Washington DC (SPX) Jul 14, 2021
DARPA has selected four industry and university research teams for the Invisible Headlights program, which seeks to determine if it's possible for autonomous vehicles to navigate in complete darkness using only passive sensors. Current autonomous systems require active illumination to navigate in the dark (headlights, lidar, or some other emitting sensor), but these active signatures can b

Titusville FL (SPX) Jul 16, 2021
Lockheed Martin has opened its Spacecraft Test, Assembly and Resource (STAR) Center. The STAR Center features business and digital transformation innovations that will expand manufacturing, assembly and testing capacity for NASA's Orion spacecraft program and ultimately, future space exploration. Lockheed Martin currently assembles the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I and II Moon mission

Washington DC (SPX) Jul 16, 2021
As any seasoned road-tripper knows, to get the most out of an adventure, a good map helps. It's no different for NASA's first lunar robotic rover planned for delivery to the Moon in late 2023 to search for ice and other resources on and below the lunar surface. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, is part of the agency's Artemis program. Without a Moon travel guide, VIP

New Delhi (Sputnik) Jul 16, 2021
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has planned to send two uncrewed flights to test end-to-end capacity for the country's first manned mission, Gaganyaan. As the first flight deadline is December, the space agency is racing against time to launch the mission as the COVID-19 lockdown has drastically affected their schedule. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has succes

Washington DC (Sputnik) Jul 16, 2021
The massive launch tower for the Starship spacecraft at a SpaceX site in Texas may be demolished based on the results of an ongoing environmental review, CNBC reported, citing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). "The company is building the tower at its own risk", a FAA official told CNBC. The source in the agency also noted that the review might recommend demolishing the laun

Washington DC (UPI) Jul 15, 2021
Lockheed Martin opened a new spacecraft facility Thursday to help build NASA's Orion lunar capsules near Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Lockheed Martin says the new STAR Center in Titusville is now a "digitally transformed factory of the future" that will help produce spacecraft to take astronauts to the moon. STAR stands for Spacecraft Test, Assembly and Resource. "This repres

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 16, 2021
Richard Branson won the billionaire space race this week when he boarded his Virgin Galactic spacecraft and became the first "space tourist" for a few minutes. He got there ahead of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who is to take off in his Blue Origin rocket next week. Of course, American firms aren't the only ones heading into space. In recent months, China's national space program has landed r

Moscow (Sputnik) Jul 15, 2021
During the Cold War, the US tested a slew of anti-satellite weapons, including detonating a nuclear weapon in space, which damaged a Soviet satellite. However, only recently has Washington worried that space was becoming militarized - now that other nations are developing similar capabilities. On Tuesday, Germany became the latest NATO power to inaugurate a separate space command, followin

Washington DC (UPI) Jul 15, 2021
Engineers at NASA have identified the potential cause of a payload computer problem that has sidelined the Hubble Space Telescope for more than a month. The agency said Thursday it would start a process to switch to a backup system, and that the telescope could be back to normal operations within a few days. The payload computer, part of Hubble's Science Instrument Command and Da

Washington DC (SPX) Jul 16, 2021
By listening to the rain of electrons flowing onto Jupiter from its intensely volcanic moon Io, researchers using NASA's Juno spacecraft have found what triggers the powerful radio emissions within the monster planet's gigantic magnetic field. The new result sheds light on the behavior of the enormous magnetic fields generated by gas-giant planets like Jupiter. Jupiter has the largest, mos