Satellite imagery and data firm BlackSky to go public in latest SPAC deal
WASHINGTON — BlackSky, a provider of satellite imagery and geospatial intelligence, announced Feb. 18 is has signed a deal to go public through a merger with Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp.
Osprey is a special purpose acquisition company.
China assembling rocket to launch first space station module
HELSINKI — The Long March 5B heavy-lift rocket to launch China’s first space station module is soon to be assembled at Wenchang for launch in April.
Helicopter and other technology demos hitch a ride on Mars 2020
WASHINGTON — While the primary focus of the Mars 2020 mission will be the search for evidence of past Martian life, the rover mission carries several other payloads that could support future robotic and human missions to the red planet.
The multi-decade challenge of Mars Sample Return
This month the Martian invasion fleet arrives — the fleet of terrestrial spacecraft invading Mars, that is.
On Feb. 9, Hope, the United Arab Emirates’ first mission to Mars, entered orbit around the planet to study its atmosphere.
Report calls for revamped cost-conscious vision for Mars exploration
With NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover ready to begin its multiyear mission to collect rocks and soil for future retrieval, planetary scientists are concerned other Mars research goals could suffer during the decade-long wait for those samples to complete their three-legged relay back to Earth.
Starliner test flight slips to early April
WASHINGTON — A second uncrewed test flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle will be delayed by a little more than a week to replace hardware damaged during processing of the spacecraft.
In statements issued Feb.
The search for life beyond Earth
Mars may now be considered a barren, icy desert but did Earth's nearest neighbour once harbour life?
It is a question that has preoccupied scientists for centuries and fired up sci-fi imaginings.
After seven months in space, NASA's Perseverance rover is due to land on Mars on Thursday, in search of clues.
Why Mars?
Other planets or moons, could also harbour forms of life, so why pick Mars?
NASA says Mars is not just one of the more accessible places in the solar system and a potential future destination for humans, but exploring the planet could also help to answer "origin and evolution of life questions".
"Mars is unique across the entire solar system in that it is a terrestrial planet with an atmosphere and climate, its geology is known to be very diverse and complex (like Earth), and it appears that the climate of Mars has changed over its history (like Earth)," it adds on its Mars programme website.
Juno just saw a spacerock crash into Jupiter
Timing is extraordinarily important in many aspects of astronomy. If an astronomer or their instrument is looking the wrong way at the wrong time, they could miss something spectacular. Alternatively, there are moments when our instruments capture something unexpected in regions of space that we were searching for something else. That is exactly what happened recently when a team of scientists, led by Rohini Giles at the Southwest Research Institute, saw an image of what is likely a meteor impacting Jupiter's atmosphere.
The team collects data from the UVS, one of the instruments on Juno, NASA's mission tasked with studying the largest solar system planet up close. UVS is Juno's ultraviolet spectrograph, which collects data in the ultraviolet spectra from 68-210 nm. Its primary mission is to study Jupiter's atmosphere and watch for its breathtaking auroras.
Recently, when reviewing a batch of images that came in from the sensor, one of Dr. Giles' colleagues noticed a huge spike in brightness in an area outside of the normal auroral zone. As with much other science, this discovery started with someone finding interesting data when they didn't expect to see it.
NASA rover streaks toward a landing on Mars
A NASA rover streaked toward a landing on Mars on Thursday in the riskiest step yet in an epic quest to bring back rocks that could answer whether life ever existed on the red planet.
Ground controllers at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, settled in nervously for the descent of Perseverance to the surface of Mars, long a deathtrap for incoming spacecraft. It takes a nail-biting 11 1/2 minutes for a signal that would confirm success to reach Earth.
The landing of the six-wheeled vehicle would mark the third visit to Mars in just over a week. Two spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates and China swung into orbit around the planet on successive days last week.
NASA confirms Perseverance rover has landed on Mars
NASA said Thursday that the Perseverance rover has touched down on the surface of Mars after successfully overcoming a risky landing phase known as the "seven minutes of terror."
"Touchdown confirmed," said operations lead Swati Mohan at around 3:55 pm Eastern Time (2055 GMT) as mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory headquarters erupted in cheers.
The autonomously-guided pr 
