Joint ESA-China SMILE mission set for launch to study Earth’s magnetic shield
A pioneering joint ESA-China science mission to study Earth’s magnetosphere is set to launch May 19, after a decade of preparations.
SpaceX launches CRS-34 cargo mission to ISS
A Falcon 9 launched a Dragon cargo spacecraft May 15 carrying nearly 3,000 kilograms of cargo to the International Space Station.
Starlink Mobile challengers back proposed telco-led D2D joint venture
A planned direct-to-device joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon has divided operators behind the satellites needed to connect ordinary smartphones from space.
Space Force awards Northrop Grumman $398 million satellite contract
The company will build a communications satellite to test protected communications technologies for contested environments
NASA releases final RFP for Mars communications orbiter
NASA has released the final request for proposals for a Mars telecommunications system, confirming requirements that limit the companies that can bid on it.
York Space defends growth strategy as SDA programs are reshaped
Company executives acknowledge ‘investor confusion’ as Space Force reorganizes York’s primary customer, the Space Development Agency
Zenk Space raises $26 million, targets June debut launch
China’s Zenk Space has secured 180 million yuan ahead of the planned June debut of its Zhihang-1 kerolox rocket, the company’s first orbital launch attempt.
Landing sideways
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A large boulder, a treacherous crater or a gust of wind could jeopardise a smooth landing on Mars. Before the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission launches for the Red Planet in 2028, a replica of the landing platform went through worst-case touchdown conditions – and survived.
Thinking of every possible landing scenario, European engineers dropped a full-scale model onto a sled to test its stability in case the spacecraft touched down at an angle. A magnetic sledge released the lander at varying speeds – up to four metres per second –on a platform tilted at 20 degrees.
In every test, the four legs of the descent module absorbed the impact.
These sled-based tests were the final series of the landing platform drop test campaign conducted at the ALTEC facilities in Turin, Italy.
“This campaign proves how robust the ExoMars landing system is. The tests delivered critical
The next war will be won — or lost — in orbit
We in the West have learned many things from the conflict in Ukraine. Four years on from its full-scale invasion — the war in fact having started in 2014 — we find ourselves, or should find ourselves, with a far better grasp of the nature of war, and a far greater sense of the dangers […]
ESA and CNES renew their commitment to Europe’s Spaceport
