Copernical Team
Xplore opens satellite manufacturing facility to advance satellite production
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Xplore Inc., a commercial space company providing Space as a Service has announced they are opening a satellite manufacturing facility in Redmond, Washington. Their new, state-of-the-art campus is a key step in the company's mission to expand mass manufacturing of the XCraft the company's highly-capable, ESPA-class satellite, and the LightCraft, Xplore's highly-maneuverable spacecraft for deep s Planetary Atlas Collection: A Kickstarter Campaign that Promotes Space Exploration for Everyone
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On the topic of space travel, one of humanities greatest visionary thinkers and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking said, "Humans are an adventurous species. We like to explore and are inspired by journeys to the unknown. Science is not only a disciple of reason but, also, one of romance and passion. Exploration by real people inspires us."
Recent years have validated the adventurous nat China's Tianwen-1 probe sends back Mars landing visuals
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Two photos and two videos captured by China's Mars probe Tianwen-1 during and after the country's first landing on the red planet were released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Wednesday.
The lander carrying a rover of the Tianwen-1 mission touched down in the southern part of Utopia Planitia, a vast plain on the northern hemisphere of Mars, on May 15, becoming the coun Podcast: Name our space weather mission
ESA Astronaut Careers Fair Q&A
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Video:
00:29:18
This video is a summary compilation of the questions and answers sessions held during the ESA Astronaut Careers Fair on 22 April 2021. The ESA speakers are Florence Loustalot, Talent Acquisition Specialist; Antonella Costa, HR Business Partner; Dagmar Boos, Head of HR Competence and Policy Centre; and Guillaume Weerts, Space Medicine Team Leader. See the astronaut vacancy notice and other opportunities to work at ESA at https://jobs.esa.int
Further information on the astronaut selection may be found in the Astronaut Applicant Handbook and in the astronaut selection FAQs. If your question is not answered in these documents,
Russia to sell Soyuz space module
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Russia has put up for sale one of its space modules, which in 2018 returned a Russian and two Americans from the International Space Station (ISS).
"Descent module No. 738 of the Soyuz MS-08 mission is available on the Glavcosmos web portal for purchase," read a statement issued late Tuesday by Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of Russia's Roscosmos space agency.
"This lander can become an excellent exhibition showpiece for any public or private exhibition dedicated to aerospace," the statement added.
Glavcosmos spokesman Yevgeny Kolomiyev told AFP that the price of the descent module was not being publically disclosed because it was a "trade secret" and that prospective buyers would need to submit requests through the agency's website.
The Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft in March 2018 sent cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev and NASA astronauts Andrew Feustel and Richard Arnold to the ISS.
In October the same year, its decent module, which is up for grabs, returned Artemyev, Faustale and Arnold to Earth landing in Kazakhstan.
Glavcosmos director Dmitry Loskutov told the RIA Novosti news agency he did not rule out in the future selling "other shuttles, once their mission is completed".
A solution to space junk: Satellites made of mushrooms?
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According to the latest numbers from the ESA's Space Debris Office (SDO), there are roughly 6,900 artificial satellites in orbit. The situation is going to become exponentially crowded in the coming years, thanks to the many telecommunications, internet, and small satellites that are expected to be launched. This creates all kinds of worries for collision risks and space debris, not to mention environmental concerns.
For this reason, engineers, designers, and satellite manufacturers are looking for ways to redesign their satellites. Enter Max Justice, a cybersecurity expert, former Marine, and "Cyber Farmer" who spent many years working in the space industry. Currently, he is working towards a new type of satellite that is made out of mycelium fibers. This tough, heat-resistant, and environmentally friendly material could trigger a revolution in the booming satellite industry.
As it stands, one of the biggest concerns with satellites is the risk of collision they pose once they become defunct. Until such time that their orbit decays and they burn up in the atmosphere, satellites are likely to collide with each other and produce small pieces of space debris.
China prepares to launch rocket carrying space station supplies
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China is preparing to launch a rocket carrying supplies for its new space station just days after landing a rover on Mars, as it hustles ahead with its extraterrestrial ambitions.
Beijing has pumped billions into its space programme in a bid to make up ground on pioneers Russia and the United States, with ambitious projects in Earth orbit and the landing of uncrewed craft on the Moon and Mars.
But it was heavily reprimanded by the United States and many experts for a potentially dangerous breach of space etiquette for letting a massive rocket segment free-fall to Earth earlier this month after launching the core module of China's space station.
In the upcoming mission, the Tianzhou-2 cargo craft will blast off on a 14-tonne Long March 7 rocket, and is expected to carry essentials such as food and space suits to the core module.
Cool test of Proba-V companion during preparation for 'thermal balance' testing
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A test version of ESA's Proba-V Companion CubeSat seen during preparation for 'thermal balance' testing in the Agency's Mechanical Systems Laboratory at its ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands.
Space is a place where it is possible to be hot and cold at the same time, if one part of your satellite is in sunlight and another face in shade. A satellite's interior needs to maintain a steady temperature to go on operating properly.
Accordingly this 'structural and thermal model' of the Proba-V Companion CubeSat was placed inside the Large Vacuum Facility of ESA's Mechanical Systems Laboratory—employed to test large satellite systems or complete small satellites—for a week-long exposure to temperature extremes in space-quality vacuum.
Developed by prime contractor Aerospacelab in Belgium for ESA, this mission is a 12-unit 'CubeSat' – a small, low-cost satellite built up from standardized 10-cm boxes. It will fly a cut-down version of the vegetation-monitoring instrument aboard the Earth-observing Proba-V to perform experimental combined observations with its predecessor.
Launched in 2013, Proba-V was an innovative 'gap filler' mission between the Vegetation instruments monitoring global plant growth aboard the full-size Spot-4 and -5 satellites and compatible imagery coming from Copernicus Sentinel-3, the first of which flew in 2016.
