Unique exoplanet photobombs Cheops study of nearby star system
While exploring two exoplanets in a bright nearby star system, ESA’s exoplanet-hunting Cheops satellite has unexpectedly spotted the system’s third known planet crossing the face of the star. This transit reveals exciting details about a rare planet “with no known equivalent”, say the researchers.
South Korea’s top airline to develop propellant tank for smallsat launcher
SEOUL, South Korea — Korean Air, South Korea’s biggest airline, says it will develop common bulkhead propellant tanks for small satellite launch vehicles as part of the Ministry of Science and ICT’s “Space Pioneer” project.
The ministry plans to invest 211.5 billion won ($186.6 million) by 2030 in the “Space Pioneer” project, which aims to strengthen the global competitiveness of the domestic aerospace industry by reducing dependence on overseas products.
NOAA to replace GOES-17 satellite ahead of schedule
SAN FRANCISCO – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced plans June 25 to move its geostationary weather satellite scheduled to launch in December into an operational role “as soon as possible.”
NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-T, will replace the GOES-17 satellite in the GOES West position because of problems with the satellite’s main instrument, the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), according to a NOAA news release.
LightSail 2 has now been in space for 2 years, and should last even longer before re-entering the atmosphere
The Planetary Society's crowdfunded solar-sailing CubeSat, LightSail 2, launched on June 25th 2019, and two years later, the mission is still going strong. A pioneering technology demonstration of solar sail capability, LightSail 2 uses the gentle push of photons from the Sun to maneuver and adjust its orbital trajectory. Within months of its launch, LightSail 2 had already been declared a success, breaking new ground and expanding the possibilities for future spacecraft propulsion systems. Since then, it's gone on to test the limits of solar sailing in an ongoing extended mission.
One of the primary goals of that extended mission is to try out the spacecraft in different modes of operation, learning along the way how to sail efficiently and effectively. Even though two years of flying in the harsh orbital environment has begun to degrade the sail, software updates, learned experience, and careful debugging efforts have ensured that LightSail 2 is still flying exceptionally well. Shrinkage, crinkles, and delamination need to be continually monitored, but in spite of them, the team reports that LightSail 2's current "orbit decay rates…are the lowest we've seen since the early days of the mission.
Op-ed | Mind the gap in low Earth orbit
For more than 20 years, the International Space Station (ISS) has supported continuous international crewed operations. An entire generation has never known a world where people aren’t living and working in space.
The success and longevity of the ISS is due in no small part to its international nature.
Europe considering concepts for human spaceflight
WASHINGTON — A bumper crop of applications for the European Space Agency’s astronaut corps is providing a boost to proposals for Europe to develop its own human spaceflight capability.
ESA announced June 23 that it received 22,589 applications in a solicitation that ended June 18.
Former airline exec Fredrik Gustavsson to lead Inmarsat strategy
TAMPA, Fla. — Inmarsat has named Fredrik Gustavsson, a former airline executive, as chief strategy officer in the British satellite operator’s third board appointment in three months.
Gustavsson was head of strategy and mergers and acquisitions at European airline easyJet from 2012 to 2019, where he oversaw deals including the purchase of parts of Germany’s Air Berlin.
Raytheon forms industry team to develop U.S. Army ground station
WASHINGTON — Raytheon announced June 28 it is teaming with seven aerospace and data analytics companies to develop a ground station for the U.S. Army that can process data from air and space sensors.
Raytheon and Palantir in January were selected to develop competing concepts for the Army’s tactical intelligence targeting access node, or TITAN.
Orphan cloud discovered in galaxy cluster
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New observations made with ESA’s X-ray XMM Newton telescope have revealed an “orphan cloud” – an isolated cloud in a galaxy cluster that is the first discovery of its kind.
A lot goes on in a galaxy cluster. There can be anything from tens to thousands of galaxies bound together by gravity. The galaxies themselves have a range of different properties, but typically contain systems with stars and planets, along with the material in between the stars – the interstellar medium. In between the galaxies is more material – tenuous hot gas known as the intercluster medium. And sometimes in
China is using mythology and sci-fi to sell its space programme to the world
On the morning of June 17, China launched its long-awaited Shenzhou-12 spacecraft, carrying three Chinese astronauts - or taikonauts - towards the Tianhe core module. The module itself was launched at the end of April, forming part of the permanent Tiangong space station, which is planned to remain in orbit for the next ten years.
China's construction of its own space station stems from th 
