...the who's who,
and the what's what 
of the space industry

Space Careers

Products  Project List
Copernical Team

Copernical Team

The Parker Solar Probe is getting pelted by hypervelocity dust—could they damage spacecraft?
Artist’s image of Parker with the graphs and images associated with the study. Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / LASP

There's a pretty significant disadvantage to going really fast—if you get hit with anything, even if it is small, it can hurt. So when the fastest artificial object ever—the Parker Solar Probe—gets hit by grains of dust that are a fraction the size of a human hair, they still do damage. The question is how much damage, and could we potentially learn anything from how exactly that damage happens? According to new research from scientists at the University of Colorado at Boulder (UCB), the answer to the second question is yes, in fact, we can.

Parker is cruising through the inner solar system on its orbit around the sun at a cool 180 km/s (400,000 mph). But the environment it is traveling through is anything but cool—the probe needs the help of a giant to ensure that the full force of a star doesn't entirely destroy its innards.

Space junk forces spacewalk delay, too risky for astronauts
This image made from NASA TV shows the international space station, seen from the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft Saturday, April 24, 2021.
Image: Cosmic pearl
Credit: ESA/NASA-T. Pesquet

It can be hard to appreciate that a human-made, football-pitch-sized spacecraft is orbiting 400 km above our heads, but there it is.

The jewel of human cooperation and ingenuity that is the International Space Station shines brightly in this image captured by ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour.

Crew-2 got this amazing view during a flyaround of the orbiting lab after undocking from the Harmony module on 8 November, before their return to Earth.

Since this image was taken, there has even been a new addition in the form of the Russian Node Module, known as Prichal. The final Russian module planned for the , it is a spherical node attached to the Russian segment with six docking ports for future Progress and Soyuz arrivals.

A collaboration between five space agencies, the station has become a symbol of peaceful international cooperation for 23 years now. It represents the best of our space engineering capabilities as well as humankind's pursuit of and exploration.

By any standards, it is an incredible piece of spacecraft engineering. Weighing 420 tons, it travels in low-Earth orbit at more than 27 000 km/hour, circling Earth approximately 16 times every day.

Tuesday, 30 November 2021 07:49

Micro-geostationary satellite wins ESA support

Agile micro-geostationary satellite

A small European telecommunications satellite intended for launch into geostationary orbit some 36 000 kilometres above the Earth – which can be used as a basis for future satellites – has won support from ESA.

Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Nov 29, 2021
On Thursday, December 2 (CET) another two Galileo navigation satellites will be launched from Kourou in French Guiana aboard a Soyuz rocket. This will raise the number of Galileo satellites in orbit from currently 26 to 28. All Galileo satellites use products from RUAG Space, a leading supplier to the space industry. "We have played an important role in building the European Galileo naviga
Singapore (SPX) Nov 23, 2021
Kacific Broadband Satellites has introduced the first Ka-band Mobile Backhaul service for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecom operators in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. This will allow operators to extend their network's range in remote and difficult areas and provide them with an effective way of easing congestion in high-demand urban environments. Mobile Backhaul is part of K
Tampa FL (SPX) Nov 30, 2021
NIC4, a division of Network Innovations, Inc., announces the acquisition of U.S. government contractor, Knight Sky LLC. The acquisition will effectively combine the expertise of both companies, enhancing the development and delivery of agile, secure and mission critical connectivity solutions for the collective clients of each organization. NIC4 will complement the existing Knight Sky mana
Monday, 30 November 2020 09:13

First LoRa message bounced off the moon

Harwell UK (SPX) Nov 29, 2021
For the first time ever we bounced a LoRa message off the moon on October 5th 2021, using the Dwingeloo radio telescope. This first was achieved by a team consisting of Jan van Muijlwijk (CAMRAS, PA3FXB), Tammo Jan Dijkema (CAMRAS), Frank Zeppenfeldt (ESA, PD0AP) and Thomas Telkamp (Lacuna Space, PA8Z). The signal traveled an amazing distance of 730,360 km, which to our knowledge is the furthest
Washington DC (UPI) Nov 29, 2021
NASA is loading fuel and oxidizer into the James Webb Space Telescope in the Guiana Space Center ahead of its scheduled December 22 launch. Teams at the space center in French Guiana are loading 63 gallons of fuel and oxidizer into the $9.7 billion telescope, which is the largest and most powerful telescope ever conceived. The Webb telescope, an international partnership among NA
Kourou, French Guiana (SPX) Nov 26, 2021
Engineering teams have completed additional testing confirming NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is ready for flight, and launch preparations are resuming toward Webb's target launch date of Wednesday, Dec. 22, at 7:20 a.m. EST. Additional testing was conducted this week to ensure the observatory's health following an incident that occurred when the release of a clamp band caused a vibrati
Page 1768 of 2357

Latest News ...