Webb space telescope launch delayed: NASA
Thursday, 16 December 2021 07:42
The launch of the James Webb space telescope scheduled for December 22 won't take place before December 24, NASA announced on Wednesday.
The NASA project, launched in 1989, was originally expected to deploy in the early 2000s.
But multiple problems forced delays and a tripling of the telescope's original budget with a final price tag of nearly 10 billion dollars (8.8 billion euros). Discovery of split photon provides a new way to see light
Thursday, 16 December 2021 07:42
Nearly a century after Italian physicist Ettore Majorana laid the groundwork for the discovery that electrons could be divided into halves, researchers predict that split photons may also exist, according to a study from Dartmouth and SUNY Polytechnic Institute researchers.
The finding that the building blocks of light can exist in a previously-unimaginable split form advances the fundamen NASA's Parker Space Probe becomes 1st spacecraft to 'touch' the sun
Thursday, 16 December 2021 07:42
Three years after it was launched, NASA's Parker Solar Probe has become the first spacecraft in history to "touch" the sun, officials said.
NASA said the probe flew through the sun's upper atmosphere, the corona, and took some particle samples. The agency called it a "monumental" moment and a "giant leap for solar science."
Because it's closer to the sun than any man-made craft h NASA-NOAA tech will aid marine oil spill response
Thursday, 16 December 2021 07:42
Just off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, thousands of gallons of oil seep through cracks in the seafloor and rise to the surface each day. But this isn't a disaster zone: It's one of the largest naturally occurring oil seeps in the world and is believed to have been active for thousands of years.
The reliability of these seeps makes the area an important natural laboratory for scie ESA contract to advance Vega-C competitiveness
Thursday, 16 December 2021 06:00
ESA’s Vega-C launch vehicle will fly in the second quarter of 2022 offering more performance to all orbits and extended mission flexibility at a similar cost to the current Vega. A new contract aims to widen these mission capabilities to capture new opportunities and satisfy emerging market needs to 2027.
Iceye to provide satellite for MDA radar constellation
Thursday, 16 December 2021 04:36
Canada’s MDA is acquiring an X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite from Iceye that will be part of its Chorus system intended to replace Radarsat-2.
Four NASA Earth Science missions to launch in 2022
Thursday, 16 December 2021 02:32
NASA’s Earth Science Division is preparing to launch four satellite missions in 2022 to provide observations of weather conditions, mineral dust, oceans and surface water.
Honeywell and Skyloom to produce laser crosslinks for military and commercial satellites
Wednesday, 15 December 2021 22:51
Honeywell announced Dec. 15 it has teamed with telecommunications startup Skyloom to produce optical crosslink terminals for commercial and military satellites.
Biden taps former NRO official Frank Calvelli to run Space Force acquisitions
Wednesday, 15 December 2021 21:07
President Biden nominated Frank Calvelli to be assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition, the White House announced Dec. 15.
Foust Forward | The missing element of the first National Space Council meeting of the Biden administration
Wednesday, 15 December 2021 19:52
Keeping the space industry involved is key to ensuring they have a voice in how policy priorities are implemented and winning their support when those policies require new legislation and funding.
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter reaches a total of 30 minutes aloft
Wednesday, 15 December 2021 19:45
The 17th flight of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on Dec. 5 pushed the total flight time past the 30-minute mark. The 117-second sortie brought history's first aircraft to operate from the surface of another world closer to its original airfield, "Wright Brothers Field," where it will await the arrival of the agency's Perseverance Mars rover, currently exploring "South Séítah" region of Mars's Jezero Crater.
Congress passes the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act
Wednesday, 15 December 2021 19:25
The Senate on Dec. 15 passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 with broad bipartisan support in a 89-10 vote.
Raytheon wins $67 million U.S. Space Force contract to build weather satellite prototype
Wednesday, 15 December 2021 19:23
Raytheon Technologies was awarded a $67 million contract to build a weather satellite prototype for the U.S. Space Force.
Stoke Space raises $65 million for reusable launch vehicle development
Wednesday, 15 December 2021 18:52
Stoke Space raised $65 million in a Series A round announced Dec. 15, funding development and testing of the upper stage of a reusable launch vehicle.
Cracking the mystery of nitrogen ice dynamics on Pluto
Wednesday, 15 December 2021 15:19
Sputnik Planitia, a basin on the surface of Pluto filled with nitrogen ice, displays an astonishing pattern of flat polygons separated by narrow troughs. This feature is a sign of thermal convection within the icy mass that constantly renews its surface. Until now the driver of this process was a riddle.
However, in their study published in Nature on 15 December 2021, researchers from the CNRS, ENS de Lyon, and the University of Exeter unveil the mystery behind the formation of these structures. Despite the low level of solar radiation, the nitrogen ice here is regularly sublimated, i.e., transformed directly into gas without first becoming a liquid.
This sublimation results in local cooling that causes movements in the ice layer on the scale of 100,000 years, which is comparable to the speed of tectonic plate motion on Earth.