Aeolus’ fiery demise to set standard for safe reentry
ESA’s wind mission, Aeolus, will soon be lowered in orbit leading to its fiery reentry and burn-up through Earth’s atmosphere. ESA’s efforts to ensure a safe return go well beyond international standards and place the Agency in the lead for space safety.
Webb finds water vapour, but from a rocky planet or its star?
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Astronomers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to study a rocky exoplanet known as GJ 486 b. It is too close to its star to be within the habitable zone, with a surface temperature of about 430 degrees Celsius. And yet, their observations using Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) show hints of water vapour. If the water vapour is associated with the planet, that would indicate that it has an atmosphere despite its scorching temperature and close proximity to its star. Water vapour has been seen on gaseous exoplanets before, but to date no atmosphere has been
Momentus tug raises orbit with water-fueled thruster
Momentus announced May 8 that it has successfully demonstrated the propulsion system on its Vigoride space tug, raising the vehicle’s orbit.
Webb looks for Fomalhaut’s asteroid belt and finds much more
Astronomers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to image the warm dust around a nearby young star, Fomalhaut, in order to study the first asteroid belt ever seen outside of our Solar System in infrared light. But to their surprise, they found that the dusty structures are much more complex than the asteroid and Kuiper dust belts of our Solar System.
Rocket Lab successfully launches 2 NASA storm-monitoring satellites
U.S.-based Rocket Lab Electron successfully launched a pair of NASA storm-monitoring satellites from New Zealand on Monday.
The Rocket Like A Hurricane mission with two CubeSats on board launched shortly after 1 p.m. Monday from Rocket Lab Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula on the archipelago nation's east coast.
"After 36 launches, we're still not sick of this view," Rocket Lab sa #CosmicMystery: Win a trip to Euclid mission control
Help us visualise how much of the Universe we know and don’t know and win a trip to mission control as ESA’s Euclid mission launches into space no earlier than July to unlock the mysteries of the Dark Universe.
Maxar pursuing defense deals for its new line of small satellites
Maxar Technologies is set to deliver in early 2024 the first of 16 satellite buses ordered by L3Harris for a military constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO) run by the U.S.
Sizing up the 2023 GEO manufacturing battleground
Competition among builders of the world’s largest communications satellites is intensifying in a shrinking market.
The post Sizing up the 2023 GEO manufacturing battleground appeared first on SpaceNews.
From Japan to the Philippines: US expands SSA cooperation with Asian countries
The United States has agreed with the Philippines to strengthen cooperation on space situational awareness and space-based maritime domain awareness in the latest series of actions Washington has taken to strengthen ties with Asia-Pacific countries to counter China.
Ball Aerospace zeroes in on future technologies
SpaceNews spoke with Jake Sauer, Ball Aerospace’s new vice president and chief technologist, to learn how the company will focus its investments.
The post Ball Aerospace zeroes in on future technologies appeared first on SpaceNews.
