Earth from Space: Tanezrouft
Thursday, 14 January 2021 09:00In this week's edition of the Earth from Space programme, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Tanezrouft Basin – one of the most desolate parts of the Sahara Desert.
See also Tanezrouft Basin to download the image.
Citizen scientists help create 3D map of local stellar neighborhood
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21Is our solar system located in a typical Milky Way neighborhood? Scientists have gotten closer to answering this question, thanks to the NASA-funded Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project, a "citizen science" collaboration between professional scientists and members of the public. Scientists tapped into the worldwide network of 150,000 volunteers using Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 to find new exam
Low-orbit, crewed equatorial space control stations
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21Many think the idea of a military crewed space station is new. It is not. The Russian Almaz ("Diamond") was a highly secret Soviet military space station program that began in the early 1960s. In fact, three crewed military reconnaissance stations were launched between 1973 and 1976. These were referred to as Salyut 2, Salyut 3 and Salyut 5. To camouflage their real mission the three stati
Skynet 6A passes Preliminary Design Review
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21Airbus has successfully completed the first key phase of the Skynet 6A project with the achievement of the Preliminary Design Review (PDR). The project now has permission to move into the next phase leading to the Critical Design Review (CDR). Airbus was awarded the Skynet 6A contract in July 2020 and teams across its sites in Stevenage, Portsmouth and Hawthorn have been working on the pro
NASA advancing global navigation satellite system capabilities
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21NASA is developing capabilities that will allow missions at high altitudes to take advantage of signals from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) constellations - like GPS commonly used in the U.S. These signals - used on Earth for navigation and critical timing applications - could provide NASA's Artemis missions to the Moon with reliable timing and navigation data. NASA's Space Communicat
China releases 4 new BDS technical standards
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21China has newly released four national technical standards for the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), according to the China Satellite Navigation Office. This is a major move forward of China in standardizing and ensuring the development and industrial application of the BDS through drafting national standards, said the office. The four newly-released technical standards are f
Orion Ready to Fuel Up for Artemis I Mission
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21The Orion spacecraft for NASA's Artemis I mission is taking one more step closer to its flight to the Moon. On Jan. 14, the spacecraft was lifted out of the stand in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida where engineers have meticulously outfitted it with thousands of components and tested its systems and subsystems to ensure it can a
InSight 'Mole' payload ends operations on Mars
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21The heat probe developed and built by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and deployed on Mars by NASA's InSight lander has ended its portion of the mission. Since Feb. 28, 2019, the probe, called the "mole," has been attempting to burrow into the Martian surface to take the planet's internal temperature, providing details about the interior heat engine that drives the Mars' evolution and geology.
Blue Origin launches, recovers capsule with more space tourism amenities
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin, successfully launched and recovered a new capsule Thursday that includes new amenities for space tourists. The uncrewed flight lifted off at 12:19 p.m. EST from the company's Corn Ranch spaceport about 150 miles east of El Paso, Texas. About 11 minutes later, the booster and capsule had returned safely to the dusty West Texas soil.
Glenn's Power Systems Facility has supported Station research for decades
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21On January 9, 1989 Space Station Freedom officials gathered at the Lewis Research Center to dedicate the Power Systems Facility (PSF), NASA's first facility constructed specifically to test station hardware. Over thirty years later, the facility remains the nucleus of our power system research and remote operation of space station experiments. Lewis engineers began planning the $6.2 millio
Muscles, metals, bubbles and rotifers - a month of European science in space
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21The month of December comes with holidays for many, but for the International Space Station and mission controls around the world, science never rests. The arrival of the 21st cargo spaceship Dragon on 7 December brought new experiments to unpack and prepare, while the impending return of SpaceX CRS-21 meant others needed to be completed and readied for a journey back to Earth. Join us as
SpaceX CRS-21 safely splashes down off the coast of Florida for first time
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft splashed down safely off the coast of Florida last night, concluding a month-plus stay at the International Space Station (ISS) to bring back thousands of pounds of scientific research and cargo. With this successful splashdown, SpaceX completed its 21st Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission to the orbiting laboratory for NASA. This also marks the first mission of
Mobility without particulates
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21The environment is polluted not only by exhaust gases from internal combustion engines, but also by particulate matter. In the transport sector, particulate matter is produced during the combustion process and in the abrasion of tyres and brakes. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is currently developing and testing an innovative vehicle concept as
Lockheed Martin-Built Orion spacecraft is ready for its Moon mission
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21NASA's Orion spacecraft is ready for its mission to the Moon. Lockheed Martin has completed assembly and testing of the Orion Artemis I spacecraft and has transferred possession to NASA's Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) team. Assembled at Kennedy Space Center, the EGS team will then perform final preparations on the spacecraft for its mission to the Moon later this year. Orion is NASA's n
Report: U.S. military space programs at risk of losing domestic sources of key components
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 23:18WASHINGTON — U.S. military satellites and missiles continue to rely on customized hardware and niche components that are no longer manufactured domestically, the Pentagon said in a report to Congress released Jan. 14.
These programs need to invest in new technology and qualify new suppliers to ensure they have access to domestic sources, said the Defense Department’s Fiscal Year 2020 Industrial Capabilities Report, which the Pentagon must submit annually to congressional defense committees.