NASA administrator Bill Nelson supports $10B boost for moon landing
Sunday, 30 May 2021 07:57NASA needs about a 40% boost - $10 billion - in its budget to foster competition that could aid future astronaut missions to the moon, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. The Biden administration is seeking $24.8 billion for NASA in fiscal 2022, which would be a 6.6% increase from 2021, Nelson said during a press conference on Friday. But there's an amendment to the 2021 budget pendi
Canadian manipulator on ISS holed by space debris
Sunday, 30 May 2021 07:57Space debris hit the Canadian remote robotic system onboard the International Space Station (ISS), leaving a small hole in it, but the incident did not affect the operation of the device, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) said on Friday. "While the utmost precautions are taken to reduce the potential for collisions with the ISS, impacts with tiny objects do occur. One such hit was noticed re
Scientists develop new molecular tool to detect alien life
Sunday, 30 May 2021 07:57While scientists know the discovery of alien life would be a game-changing, interstellar event for humanity, the search to date has been unsuccessful. But now, they have a new tool capable of identifying molecular biosignatures that will allow them to look for life in the universe - no matter what form it takes. In a new paper recently published in Nature Communications, a team of scientis
NASA awards laser air monitoring system contract for Orion
Sunday, 30 May 2021 07:57NASA has awarded Dynetics Inc. of Huntsville, Alabama, a contract to produce a Laser Air Monitoring System (LAMS) for the agency's Orion spacecraft beginning with the Artemis III mission. The LAMS contract is valued at $17.8 million for production of the Artemis III unit, as well as a qualification unit, design modifications, and long-lead procurement items in support of the Artemis IV and
Ultrasonic welding makes parts for NASA missions, commercial industry
Sunday, 30 May 2021 07:57A manufacturing innovation that has applications for NASA spacecraft is being transferred to the private sector to support a variety of industries here on Earth. A burst water main is always expensive and messy, but a pipe that fails in space can be mission-ending. That's why NASA technologists work hard to make hardware as reliable as possible. Sometimes that means scrapping the old way o
NASA awards new spacecraft avionics development contract
Sunday, 30 May 2021 07:57NASA has selected Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to provide development and operations support for the avionics software suite that will guide the agency's next generation of human rated spacecraft on missions beyond low-Earth orbit. The $49 million Advanced Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) and Avionics Technology Development and Analysis III contr
NASA's Curiosity rover captures shining clouds on Mars
Sunday, 30 May 2021 07:57Cloudy days are rare in the thin, dry atmosphere of Mars. Clouds are typically found at the planet's equator in the coldest time of year, when Mars is the farthest from the Sun in its oval-shaped orbit. But one full Martian year ago - two Earth years - scientists noticed clouds forming over NASA's Curiosity rover earlier than expected. This year, they were ready to start documenting these
Reliable space weather forecasting
Sunday, 30 May 2021 07:57The auroras are beautiful manifestations of the stream of charged particles emitted by the Sun. But the Sun's plasma eruptions are more than a natural spectacle in the polar regions; they can also interfere with satellites. In extreme cases, space weather may even affect infrastructure on Earth. The Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum f
Dark matter particle explorer measures cosmic ray helium energy spectrum
Sunday, 30 May 2021 07:57Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) Collaboration directly observed a spectral softening of helium nuclei at about 34TeV for the first time. This work was based on measurements data of the helium spectrum with kinetic energies from 70 GeV to 80 TeV (17.5 GeV/n to 20 TeV/n for per nucleon) recorded by the DAMPE. Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) offers important ways to deeply understand the astro
UK space sector targets positioning navigation and timing sub systems
Sunday, 30 May 2021 07:576 UK businesses have won a share of over 2 million pounds in government funding to help shape options for the UK's satellite navigation and timing capability, to protect UK Critical National Infrastructure. Leading UK space companies Airbus, CGI, Sirius Analysis, GMV NSL, Inmarsat, and QinetiQ will each receive a share of the funding to help develop system design and operation, signals and
Chinese cargo spacecraft docks with orbital station
Sunday, 30 May 2021 07:43An automated spacecraft docked with China's new space station Sunday carrying fuel and supplies for its future crew, the Chinese space agency announced.
Tianzhou-2 docks with China’s space station module
Saturday, 29 May 2021 20:21HELSINKI — China’s Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft docked with the Tianhe space station module in low Earth orbit Saturday, eight hours after launch from Wenchang spaceport.
China launches cargo rocket with supplies for space station
Saturday, 29 May 2021 17:43Op-ed | Honor Our Fallen Space Pioneers This Memorial Day
Saturday, 29 May 2021 11:00This Memorial Day, as we remember American servicemen and women who gave their lives for their country, we should also recognize another group of patriots who also paid the ultimate price in service to the nation — our fallen astronauts.
OneWeb constellation to cross 200th mark after successful launch
Friday, 28 May 2021 20:33TAMPA, Fla. — OneWeb’s broadband constellation is set to pass the 200th mark after Arianespace successfully launched its latest batch of satellites May 28.
Arianespace launched 36 satellites on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket 1:38 p.m.