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On 20 April 2021, ESA will host the 8th European Conference on Space Debris from Darmstadt, in Germany. Scientists, engineers, industry experts and policy makers will spend the virtual four day conference discussing the latest issues surrounding space debris. They will exchange the latest research, try to come up with solutions for potential problems and define the future direction of any necessary action.

There are currently over 129 million objects larger than a millimetre in orbits around Earth. These range from inactive satellites to flakes of paint. But no matter how small the item of debris, anything travelling up

WenchangBeijing (XNA) Apr 13, 2021
China's Long March-7 Y3 rocket, which will launch the cargo craft of China's space station, has arrived at its launch site in southern China's Hainan Province. The rocket, alongside the Tianzhou-2 cargo craft that has already been transported to the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, will be assembled and tested at the launch site, the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) said on Mo

Beijing (XNA) Apr 13, 2021
The southernmost province of Hainan plans to launch four satellites around the end of this year, thus beginning construction of the island's first space-based network, according to a project official. Yang Tianliang, chief designer of the Hainan Earth-Observation Satellite Constellation System, said recently that four Hainan 1-series optical Earth-observation satellites have been assembled

Moscow (Sputnik) Apr 13, 2021
The next Meteor-M model Russian meteorological satellite will be launched from the Vostochny spaceport on 30 November, Sputnik learned on Monday from the printed materials of an international space forum taking place at the Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU). The chief of Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said last November that the Meteor-M satellite, number

Beijing, China (SPX) Apr 13, 2021
Clouds play a key role in balancing incoming and outgoing solar and thermal radiation. This is a critical process in the earth-atmosphere system. Monitoring cloud height, particle size, particle concentration, etc. are integral to understanding climate dynamics and global climate change. These physical attributes determine the radiative forcing effect of a cloud, or how much incoming radia

London, UK (SPX) Apr 13, 2021
In-Space Missions, the Hampshire-based company that designs, builds and operates satellites and plans space missions for clients all over the UK and internationally, has expanded into state-of-the-art new premises and announced plans to create some 200 new high-skilled jobs. In-Space has expanded into dedicated 500m2 offices in Alton, Hampshire in the UK to support its growing team and bus

Dulles VA (SPX) Apr 13, 2021
Northrop Grumman and the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, SpaceLogistics LLC, have successfully completed the docking of the Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV-2) to the Intelsat 10-02 (IS-10-02) commercial communications satellite to deliver life-extension services. The docking was completed at 1:34 p.m. EST. Northrop Grumman is the only provider of flight-proven life extension services f

Washington DC (SPX) Apr 13, 2021
he Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is pleased to announce that the US Army Geospatial Center (AGC) has raised its membership in OGC to Principal level. As a Principal Member of OGC, AGC will participate across OGC activities and serve in OGC's Planning Committee to help OGC advance geospatial interoperability and open systems. "It's great to see the US Army Geospatial Center upgradi

Munich, Germany (SPX) Apr 13, 2021
There are many questions surrounding the elementary particle neutrino, in particular regarding its mass. Physicists are also interested in whether besides the "classic" neutrinos there are variants such as the so-called sterile neutrinos. The KATRIN experiment has now succeeded in strongly narrowing the search for these elusive particles. The publication appeared recently in the journal Physical

Tucson AZ (SPX) Apr 13, 2021
A serendipitous discovery by citizen scientists has provided a unique new window into the diverse environments that produce stars and star clusters, revealing the presence of "stellar nurseries" before infant stars emerge from their birth clouds, according to Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Grace Wolf-Chase. "Yellowballs are small compact features that were identified in infra