Pasadena CA (SPX) Mar 26, 2021
Buried beneath 20 kilometers of ice, the subsurface ocean of Enceladus--one of Saturn's moons--appears to be churning with currents akin to those on Earth. The theory, derived from the shape of Enceladus's ice shell, challenges the current thinking that the moon's global ocean is homogenous, apart from some vertical mixing driven by the warmth of the moon's core. Enceladus, a tiny fr

Gottingen, Germany (SPX) Mar 26, 2021
The very first moments of the Universe can be reconstructed mathematically even though they cannot be observed directly. Physicists from the Universities of Gottingen and Auckland (New Zealand) have greatly improved the ability of complex computer simulations to describe this early epoch. They discovered that a complex network of structures can form in the first trillionth of a second after the

Washington DC (UPI) Mar 26, 2021
South Korea says it ranks seventh in satellites, after the country conducted a successful test of a domestically developed rocket for satellite launch. President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that his goal is to ensure South Korea has a launch vehicle capable of landing on the moon by 2030 and to help local enterprises become leading aerospace manufacturers like SpaceX, the firm founded by Elo

Washington DC (UPI) Mar 26, 2021
A piece of cloth from the Wright brothers' first flight in 1903 is set to become part of aviation history again - this time on Mars. Carillon Historical Park, the Ohio home of the Wright Brio home of the Wright Brothers National Museum, said NASA officials got in contact in 2019 about finding a way to connect Wilbur and Orville Wright's first successful flight in Kitty Hawk, N.C., with the

Kourou, French Guiana (SPX) Mar 26, 2021
Payload preparations have begun in French Guiana for Arianespace's next mission - which is to utilize the light-lift Vega in deploying the first Pleiades Neo constellation satellite and other passengers in a piggyback configuration. Produced by Airbus Defence and Space, Pleiades Neo 3 arrived yesterday at Felix Eboue Airport near Cayenne, then traveled by road to the Spaceport to begin its

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Mar 26, 2021
SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation, the main satellite operator in Japan and the world leading Fixed Satellite Service provider, has selected Airbus to build Superbird-9, a fully digital in-orbit reconfigurable telecommunications satellite. The satellite will be based on Airbus' standardised OneSat product line. Airbus will provide a turnkey solution, including design and manufacture of the Supe

Boulder Co (SPX) Mar 26, 2021
New Horizons remains healthy and continues to send valuable data from the Kuiper Belt, even as it speeds farther and farther from Earth and the Sun. I'm going to focus this PI's Perspective on a major upcoming mission mile marker - namely, New Horizons being 50 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun next month. But first, some mission news. Our biggest news is that most of our latest f

Laconia NH (SPX) Mar 26, 2021
Rogue Space Systems Corporation and NanoAvionics US have signed a cooperation agreement where Rogue has selected NanoAvionics US to be their provider for hardware, systems engineering and integration services for Rogue's Laura, Charlie and Fred Orbot programs. These programs will include both demonstration missions currently planned for 2022 and the follow-on deployment of the servicing fleet co

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 26, 2021
Small businesses are vital to NASA's mission, helping expand humanity's presence in space and improve life on Earth. NASA has selected 365 U.S. small business proposals for initial funding from the agency's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, a total investment of more than $45 million. "At NASA, we recognize that small businesse

Houston TX (SPX) Mar 26, 2021
Redwire, a mission-critical space solutions company, and Genesis Park Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: GNPK) ("Genesis Park"), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, announced today that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement that will result in Redwire becoming a publicly traded company. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2021,