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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 03, 2024
Cosmic Shielding Corporation (CSC), providers of the worlds leading space radiation shielding technologies, will be utilized to develop an AI-capable space computer that uses the Nvidia Jetson Orin NX GPU. This will mark the first time a GPU from the latest Nvidia Orin ecosystem has been sent to space and will be part of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Califor
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Madrid, Spain (SPX) Jul 02, 2024
Sateliot, the first company to operate a low-Earth orbit (LEO) nanosatellite constellation with 5G IoT standards and that extends coverage of Mobile Telecom Operators to any place in the planet, has successfully integrated its satellite communication stack with Leaf Space's Ground Segment as a Service (GSaaS) Network. This milestone is crucial for the upcoming Transporter-11 mission by SpaceX, d
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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 03, 2024
Sidus Space, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIDU) has announced that in partnership with the space agency Stennis Space Center, the primary objectives of the the space agency Autonomous Satellite Technology for Resilient Applications (ASTRA) payload mission were successfully met on July 1, 2024. Collaborating closely with the the space agency Stennis Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ASL) team, Sidus Space co
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A handy attachment could make lunar construction a breeze
Chariot rover with LANCE attachment undergoing testing at the Moses Lake test site. Credit: Mueller et al.

Moving large amounts of regolith is a requirement for any long-term mission to the moon or Mars. But so far, humanity has only sent systems capable of moving small amounts of soil at a time—primarily for sample collection. Sending a large, dedicated excavator to perform such work might be cost-prohibitive due to its weight, so why not send a bulldozer attachment to a mobility unit already planned for use on the surface?

That was the thought process of an interdisciplinary team of engineers from NASA and the Colorado School of Mines. They came up with the Lunar Attachment Node for Construction and Excavation—or LANCE.

LANCE is an attachment to NASA's Chariot rover prototype, which was originally designed to be the primary mobility system for astronauts returning to the moon. However, it was designed in 2007, when the original NASA Lunar Architecture plan was to establish a permanent lunar base in 2019.

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Swarms of orbiting sensors could map an asteroid's surface
Artist’s depiction of the MIDEA mission. Credit: Sigrid Close (Elschot)

It seems like every month a new story appears announcing the discovery of thousands of new asteroids. Tracking these small body objects from ground and even space-based telescopes helps follow their overall trajectory. But understanding what they're made of is much more difficult using such "remote sensing" techniques.

To do so, plenty of projects get more up close and personal with the asteroid itself, including one from Dr. Sigrid Elschot and her colleagues from Stanford, which was supported by NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts back in 2018. It uses an advanced suite of plasma sensors to detect an asteroid's surface composition by utilizing a unique phenomenon—meteoroid impacts.

The project, known as the Meteroid Impact Detection for Exploration of Asteroids (MIDEA), has an architecture that has become more prominent as of late—a swarm of smallsats coordinated around a mothership. In this case, the smallsats are plasma sensors with one specific purpose: to detect characteristics of the plume of debris from the asteroid after a meteoroid hits it.

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CubeSat propulsion technologies are taking off
Two cubesats communicated and then maneuvered towards one another in a recent technology demonstration. Credit: NASA

CubeSats are becoming ever more popular, with about 2,400 total launched so far. However, the small size limits their options for fundamental space exploration technologies, including propulsion. They become even more critical when mission planners design missions that require them to travel to other planets or even asteroids.

A team from Khalifa University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi recently released a review in Aerospace of the different CubeSat propulsion technologies currently available—let's look at their advantages and disadvantages.

The paper breaks propulsion systems into four categories: Chemical, Kinetic, Electrical, and "Propellant-less." Chemical systems are the traditional rockets most people think of when launching satellites—they burn chemicals together and expel gas created by the fire to produce thrust. Kinetic systems use things like cold gas, where instead of reacting two chemicals together, they simply push gas molecules out to propel themselves in the opposite direction.

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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 08, 2024
"NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager) mission." The firm-fixed-price contract is valued at approximately $69 million and includes launch services and associated mission costs. The COSI mission is scheduled to launch in August 2027 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 roc
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Washington (AFP) July 6, 2024
The NASA astronaut knocks loudly three times on a what appears to be a nondescript door, and calls cheerfully: "You ready to come out?" The reply is inaudible, but beneath his mask he appears to be grinning as he yanks the door open - and four scientists who have spent a year away from all other human contact, simulating a mission to Mars, spill out to cheers and applause. Anca Selariu,

Lunar Impact Flux Insights

Monday, 08 July 2024 16:09
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Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jul 08, 2024
Scholars have revisited the anchor points and historical construction of lunar crater chronology. Initially, the stratification of the Moon's near side relied on remote sensing data from ground-based telescopes and lunar orbiters before lunar samples were returned. As illustrated in Fig. 1, six manned missions and four robotic missions have brought back various samples, including basalts and vol
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Paris, France (SPX) Jul 08, 2024
ESA's Earth Return Orbiter (ERO), the pioneering spacecraft designed to capture and return samples from Mars, has achieved a significant milestone, completing its critical design review (CDR). This essential phase confirms the performance, quality, and reliability of the spacecraft's systems, enabling the next steps in its development. A CDR is a crucial stage in any spaceflight project, e
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Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jul 08, 2024
The current understanding of the Moon's interior reveals a central metallic core, a mantle rich in minerals like olivine and pyroxene, and an outer crust layer. This model has been developed through analyses of lunar samples and seismic data from past Moon missions. Despite extensive studies, the debate about the presence of garnet in the deeper lunar mantle remains unresolved. A critical questi
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