ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence has taken its first images using three of the instruments that will be used to explore and study the asteroids Dimorphos and Didymos.

ESA has taken another important step on the road towards sustainability in space with its first in-orbit servicing mission RISE. A €119 million contract was signed with D-Orbit as the co-funding prime contractor.

Boca Chica, United States (AFP) Oct 13, 2024
SpaceX on Sunday successfully flew the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket back to the launch pad after a test flight, a technical tour de force that furthers the company's quest for rapid reusability. The "super heavy booster" had blasted off attached to the uncrewed Starship rocket minutes earlier, then made a picture-perfect controlled return to the same pad in Texas, where a p

Los Angeles, United States (AFP) Oct 11, 2024
Elon Musk on Thursday unveiled what he said was a robotaxi capable of self-driving, predicting it would be available by 2027 - about a decade after he first promised an autonomous vehicle. The Tesla CEO said the fully electric car - which has no steering wheel or pedals - would be priced under $30,000, would be charged wirelessly with inductive technology and would be "10 to 20 times safe

Madrid, Spain (SPXR) Oct 10, 2024
The University of Malaga (UMA) is collaborating in an international consortium to advance the collection and transmission of solar energy in space through the 'ZEUS' project, part of the Horizon EIC Pathfinder Challenges. This European project, coordinated by Lund University in Sweden, has been awarded nearly euro 4 million to develop innovative nanowire solar cells designed to operate in the h

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 11, 2024
Data collected by the Tanager-1 satellite, using technology designed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), has led to the first detections of methane and carbon dioxide emissions. The nonprofit Carbon Mapper released these findings, showing methane plumes in Pakistan and Texas, and a carbon dioxide plume in South Africa. Carbon Mapper's goal is to pinpoint greenhouse gas emissions fro

Paris, France (SPX) Oct 11, 2024
The first MetOp Second Generation-A satellite (MetOp-SG-A1) has been fully assembled and is scheduled for launch next year, while its companion, MetOp-SG-B1, is undergoing stringent testing to ensure it can withstand the harsh conditions of space. MetOp-SG is an advanced continuation of the original MetOp satellites, designed in three successive pairs of A-type and B-type satellites. Each

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 11, 2024
Parry Labs has secured a Direct to Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the U.S. Space Force (USSF) as part of its "Digital Spaceport of the Future" challenge. This initiative focuses on enhancing spaceport operations with cutting-edge digital solutions. Out of over 150 submitted proposals, Parry Labs was one of 12 companies chosen for this contract, issued thro

Paris, France (SPX) Oct 11, 2024
ESA engineers have closely examined an aluminium weld produced in space, marking a historic achievement as the first autonomous welding conducted in orbit, and the first of its kind involving ESA. The weld, just one centimeter in size, was produced using electron beam welding during an experiment initiated by ThinkOrbital, a US startup. This weld, created aboard a spacecraft launched via a

Boca Chica, United States (AFP) Oct 13, 2024
SpaceX successfully "caught" the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket Sunday as it returned to the launch pad after a test flight, a world first in the company's quest for rapid reusability. The "super heavy booster" had blasted off attached to the Starship rocket minutes earlier, then made a picture-perfect controlled return to the same pad in Texas, where a pair of huge mechanica