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SEOUL, South Korea — The launch of a Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying a South Korean remote sensing satellite and three dozen smaller satellites was delayed Saturday due to a problem with the rocket’s upper stage, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT, the primary customer for the GK Launch Services-brokered commercial rideshare mission.

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This story was updated March 20 at 4:30 p.m. EDT to add a Roscosmos statement about the new March 22 launch date for the mission.

SEOUL, South Korea — The launch of a Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying a South Korean remote sensing satellite and three dozen smaller satellites was postponed Saturday due to a problem with the rocket’s upper stage, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT, the primary customer for the GK Launch Services-brokered commercial rideshare mission.

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WASHINGTON — As more satellites are launched into space, there is a growing conversation about the need to keep the cosmos safe and establish rules of the road for orbital activities.

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Government Accountability Office confirmed on March 19 that it will review the Air Force’s methodology and scoring that led to the decision to move U.S. Space Command headquarters  from Colorado to Alabama.

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Inmarsat NOC

TAMPA, Fla. — The UK Space Agency will partly fund the development of an in-orbit telemetry relay system called InRange, which will use British satellite operator Inmarsat’s L-band constellation to guide rocket launches.

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TAMPA, Fla. — The frenzy of activity swirling around SPACs is pushing space into a new era of risk-taking, according to two satellite industry veterans. 

The past decade’s flow of private capital into megaconstellations and launch startups was a sedate “tea party” in comparison to what’s happening now, Iridium Communications CEO Matt Desch told SpaceNews in an interview.

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Nelson Senate hearing 2018

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s nomination of former senator Bill Nelson as the next administrator of NASA has won widespread support from both members of Congress and the broader space community.

The White House announced March 19 its formal intent to nominate Nelson, a Democrat who served three terms in the Senate from Florida, as NASA administrator.

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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

President Joe Biden has chosen a former senator from Florida who flew on the space shuttle just days before the Challenger launch accident to lead NASA.

Biden on Friday announced his intent to nominate Bill Nelson as the 's administrator.

Nelson, 78, grew up near Cape Canaveral and was serving as a Democratic congressman when he launched aboard Columbia in January 1986. His commander was Charles Bolden Jr., who later served as NASA administrator under President Barack Obama—at Nelson's urging.

Nelson was elected in 2000 to the Senate, where he served until his defeat in 2018.

If confirmed by the Senate, Nelson will become NASA's 14th administrator, succeeding another former member of Congress, Jim Bridenstine, a Republican from Oklahoma.

This is a critical time for NASA as momentum accelerates in the commercial space program.

SpaceX is about to launch its third flight of astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA; Boeing is expected join the crew delivery effort later this year. Space station supply runs, meanwhile, have been handled by private companies under contract to NASA for nearly a decade.

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WASHINGTON — SpaceX has agreed to maneuver any of its Starlink satellites that come close to the International Space Station or other NASA spacecraft in low Earth orbit as part of an agreement between the agency and the company.

Week in images: 15 - 19 March 2021

Thursday, 18 March 2021 14:03
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Dynamic dunes

Week in images: 15 - 19 March 2021

Discover our week through the lens

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The InSight Lander
This artist's concept shows the InSight lander, its sensors, cameras and instruments. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

An international team of researchers studying seismic data collected by NASA's Insight spacecraft has used the data to calculate the size of Mars' core. The group plans to discuss their findings at this year's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, which will be held virtually due to the pandemic. As a prelude to the conference, team member Simon Stähler has made available a prerecorded presentation for those interested. The team intends to submit their results to a peer-reviewed journal in the near future.

Up until now, the only celestial bodies that have had their cores measured were Earth and the moon. To make such measurements, scientists have used seismic data from sensors that detect the sounds made by quakes. Eager to do the same for Mars, NASA sent Insight to the —it landed near the planet's equator back in 2018 and began listening for Marsquakes soon thereafter. To date, sensors aboard the craft have captured seismic data for approximately 500 quakes.

Researchers tackle Mars topographic systems

Thursday, 18 March 2021 13:08
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Researchers tackle Mars topographic systems
An image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, acquired May 13, 2018 during winter at the South Pole of Mars, shows a carbon dioxide ice cap covering the region and as the sun returns in the spring, “spiders” begin to emerge from the landscape. Credit: NASA

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have been shedding light on the enigmatic "spiders from Mars," providing the first physical evidence that these unique features on the planet's surface can be formed by the sublimation of CO2 ice.

Spiders, more formally referred to as araneiforms, are strange-looking negative topography radial systems of dendritic troughs; patterns that resemble branches of a tree or fork lightning.

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The European Space Agency is currently looking for a new Director of Earth Observation Programmes, to join its Executive Board and support the Director General, with responsibility for relevant ESA programmes and overall objectives.

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If skies are clear, don’t miss a chance to catch sight of these distant orbital sentinels over the coming weeks.
A flare from the IGS 1B satellite in GEO orbi. Credit: Marco Langbroek

You can spot "GEOSat' satellites in far-flung orbits… if you know exactly where and when to look.

Watch the sky long enough, and you're bound to see one.

Seasoned observers are familiar with seeing satellites in low Earth , as these modern artificial sky apparitions lit by sunlight grace the dawn or dusk sky. Occasionally, you might even see a flare from a passing , as a reflective solar panel catches the last rays of sunlight passing overhead.

But look closely along either side of the celestial equator (the imaginary line that the Earth's equator traces on the sky) at certain times of the year, and you might just see the ghostly flare of a distant GEOSat (geosynchronous satellite) as it briefly brightens into visibility and fades away.

Right around equinox in March or September is a good time to try and in GEO as they reach near 100% illumination opposite to the sun, before entering the Earth's shadow and winking out.

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The Chang'e-5 ascent vehicle shortly after separation from the Chang'e-5 orbiter while in lunar orbit.

HELSINKI — A spacecraft involved in China’s 2020 lunar sample return mission has entered orbit around Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 as part of an extended mission.

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