Madrid, Spain (SPX) Apr 07, 2022
The flight model of the Scatterometer Antenna Subsystem (SAS) of the MetOp Second Generation meteorological satellites has been officially delivered after four months of extensive testing at the Airbus facility in Madrid. It will now be transferred to Airbus in Friedrichshafen (Germany) where it will be integrated into the satellite along with the other instruments. The SAS protoflight mod

Germantown MD (SPX) Apr 06, 2022
Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), an innovator in satellite and multi-transport technologies and networks for 50 years, has announced it signed a distribution agreement with OneWeb Technologies Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of OneWeb, to deliver managed Low Earth Orbit (LEO) services to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The agreement follows the launch of the industry's first managed L

London, UK (SPX) Apr 14, 2022
Diverse microbial life existed on Earth at least 3.75 billion years ago, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers that challenges the conventional view of when life began. For the study, published in Science Advances, the research team analysed a fist-sized rock from Quebec, Canada, estimated to be between 3.75 and 4.28 billion years old. In an earlier Nature paper*, the team found tiny

Washington DC (UPI) Apr 14, 2021
The oldest evidence of the Maya calendar has been excavated at San Bartolo, Guatemala, found among fragments of painted murals. Acording to a new study, two fragments with a "7 deer" date notation date to between 300 and 200 BCE, based on radiocarbon dating. Authors of the study said that the finding "represents a day in the 260-day divinatory calendar used throughout Mesoamerica

Beijing (AFP) April 16, 2022
Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after 183 days in space, ending China's longest crewed mission as it continues its quest to become a major space power. The Shenzhou-13 spacecraft was the latest mission in Beijing's drive to rival the United States, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon. Live footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed the caps

Wenchang (XNA) Apr 15, 2022
President Xi Jinping has called on the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southern island province of Hainan to build itself into a world-class spaceport. Xi made the remark on Tuesday afternoon as he visited the launch complex, the newest and southernmost of its kind in China. Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Ce

Beijing (XNA) Apr 15, 2022
China's Shenzhou XIII mission crew have completed all of their tasks and will return to Earth, according to the China Manned Space Agency. The agency said on Thursday night that the astronauts - Major General Zhai Zhigang, Senior Colonel Wang Yaping and Senior Colonel Ye Guangfu - will leave the Tiangong space station in due course. Their reentry capsule will touch down at the Dongfeng lan

Beijing (XNA) Apr 15, 2022
The 13th China Satellite Navigation Conference will be held in Beijing in May, highlighting the digital economy and intelligent navigation, according to the China Satellite Navigation Office. The conference will showcase the latest industrialization achievement of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), the office said. Diverse events such as summit forums, academic exchanges,

Munich, Germany (SPX) Apr 15, 2022
Light on, light off - this is how one could describe the behavior of the nova, which goes by the name RS Ophiuchi (RS Oph). Every 15 years or so, a dramatic explosion occurs in the constellation of the Serpent Bearer. Birthplaces of a nova are systems in which two very different stars live in a parasitic relationship: A white dwarf, a small, burned-out and tremendously dense star - a teaspoon of

Baltimore MD (SPX) Apr 15, 2022
The journey of commissioning the Webb telescope continues this week with the successful cooling of the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), through the critical 'pinch point,' down to its final operating temperature of less than 7 kelvins (-447 degrees Fahrenheit, or -266 degrees Celsius). This was a precondition to completing the seventh and final stage of the mirror alignment process. The next step