Commercial space projects expected to provide more services in China
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 11:31China unveiled a series of commercial space projects at the recent 9th China (International) Commercial Aerospace Forum held in Wuhan. The programs are expected to provide more service in sectors such as natural resources survey, disaster warning and remote sensing. The projects include an ultra-low orbit satellite constellation, the Tianmu meteorological constellation, Luojia-2 SAR remote
Timeline unveiled for China's advanced manned spacecraft's inaugural flight
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 11:31China's advanced manned spacecraft is set to embark on its maiden voyage sometime around 2027 and 2028, as revealed by a prominent figure in the nation's manned space program. This innovative development in space technology is currently undergoing research and development, anticipating a capacity to accommodate up to seven astronauts on a single journey, as reported in the Science and Technology
Psyche enters home stretch before launch
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 11:31Engineers and technicians at Cape Canaveral are preparing the Psyche spacecraft for liftoff, which is slated for Oct. 5. With less than 100 days to go before its Oct. 5 launch, NASA's Psyche spacecraft is undergoing final preparations at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Teams of engineers and technicians are working almost around the clock to ensure the orbiter is ready to journey 2.5 billion mile
The Lion's Mane: Sols 3892-3893
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 11:31Earth planning date: Monday, July 17, 2023. Today we planned a two sol "Touch and Go" plan. Our weekend drive successfully brought us about 28 metres, bringing us closer to the "crater cluster," a series of small craters grouped close together. These craters were created by meteoroid impacts, probably from a single meteoroid that broke up before it reached the surface. So this mini campaig
NASA's IXPE fires up astronomers with new blazar findings
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 11:31The universe is full of powerful supermassive black holes that create powerful jets of high-energy particles, creating sources of extreme brightness in the vastness of space. When one of those jets points directly at Earth, scientists call the black hole system a blazar. To understand why particles in the jet move with great speeds and energies, scientists look to NASA's IXPE (Imaging X-ra
PSI's David Grinspoon Appointed to New NASA Post
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 11:31David Grinspoon, a Senior Scientist at Planetary Science Institute has been appointed by NASA to be the new Senior Scientist for Astrobiology Strategy. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe. As Senior Scientist for Astrobiology Strategy at NASA Grinspoon will serve as the Agency's senior leader for astrobiology, spearheading efforts from NASA
How an "AI-tocracy" emerges
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 11:31Many scholars, analysts, and other observers have suggested that resistance to innovation is an Achilles' heel of authoritarian regimes. Such governments can fail to keep up with technological changes that help their opponents; they may also, by stifling rights, inhibit innovative economic activity and weaken the long-term condition of the country. But a new study co-led by an MIT professo
Simulating Aeolus's return: mission control feels the heat
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 11:31No two missions are the same but launches have many milestones and features in common with each other: a satellite or spacecraft is launched on a gravity-defying rocket into space, after it separates and, exact sequences differ but it is woken up, solar arrays are deployed, instruments are switched on and tested and its thrusters are fired to get it where it needs to be. Five years ago, Ae
Training robots how to learn, make decisions on the fly
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 11:31Mars rovers have teams of human experts on Earth telling them what to do. But robots on lander missions to moons orbiting Saturn or Jupiter are too far away to receive timely commands from Earth. Researchers in the Departments of Aerospace Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a novel learning-based method so robots on extraterrestrial bodies c
Urania: muse of gravitational-wave astronomy
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 11:31The new supercomputer "Urania" has been put into operation by the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam. With 6,048 compute-cores and 22 Terabyte of memory it is just as powerful as its predecessor, but requires only half the electricity to operate. Scientists in the Astrophysical and Cosmological Relativity department are now able to compute gravitational waveforms of coales
Replay: Aeolus reentry media briefing
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 11:00After completing its mission in orbit, ESA’s wind mission Aeolus will soon reenter Earth's atmosphere. Currently orbiting 320 km above, Aeolus is being kept in orbit with its remaining fuel. This fuel is running out, and the satellite will soon succumb to Earth’s atmosphere and gravity.
Going above and beyond what the satellite was technically designed to do, ESA is attempting a first-of-its-kind assisted reentry to reduce the (already very small) risk of damage from any fragments that survive the journey and reach the ground.
ESA held an online media briefing on 19 July 2023 to explain more about this assisted
Insurers brace for ViaSat-3 claim
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 08:47The potential failure of a Viasat broadband satellite could result in a massive claim and a “huge hit” for the space insurance sector, one insurer warns.
The clays of Mawrth Vallis
Wednesday, 19 July 2023 08:00ESA's Mars Express has revisited an old favourite: the distinctive and fascinating Mawrth Vallis, one of the most promising locations on Mars in our search for signs of life.
Rocket Lab launch enables Telesat to restart LEO demonstrations
Tuesday, 18 July 2023 19:16Telesat is preparing to resume demonstrations for its delayed low Earth orbit broadband constellation after Rocket Lab successfully launched the Canadian operator’s latest prototype satellite.