Copernical Team
Yahsat and Cobham SATCOM complete CDR for Thuraya's Next satellite
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Yahsat, the UAE-based satellite communications company, has completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for its Thuraya 4-NGS Programme's Next Generation Service Platform and Broadband Products. This development marks a crucial milestone in the ongoing transformation of Thuraya 4-NGS, an initiative that has become integral to Yahsat's growth strategy and the advancement of its mobility satcom bus stc and Omnispace sign MoU to bring seamless Direct-to-Device satcom to Saudi Arabia
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stc Group and Omnispace have signed of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop space-based 5G mobile communications voice and data services. stc will leverage the Omnispace 3GPP-compliant non-terrestrial network (NTN), offering customers cost-effective global connectivity beyond its existing cellular land-based network.
The initiative would expand stc's coverage areas to include und China, Europe cooperate in satellite-rocket test
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A China-Europe joint space mission, Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE), has successfully completed a satellite-rocket test, according to the National Space Science Center (NSSC) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
A Chinese satellite team from the SMILE mission recently traveled to the European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC) of the European Spa Babcock secures UK Military Skynet satellite contract
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The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (MOD) has awarded Babcock International Group a six-year contract to manage and operate Skynet, the MOD's military satellite communications system, on February 15.
The contract is called Skynet Service Delivery Wrap (SDW), it is valued at 400 million pounds ($486.6 million), and it is expected to support 400 jobs in Corsham, Bristol, and Plymouth, U Crew stuck on ISS to return to Earth in September: Russia
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Russia's space agency on Tuesday said that the crew stuck on the International Space Station because of a damaged capsule were now expected to return to Earth in September, a year after they first launched into orbit.
Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio flew to the ISS in September 2022 aboard a Soyuz MS-22 capsule.
They were scheduled to Very Large Telescope captures direct images of bright exoplanet
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Chile's Very Large Telescope has captured direct images of a bright, Jupiter-like exoplanet after data from two European Space Agency satellites showed a gravitational pull on the planet's host star.
The European Southern Observatory released the photographs Monday, showing what the observatory called the lightest ever exoplanet. The planet orbits the young star AF Leporis, in the const South Korea joins space race in tech drive as Russia's isolation deepens over war in Ukraine
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South Korea is preparing a domestic rocket development program as part of an ambitious drive to carve out a larger slice of the global space economy following the implosion of its partnership with Russia.
Seoul last month revoked a contract with Moscow in favor of a European operator to launch a satellite into space. Having relied on Russia for years to send its probes into orbit, the move is a tangible impact of sanctions on the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine.
"Our plans to launch a multipurpose satellite with Russia have entirely gone awry," Korean Vice Science Minister Oh Tae-Seog said in an interview. "From the perspective of not only space industries but also national security, owning the ability to lift a satellite we want into space when we want is important."
South Korea's breakup with Moscow will be a harsh blow to Russia's rocket program, one of the nation's strongest post-Soviet industries outside oil, and highlights the impact of international pressure. Space is also a natural next step for South Korea's sophisticated economy, led by its high-tech sector.
Mercury’s black disc helps sharpen Solar Orbiter’s view
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This year started with a nice imaging opportunity for Solar Orbiter, and a chance to further improve the quality of its data. On 3 January 2023, inner planet Mercury crossed the spacecraft’s field of view, resulting in a transit where Mercury appeared as a perfectly black circle moving across the face of the Sun.
From Hair to Eternity: locks of US presidents heading to space
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George Washington, John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan are going on a hair-raising journey into outer space.
Not the actual—and long dead—former US presidents, of course, but samples of their hair.
Celestis, a Texas-based company that specializes in space burials, announced the plan on Monday, which is celebrated as Presidents' Day in the United States.
Celestis said it will launch "what we believe to be authenticated DNA" of the former presidents into space aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket later this year.
Also aboard the flight—dubbed "Enterprise"—will be some of the cremated remains of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and other cast members from the groundbreaking 1960s television series.
The USS Enterprise was the starship in the sci-fi show whose mission was to "go boldly where no man has gone before."
Celestis said the hair samples of the four former presidents were gifted by an anonymous donor and were accompanied by certificates of authenticity.
It said they originally came from the collection of Louis Mushro, a "celebrity hair collector and appraiser" from Michigan who died in 2014.
Chelyabinsk a decade on: spotting invisible asteroids 'from the Sun'?
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No one saw the Chelyabinsk meteor of 15 February 2013 coming - the largest asteroid to strike Earth in over a century. Just after sunrise on a sunny winter's day, a 20-metre, 13 000 tonne asteroid struck the atmosphere over the Ural Mountains in Russia at a speed of more than 18 km/s.
The relatively small rock exploded in the atmosphere at an altitude of 30 km, releasing about half a megat 
