AI startup using satellite imagery to trace the path of Chinese balloon
Days after the Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the U.S.
Deep space smallsats face big challenges
More than half the cubesats that launched on Artemis 1 in November have suffered problems, underlining the myriad challenges facing small satellites beyond Earth’s orbit.
NASA's Perseverance rover set to begin third year at Jezero Crater
After completing the first sample depot on another world, the rover continues its hunt for Mars rocks worthy of study on Earth.
NASA's Perseverance rover will celebrate its second anniversary on the surface of Mars Saturday, Feb. 18. Since arriving at Jezero Crater in 2021, the six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover has been examining geologic features and collecting samples of the Red Planet that are central to the first step of the NASA-ESA (European Space Agency) Mars Sample Return campaign.
Eutelsat nearly ready to seek bids for building OneWeb Gen 2
A search for companies to build OneWeb’s second-generation constellation could kick off by summer, French satellite operator Eutelsat said Feb. 17 as it closes in on buying the British venture.
Peraton wins NOAA contract
SAN FRANCISCO – Peraton won a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration contract with a potential value of nearly $400 million to provide ground services for polar-orbiting weather satellites.
First crewed Starliner mission on track for April
Preparations for the first crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner vehicle to the International Space Station remain on schedule for a launch in mid to late April, company and NASA officials said Feb.
Russia reschedules Soyuz launch after Progress undocks
Russia is moving ahead with the uncrewed launch of a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station after the post-undocking inspection of a Progress cargo spacecraft failed to show damage from a coolant leak.
Russia 'expected' to launch rescue ship to ISS on Feb 24: official
Russia's space agency said Saturday it was planning to send a rescue ship on February 24 to bring home three astronauts whose return vehicle was damaged by a tiny meteoroid.
"The launch is expected on February 24," a spokesman for the Roscosmos space agency told AFP.
Last Monday, the space agency said it had delayed the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, saying a supply ship docked at the International Space Station (ISS) had leaked coolant.
The Soyuz MS-22 flew Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the ISS in September.
They were scheduled to return home in the same spacecraft, but it began leaking coolant in mid-December after being hit by what US and Russian space officials believe was a tiny space rock.
In January, Russia said that it would send an empty spacecraft to the ISS in February to bring home the three astronauts.
Planetary scientist lays out arguments for sending a dedicated probe to Uranus (Update)
Kathleen Mandt, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory has published a Perspectives piece in the journal Science arguing that NASA should send a dedicated probe to the planet Uranus. She notes that a window is opening in 2032 for the launch of such a probe.
Planetary scientists have spent far more time studying Mars than they have other planets, partly due to its close proximity and partly due to the fact that Mars has a surface upon which craft can land. Planets that have thick atmospheres, on the other hand, are more difficult to study, especially if they provide no place to land.
Still, Mandt argues, such research is important. And initiating the development of a probe to study Uranus, she adds, would be a good start. She further notes that now would be a good time to begin such plans because the next good window for launching a Uranus probe would be in 2032, when Jupiter's alignment with Earth will allow a slingshot maneuver toward Uranus.
Office of Space Commerce examines options for commercial SSA pilot project in LEO
With one commercial space traffic coordination pilot project successfully completed, the Office of Space Commerce is considering ways to do a similar project in the more challenging environment of low Earth orbit.
