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Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos, a double asteroid system that is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth. 

Do Hera and her CubeSats have the right stuff to explore space? Before launch they need to prove it, with a round of testing at the ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands – Europe’s largest satellite test facility. Suitable for kids and adults alike, this episode of ‘The Incredible

Governments and international disaster response teams have long relied on satellites to assess the impacts of disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. Now ESA has partnered with ICEYE, a Finnish microsatellite manufacturer, to improve early warning systems for floods and wildfires and extend their geographical coverage globally.

Washington DC (UPI) Oct 11, 2023
NASA said Wednesday that Bennu asteroid samples collected by the OSIRIS-Rex mission contain water, carbon and organic molecules - the building blocks of life. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said it's an exciting discovery, with the initial analysis of the material showing abundant carbon. "At nearly 5% carbon by weight, carbon being the central element of life, far exceeding our

Santa Rosa CA (SPX) Oct 12, 2023
Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS) announces that SWISSto12, one of Europe's fastest growing satellite and radio frequency (RF) payload manufacturers, has selected the Keysight Payload Test System (PTS) to validate the RF payloads of its first HummingSat geostationary satellite, Intelsat 45. The HummingSat is a small, innovative telecommunications satellite developed in collaboration with

Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 12, 2023
NASA's pioneering Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment will be the first demonstration of laser, or optical, communications from as far away as Mars. Launching with NASA's Psyche mission to a metal-rich asteroid of the same name on Thursday, Oct. 12, DSOC will test key technologies designed to enable future missions to transmit denser science data and even stream video from the Re

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 12, 2023
Relativity Space has signed a multi-year, multi-launch Launch Services Agreement (LSA) with Intelsat, operator of the largest integrated space and terrestrial network in the world. Under the agreement, Relativity will launch Intelsat satellites on Terran R as early as 2026. As a medium-to-heavy-lift, reusable launch vehicle made for growing satellite launch demand and eventually multiplane

Manila, Philippines (SPX) Oct 12, 2023
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in the Philippines has successfully collaborated with internet service provider Stellarsat Solutions Inc. and its partner Kacific Broadband Satellites to achieve a key milestone in its effort to provide equitable broadband connectivity across the country, under a National Broadband Plan. This transformative project, integra

Pasadena CA (SPX) Oct 12, 2023
Quantum computers of the future hold promise in solving all sorts of problems. For example, they could lead to more sustainable materials, new medicines, and even crack the hardest problems in fundamental physics. But compared to classical computers in use today, rudimentary quantum computers are more prone to errors. Wouldn't it be nice if researchers could just take out a special quantum erase

Paris (ESA) Oct 12, 2023
Nestled between the colossal martian 'Grand Canyon' (Valles Marineris) and the tallest volcanoes in the Solar System (the Tharsis region) lies Noctis Labyrinthus - a vast system of deep and steep valleys that stretches out for around 1190 km (roughly the length of Italy here on Earth). This video visualises a flight over the eastern part of Noctis Labyrinthus as seen by Mars Express's High

Stanford CA (SPX) Oct 12, 2023
For decades, scientists have pondered the mystery of the moon's ancient magnetism. Based on analyses of lunar samples, its now-deceased magnetic field may have been active for more than 1.5 billion years - give or take a billion years. Scientists believe it was generated like the Earth's via a dynamo process, whereby the spinning and churning of conductive liquid metal within a rocky planet's co