Copernical Team
Reinventing the clock: NASA's new tech for space timekeeping
Here on Earth, it might not matter if your wristwatch runs a few seconds slow. But crucial spacecraft functions need accuracy down to one billionth of a second or less. Navigating with GPS, for example, relies on precise timing signals from satellites to pinpoint locations. Three teams at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, are at work to push timekeeping for space exploration to new levels of precision.
- One team develops highly precise quantum clock synchronization techniques to aid essential spacecraft communication and navigation.
- Another Goddard team is working to employ the technique of clock synchronization in space-based platforms to enable telescopes to function as one enormous observatory.
- The third team is developing an atomic clock for spacecraft based on strontium, a metallic chemical element, to enable scientific observations not possible with current technology.
There are plenty of uses for powerful lasers in space. But where should we put them?
SpaceX pushes booster recovery limits with satellite launch
SpaceX pushed one of its most-used boosters to its limits with a launch Tuesday evening from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
A Falcon 9 rocket using a booster for the 22nd time managed a successful recovery landing even though it was used to fly its payload, a pair of the European Commission's Galileo L13 satellites, to a medium-Earth orbit. The last time SpaceX flew such a mission, it didn't even try to recover the booster because it required more propellant than a low-Earth orbit mission.
Liftoff came at 6:50 p.m. Eastern time from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40, and the booster stuck the landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions a little more than eight minutes later.
SpaceX had to expend a booster, meaning let it fall back into the Atlantic, for the Galileo L12 mission back in April so SpaceX could provide the performance needed to get the payload to orbit.
"Data from that mission informed subtle design and operational changes, including mass reductions and trajectory adjustments, that will allow us to safely recover and reuse this booster," SpaceX posted on its website ahead of the new mission.
FAA wants to fine SpaceX more than $600,000 for Space Coast launch site violations
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Tuesday it is seeking more than $600,000 in fines against SpaceX for violating licenses from its Space Coast launch sites.
In a press release, the FAA detailed its proposed civil penalties for a June 18, 2023 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 and a July 28, 2023 launch from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A.
The combined fine of $633,009 is for what the FAA alleges to be SpaceX's failure to follow its license requirements for those two launches, according to the release. The fines follow civil penalty guidelines that are set in federal statutes, the FAA stated.
"Safety drives everything we do at the FAA, including a legal responsibility for the safety oversight of companies with commercial space transportation licenses," FAA Chief Counsel Marc Nichols said in the release. "Failure of a company to comply with the safety requirements will result in consequences."
For the Canaveral launch, the FAA said that in May 2023, SpaceX had submitted a request to revise its communication plan to its existing license that wanted to add a new launch control room at Hangar X and remove a T-2 hour readiness poll from its procedures.
There could be a way to fix spacecraft at L2, like Webb and Gaia
Billions of dollars of observatory spacecraft orbit around Earth or in the same orbit as our planet. When something wears out or goes wrong, it would be good to be able to fix those missions "in situ." So far, only the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has enjoyed regular visits for servicing.
What if we could work on other telescopes "on orbit?" Such "fixit" missions to other facilities are the subject of a new NASA paper investigating optimal orbits and trajectories for making service calls on telescopes far beyond Earth.
Webb’s new view of Arp 107
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Webb’s new view of Arp 107 Hera asteroid mission launch kit
Hera asteroid mission launch kit
Everything you'd ever want to know about ESA's first planetary defence mission
EarthCARE's Atmospheric Lidar Reveals Detailed Profiles of Atmospheric Particles
The ATLID atmospheric lidar, the final instrument aboard the EarthCARE satellite launched in May, has now been successfully activated. EarthCARE, a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), aims to provide more precise measurements of clouds, aerosols, and radiation.
Researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research ( MDA expands satellite production with major facility upgrade to meet global demand
MDA (TSX: MDA), a leading partner in the fast-growing space industry, announced the construction of a new 185,000 square foot extension to its satellite manufacturing facility in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec. This expansion will make it the largest facility in its satellite class, capable of producing up to two MDA AURORATM digital satellites daily.
The first project to come out of the China activates first satellite-ground laser communication system
The Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has successfully launched its first operational satellite-ground laser communication system. The 500mm aperture laser communication ground system began its regular operation on Sunday from the Pamir Plateau.
According to Wang Jianping, director of the Kashgar Ground Station, this system marks a major milestone 
