Orlando FL (UPI) Oct 01, 2021
NASA plans to launch its Lucy spacecraft from Florida on Oct. 16 to fly by eight asteroids starting in 2025, marking the first time scientists will gain close-up views of them. The spacecraft for the $981 million mission is at Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations, which include packing atop an Atlas V rocket for its 12-year voyage. United Launch Alliance plans to send the probe int

Tucson AZ (SPX) Oct 01, 2021
A significant amount - at least 25 percent - of Martian valley networks formed as a result of lake breach flooding, as reported in a paper on which Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Alexander Morgan is an author. This helps us better understand the past climate history of Mars, said Morgan, a co-author on "The importance of lake breach floods for valley incision on early Mars"

Orlando FL (UPI) Oct 01, 2021
The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that Richard Branson's space tourism company can return to spaceflight after conducting an investigation into issues with the firm's July 11 launch. A probe into the flight, which included Branson as a passenger, found the company's SpaceShipTwo deviated from its assigned airspace as it descended to Spaceport America in New Mexico, accordi

Wallops Flight Facility VA (SPX) Oct 01, 2021
On the Eastern Shore of Virginia against a clear blue August sky, a sounding rocket stood ready on the launchpad at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility. With undergraduate student teams, faculty advisors, and family eagerly awaiting and viewing the launch via livestream coverage, the countdown began. Late in the afternoon of Aug. 19, the Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket successfully

Tucson AZ (SPX) Oct 01, 2021
Phantom Space Corporation, a space transportation technology development and manufacturing company, has announced that they signed an agreement with Ingenu, provider of one of the leading Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology platforms. The agreement includes the production, manufacturing and launch of a 72 satellite constellation (AFNIO) that Ingenu will be utilizing to host the

Madrid, Spain (SPX) Oct 01, 2021
In early July the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) announced the upcoming upgrades of the Galileo GCS infrastructure in preparation for the next launch . Today the new GCS V3.0 infrastructure has been completely deployed in the Galileo Ground Control Centres in Oberpfaffenhofen (Germany) and Fucino (Italy) and is being used to operate the Galileo Satellite Constellatio

Heidelberg, Germany (SPX) Oct 01, 2021
At approximately 500 kilometres in size, Vesta is the largest known asteroid in the Solar System. Like its numerous companions in the Main Asteroid Belt, it is made of the 'primordial matter' of the Solar System. A new study published in Nature Astronomy concludes that Vesta was exposed to an extensive impact series of large rocky bodies much earlier than previously assumed. This suggests that t

Beijing (XNA) Oct 01, 2021
After initial solid steps, upcoming missions will ensure operation of China's Tiangong space station. China plans to conduct its Shenzhou XIII manned space flight this month, sending three astronauts to stay six months inside the country's Tiangong space station. During their mission, the astronauts, whose names have yet to be disclosed, will be mainly tasked with demonstrating and testing

Houston TX (SPX) Oct 01, 2021
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to head deep into space, all the way to Mars? Through a simulated journey, four volunteer research subjects will soon have a chance to find out. Beginning Oct. 1, 2021, four people will live and work for 45 days inside a unique, ground-based habitat at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Designed to serve as an analog for isolation, confinem

San Francisco (AFP) Sept 30, 2021
A group of current and former Blue Origin employees on Thursday accused Jeff Bezos' space company of having a "toxic" work culture with rampant sexual harassment and a pattern of decision-making that prioritized speedy rocket development over safety. The allegations, firmly rejected by Blue Origin, were outlined in a lengthy blogpost signed by Alexandra Abrams, the company's former head of e