark silhouette.
This annular (Latin for rin Heat-proof chaotic carbides could revolutionize aerospace technology
Monday, 17 October 2022 10:35
A group of scientists led by Duke University have engineered a new class of materials capable of producing tunable plasmonic properties while withstanding incredibly high temperatures.
Plasmonics is a technology that essentially traps the energy of light within groups of electrons oscillating together on a metallic surface. This creates a powerful electromagnetic field that interacts with Russia launches new Angolan satellite into orbit
Monday, 17 October 2022 10:35
Russia launched a new Angolan communications satellite on Wednesday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Roscosmos agency said, after Luanda's first satellite was lost in space.
A Proton-M rocket blasted off at 1500 GMT and Angosat-2 was "being put into orbit", the agency said.
Angosat-1 was also deployed by a Russian rocket in December 2017, but Moscow announced it had lost c NASA outlines case for making sole-source SLS award to Boeing-Northrop joint venture
Monday, 17 October 2022 08:46
A procurement document sheds new light on the formation of a joint venture to which NASA plans to award a long-term contract for producing the Space Launch System rocket.
The post NASA outlines case for making sole-source SLS award to Boeing-Northrop joint venture appeared first on SpaceNews.
Integral's 20th anniversary
Monday, 17 October 2022 06:00
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Launched on 17 October 2002, ESA’s Integral mission is a world-class mission which has been observing the Universe’s violent explosions and powerful phenomena for 20 years, achieving many scientific firsts. The mission's impressive lifetime is owed to responsibility and leadership on the side of ESA science and operations. This graphic highlights some of the mission’s impressive numbers to date.
Rocket Lab to build solar panels for NASA's CADRE Mobile Robot Program
Sunday, 16 October 2022 10:52
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has been selected by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to supply solar panels that will power NASA's shoe-box-sized mobile robots as part of the Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Explorers (CADRE) program.
The solar panels will use Rocket Lab's inverted metamorphic multi-junction (IMM) solar cells that are more efficient and lighter weight Eagle-designed space drones target in-orbit construction
Sunday, 16 October 2022 10:52
What if vehicles could be assembled in space without human supervision? What if autonomous spacecraft could conduct routine maintenance and inspections on satellites, while flying in orbit around the Earth?
Dr. Hever Moncayo, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University associate professor of Aerospace Engineering, believes all of this is possible, and he's helping push the technology that will ac Crew-4 astronauts splash down after 170 days in space
Sunday, 16 October 2022 10:52
The International Space Station Crew-4 returned to Earth on Friday in the Dragon Freedom capsule after almost six months in space, landing off the coast of Florida.
Splashdown occurred at 4:55 p.m. EDT after NASA and Space X mission controllers canceled the attempt Thursday due to weather concerns in the recovery area off Jacksonville.
The descent took about five hours, aided at Musk says cannot fund Starlink in Ukraine indefinitely
Sunday, 16 October 2022 10:52
Elon Musk said Friday that SpaceX would not be able to pay for Starlink satellite internet in Ukraine indefinitely, while the US military confirmed it was communicating with the billionaire's company about funding for the key network.
The discussions come as Musk has been embroiled in public spats with Ukrainian leaders who were angered by his controversial plan for de-escalating the conflic NASA Crew-4 astronauts safely splash down in Atlantic
Sunday, 16 October 2022 10:52
NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts aboard the Dragon spacecraft safely splashed down Friday off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, completing the agency's fourth commercial crew mission to the International Space Station. The international crew of four spent 170 days in orbit.
NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, and Jessica Watkins and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cr