Astronauts on board the International Space Station are connecting straight to Europe at light speed, thanks to the European Data Relay System.

Watch live: our start-of-year press conference looking ahead at 2022, with ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Directors, from 10:00 CET on 18 January.

Palo Alto CA (SPX) Jan 14, 2022
Earth imaging company Pixxel has announced an early adoption partnership with Rio Tinto. Pixxel's imaging satellites, capable of 5 meter hyperspectral imaging, will help Rio Tinto assess the benefits the technology may provide in mineral exploration, monitoring active and closed mine sites as well as track ESG indicators. Rio Tinto will begin its assessment of the technology following the releas

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jan 14, 2022
Aerospace engineering startup Hypersonix Launch Systems has signed a Master Research Collaboration Agreement (MRCA) with the University of Sydney to research and manufacture the components of a zero emissions, hypersonic spaceplane - a launch vehicle capable of deploying small satellites into low earth orbit (LEO). Named Delta Velos, the vehicle will be powered by four green hydrogen-fuele

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 14, 2022
The Space Development Agency will be fielding satellites that will provide eyes-on capability to detect maneuverable hypersonic glide vehicles during flight, and those satellites will be affordable and prolific, the SDA director said. Speaking at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies' Schriever Spacepower Forum, Derek Tournear said satellites in low-Earth orbit, or LEO, will make up the

Reston VA (SPX) Jan 14, 2022
SES Government Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, announced the launch of tactiXs, a mission-specific managed service platform in partnership with Network Innovations and GovSat, a public-private joint venture between the Government of Luxembourg and SES. The full end-to-end managed service provides practical, cost-effective solutions to mission parameters by allowing the custome

McLean VA (SPX) Jan 13, 2022
Intelsat, operator of the world's largest integrated satellite and terrestrial network, and Thales Alenia Space, Joint Venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%) have signed an agreement to build two software-defined satellites designed to advance Intelsat's global fabric of software-defined GEO connectivity as part of its 5G software-defined network. The addition of the Thales Alenia

Batavia IL (SPX) Jan 14, 2022
After the Big Bang, the universe, glowing brightly, was opaque and so hot that atoms could not form. Eventually cooling down to about minus 454 degrees Fahrenheit (-270 degrees Celsius), much of the energy from the Big Bang took the form of light. This afterglow, known as the cosmic microwave background, can now be seen with telescopes at microwave frequencies invisible to human eyes. It has tin

Berkeley CA (SPX) Jan 14, 2022
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has cataloged more galaxies than all other previous three-dimensional redshift surveys combined, measuring 7.5 million galaxies in only seven months since beginning science operations. The US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory leads DESI, which is installed at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a program of NSF's NOIRLab, on

Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Jan 14, 2022
ClearSpace SA is working to rid space of dangerous debris comprising left-over rockets and defunct satellites. Now, Swiss watchmaker OMEGA, manufacturer of the first watch worn on the Moon, is joining with the Lausanne start-up as the first partner for the upcoming debris removal mission. In 2019, ClearSpace was selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to fly the ClearSpace-1 mission to