BepiColombo’s first tastes of Mercury science
Friday, 15 October 2021 08:00
The magnetic and particle environment around Mercury was sampled by BepiColombo for the first time during the mission’s close flyby of the planet at 199 km on 1-2 October 2021, while the huge gravitational pull of the planet was felt by its accelerometers.
The magnetic and accelerometer data have been converted into sound files and presented here for the first time. They capture the ‘sound’ of the solar wind as it bombards a planet close to the Sun, the flexing of the spacecraft as it responded to the change in temperature as it flew from the night to dayside of the planet,
Earth from Space: New Delhi
Friday, 15 October 2021 07:00
New Delhi, the capital and second-largest city of India, is featured in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.
China to launch latest crewed space mission Saturday morning
Friday, 15 October 2021 06:17
China will send three astronauts to its new space station this week, officials confirmed Thursday, in what will be Beijing's longest crewed mission to date.
The three will blast off at 12:23 a.m. on Saturday from the launch centre in northwestern China's Gobi desert, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said at a press conference Thursday.
They will spend six months at the Tiangong space NASA, ULA pursue precision launch for Lucy asteroid mission
Friday, 15 October 2021 06:17
NASA has worked years to build a spacecraft to examine eight asteroids for clues about the origins of the solar system, and now the agency has a three-week period to launch starting this weekend.
The launch period will begin the earliest possible attempt at 5:34 a.m. EDT Saturday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The launch is to send the $981 million mission on Blue Origin launches William Shatner, TV's Captain Kirk, into space and back
Friday, 15 October 2021 06:17
Star Trek actor William Shatner went boldly into space Wednesday morning and returned safely with three crew members aboard a Blue Origin capsule launched from West Texas.
Shatner, 90, becomes the oldest person ever to reach space. The New Shepard rocket that carried the crew lifted off into a mostly sunny sky at 10:50 a.m. EDT from the company's Launch Site One about 160 miles east of SpaceX will debut new Dragon capsule for upcoming crew launch
Friday, 15 October 2021 06:17
SpaceX will debut a new Crew Dragon capsule, the company's third to carry astronauts, for the Crew 3 mission to the International Space Station on Oct. 30, Elon Musk's company said Wednesday.
"Crew 3 will be flying on a new Dragon spacecraft and it's really exciting to introduce another Crew Dragon to our fleet," Sarah Walker, SpaceX director of Dragon mission management, said in a news Macron announces 30-billion-euro plan to re-industrialise France
Friday, 15 October 2021 06:17
President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday announced a plan worth 30 billion euros ($35 billion) to re-industrialise France on the basis of innovative and green-friendly technologies including electric cars, hydrogen fuel and efficient nuclear plants.
Six months before a presidential election and one month ahead of a UN climate summit, Macron said France had taken key decisions "15-20 years later Virgin Galactic postpones SpaceShipTwo flight, begins maintenance period
Friday, 15 October 2021 01:34
Virgin Galactic will postpone a SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceflight that had been scheduled for this month, electing to instead immediately begin an extended maintenance period for the spaceplane and its carrier aircraft that will further delay the start of commercial flights.
Kendall looks to accelerate appointment of civilian leader to oversee Space Force acquisitions
Thursday, 14 October 2021 22:48
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall is asking Congress to authorize a new assistant secretary for space acquisitions before the Oct. 1, 2022, date that was set in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.
Space Force wants to learn how venture capitalists assess startups
Thursday, 14 October 2021 21:06
An agreement just announced between the U.S. Space Force and a venture capital firm is a pilot project intended to help government buyers understand how investors assess space industry startups.
Rocket Lab acquires software company as it plans additional deals
Thursday, 14 October 2021 20:23
Rocket Lab’s acquisition of an aerospace software company is one of a series of deals it is considering, enabled in part by going public.
Iceye officially joins Copernicus Earth-observation Program
Thursday, 14 October 2021 18:07
Iceye won a contract to provide data from its constellation of small synthetic-aperture radar satellites to Copernicus, the European Union program aimed at providing continuous, global Earth observation.
Japanese billionaire Maezawa 'not afraid' ahead of ISS launch
Thursday, 14 October 2021 17:16
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa said Thursday he had no fear ahead of his "dream-come-true" launch to the International Space Station (ISS), a Russian project aimed at boosting its space tourism credentials.
The mission is one of several this year by non-professional astronauts, including 90-year-old "Star Trek" actor William Shatner who on Wednesday completed a space flight on board a Blue Origin rocket.
Maezawa, 45, is the founder of Japan's largest online fashion mall and the country's 30th richest man, according to Forbes.
"I've got a list of one hundred things I want to do on the station like play badminton," Maezawa said at a news conference on Thursday.
"The closer it gets the more excited I get. I'm not afraid or worried," he said.
Maezawa and his assistant are set to blast off from the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in December, accompanied by Russia cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin.
Lucy in the sky: Spacecraft will visit record 8 asteroids
Thursday, 14 October 2021 17:06
Attention asteroid aficionados: NASA is set to launch a series of spacecraft to visit and even bash some of the solar system's most enticing space rocks.
The robotic trailblazer named Lucy is up first, blasting off this weekend on a 12-year cruise to swarms of asteroids out near Jupiter—unexplored time capsules from the dawn of the solar system. And yes, there will be diamonds in the sky with Lucy, on one of its science instruments, as well as lyrics from other Beatles' songs.
Arianespace launches OneWeb past the halfway mark
Thursday, 14 October 2021 17:02
OneWeb has contacted all 36 satellites launched from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome Oct. 14, enlarging the broadband constellation beyond its halfway mark toward full deployment next year.