WASHINGTON — A polar-orbiting weather satellite decommissioned nearly eight years ago has broken up, adding to the growing debris population in a key orbit.

The Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron said March 18 it hard confirmed the NOAA-17 satellite broke up March 10.

This story was updated March 20 at 4:30 p.m. EDT to add a Roscosmos statement about the new March 22 launch date for the mission.

SEOUL, South Korea — The launch of a Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying a South Korean remote sensing satellite and three dozen smaller satellites was postponed Saturday due to a problem with the rocket’s upper stage, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT, the primary customer for the GK Launch Services-brokered commercial rideshare mission.

Paris, France (SPX) Mar 19, 2021
During the recent meeting in Rome between Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery, and Giancarlo Giorgetti, Italian Minister of Economic Development, Arianespace announced the signature of an agreement with Avio to start production of 10 new Vega C launch vehicles. This agreement kicks off the procurement of long lead-time items and the initial activities for t

Washington DC (SPX) Mar 19, 2021
The largest rocket element NASA has ever built, the core stage of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, fired its four RS-25 engines for 8 minutes and 19 seconds Thursday at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The successful test, known as a hot fire, is a critical milestone ahead of the agency's Artemis I mission, which will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on

Washington (AFP) March 19, 2021
The White House announced Friday that President Joe Biden was tapping Bill Nelson, a former Democratic senator for Florida who once flew on a Space Shuttle and helped craft key space legislation as his NASA chief. The nomination appears to confirm Biden's interest in maintaining US leadership in space as NASA prepares to return to the Moon under the Artemis program, while pivoting towards co

Moscow (Sputnik) Mar 19, 2021
The spacecraft is due to be relocated by the crew to another port of the International Space Station as part of preparatory work for the crew's next mission. Sputnik is live from the International Space Station (ISS) as the Soyuz MS-17 space vehicle is being relocated from the station's Rassvet module to its Poisk module port. The operation is being conducted by an international crew, name

Dublin, Ireland (SPX) Mar 19, 2021
Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have been shedding light on the enigmatic "spiders from Mars", providing the first physical evidence that these unique features on the planet's surface can be formed by the sublimation of CO2 ice. Spiders, more formally referred to as araneiforms, are strange-looking negative topography radial systems of dendritic troughs; patterns that resemble branch

Lausanne (AFP) March 21, 2021
Leo pulls on a shiny, silver suit and places the helmet gingerly over his head before marching with the other budding astronauts towards their spaceship. "Going to Mars is really my dream," the eight-year-old said, jumping excitedly from foot to foot. While the world has been riveted by the escapades of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, a group of Swiss primary school children has been eag

Paris (AFP) March 21, 2021
The largest asteroid to pass by Earth this year will swing closest on Sunday, giving astronomers a rare chance for a good look at a space rock that formed at the dawn of our solar system. While in astronomical terms this marks a close encounter with the asteroid - called 2001 FO32 - NASA says there is no threat of a collision with our planet "now or for centuries to come". The nearest