Washington DC (UPI) Jan 5, 2021
A Russian rocket is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere Wednesday in an uncontrolled descent. Much of the rocket is expected to burn up as it plunges through the atmosphere, so there likely will not be major damage when it hits. According to Russia's state-run TASS news agency, the Angara-A5 heavy-lift rocket was launched Dec. 27 to test the Persei booster. The Europea

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 10, 2022
While many reflect on the past and bid it farewell, there's a lot of exciting science to come in the next year. While many were enjoying the days between the Christmas and New Year holidays in the US, at JPL we were working to finish up sampling activities at Issole. We'll soon bid an Auld Lang Syne to the Seitah region. As lead Mapping Specialist, I get enjoy looking at the road ahead for

Beijing (XNA) Jan 10, 2022
China's Yutu 2 lunar rover has traveled more than 1 kilometer on the moon and is still working well, according to the China National Space Administration. The administration said on Saturday that the distance traveled by the rover reached 1 km on Thursday evening. As of late that night, the robot had moved about 1,004 meters on the lunar soil. It added that Yutu 2, the second Chinese

Paris, France (SPX) Jan 07, 2022
Arianespace has been awarded a launch contract by SITAEL, with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) as the final customer, to orbit PLATiNO 1 and 2 satellites, between 2022 and 2024 on Vega and Vega C. PLATiNO 1 and 2 are Earth observation small satellites operating on Sun-synchronous orbits. PLATiNO 1 will embark a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), operating in the X band, while PLATiNO 2 will ca

Denver CO (SPX) Jan 06, 2022
Voyager Space Inc. (Voyager), a global leader in space exploration has announced it has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in San Diego-based Space Micro. Voyager will provide strategic operations support to help advance Space Micro's technology throughput to civil, commercial, and defense customers. Space Micro is an innovative, engineering-driven business focused on advancing

Prestwick, Scotland (SPX) Jan 10, 2022
South Ayrshire Council has started the process of submitting a formal planning application for the Prestwick Spaceport development. The Proposal of Application Notice (POAN) is the first step in the planning process for Prestwick Spaceport and signals the intent to apply for planning permission in early 2022. The submission of the POAN follows the Council's submission of an Environmental I

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 10, 2022
On Wednesday, Dec. 29 (sol 306) Perseverance successfully cored and extracted a sample from a Mars rock. Data downlinked after the sampling indicates that coring of the rock the science team nicknamed Issole went smoothly. However, during the transfer of the bit that contains the sample into the rover's bit carousel (which stores bits and passes tubes to the tube processing hardware inside the r

Washington (AFP) Jan 8, 2022
The most powerful space telescope ever built completed a tricky two-week-long deployment phase Saturday, unfolding its final golden mirror panel, as it readies to study every phase of cosmic history. Engineering teams in the James Webb Space Telescope's control room cheered as confirmation came back that its final wing was deployed and latched into place. "I'm emotional about it - what

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope team fully deployed its 21-foot, gold-coated primary mirror, successfully completing the final stage of all major spacecraft deployments to prepare for science operations.