Copernical Team
Rocket Lab wins Space Force contract to develop new rocket system
California-based Rocket Lab has won a contract for $24.35 million from the U.S. Space Force to develop an upper stage for the company's Neutron rocket system.
The contract, announced Monday, cements the firm's commitment to becoming a launch provider for the nation's national security space program, according to a Rocket Lab news release.
The contract is part of a $75 million res Mercury ahead!
The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury will make the first of six flybys of its destination planet on 1 October before entering orbit in 2025.
Asteroid sample brought back to Earth gets close-up look
In December 2020, Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft swung by Earth to drop off a cache of rock samples taken from a near-Earth asteroid called Ryugu. Asteroids like Ryugu are thought to represent the ancient building blocks of the solar system, and scientists have been eager to get a closer look at the returned samples.
Last week, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency shipped one of the samples—a millimeter-sized fragment from the asteroid's surface—to the laboratory of Brown University planetary scientist Ralph Milliken for analysis. Milliken's lab is one of the first in the U.S. to examine a Ryugu sample so far.
Milliken and Takahiro Hiroi, a senior research scientist at Brown, are members of the Hayabusa2 mission's science team.
Hughes conducts multi-orbit demonstration for resilient, secure UAV connectivity
Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) and SES has announced the successful first demonstration of a new multi-orbit satellite communications capability for remotely piloted aircraft. Conducted for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), the demonstration paired Hughes HM series software-defined modems and Resource Management System (RMS) with SES's satellites that operate in geosynch X-59 nose makes an appearance
The X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft is taking shape at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. The team positioned the X-59 QueSST's nose at the front of the aircraft.
As one of the more recognizable features of the X-59, the nose makes up almost a third of the aircraft length and will be essential in shaping shock waves during supersonic flight NASA to launch climate change-tracking Landsat 9 satellite
NASA plans to launch one of its most high-tech Earth observation satellites to date Monday from California to help track climate events that range from California wildfires to deforestation of the Amazon.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled to carry the 5,900-pound spacecraft into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 2:11 p.m. EDT.
Landsat 9 is the ninth in Space Health Institute Releases Postdoctoral Fellowship Solicitation
The Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) at Baylor College of Medicine, with consortium partners California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), are seeking exceptional proposals from postdoctoral fellows ready to help solve the challenges of space exploration.
TRISH's postdoctoral fellowship program supports early-career s Satellite maker Terran Orbital plans major plant in Florida
Small-satellite maker Terran Orbital plans to build a large manufacturing plant with more than 2,000 employees near Kennedy Space Center's former space shuttle landing strip, the company and Florida officials announced Monday.
The Irvine, Calif.-based company would manufacture fleets of so-called CubeSats, or spacecraft the size of a shoebox, at the 660,000-square-foot plant, Marc Bell, Microgravity on demand with Earth return through ESA's Boost
Video: NASA's Artemis astronaut Victor Glover
As we look forward to the Artemis program to the Moon and even one-day crewed missions to Mars, accessing resources like water will be crucial for humans to survive on other worlds. We sat down with Victor Glover, NASA Crew-1 astronaut, to talk about NASA's Artemis program, what it would be like to be on the Moon one day, and how technology from the Moon to Mars Ice & Prospecting Challenge could help astronauts extract ice and water resources from the lunar surface.
Portions of this interview appeared in NASA Science Live: NASA's Moon to Mars Ice & Prospecting Challenge, a one-hour live broadcast that showcased student teams and their unique technology and engineering demonstrations that could be capable of digging through a simulated Martian or lunar surface to access and extract water ice below.
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