London, UK (SPX) Jan 24, 2023
OneWeb, the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications company, and Marsh, the world's leading insurance broker and risk advisor, have announced that their relationship will continue through in 2023, covering launches from the US and India. OneWeb signed an agreement for an aggregate insured value of more than $1 billion through Marsh in September 2021 and now that relationship will co

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 25, 2023
DARPA, via its Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program, is collaborating with NASA to build a nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) engine that could expand possibilities for the space agency's future long-duration spaceflight missions. The goal is to test an NTR-enabled spacecraft in Earth orbit during the 2027 fiscal year. An NTR presents advantages over existing propulsion t

West Lafayette IN (SPX) Jan 24, 2023
Stratolaunch LLC and Purdue University are pleased to announce they have established a partnership dedicated to accelerating the time required to design, build, test and fly hypersonic vehicles. Stratolaunch will establish the Stratolaunch Advanced Programs Office at the Convergence Center in Purdue's Discovery Park District in West Lafayette, Indiana, to ensure the goals of their collabor

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 26, 2023
On Thursday, Jan. 26, a small near-Earth asteroid will have a very close encounter with our planet. Designated 2023 BU, the asteroid will zoom over the southern tip of South America at about 4:27 p.m. PST (7:27 p.m. EST) only 2,200 miles (3,600 kilometers) above the planet's surface and well within the orbit of geosynchronous satellites. There is no risk of the asteroid impacting Earth. Bu

Herndon VA (SPX) Jan 26, 2023
HawkEye 360 Inc., the world's leading commercial provider of space-based radio frequency (RF) data and analytics, announced that its Cluster 6 next-generation satellites have successfully deployed to orbit aboard the inaugural Rocket Lab Electron flight from Launch Complex 2 at Virginia Space's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Communication with the satellit

Baltimore MD (SPX) Jan 26, 2023
In an observational feat of high precision, scientists used a new technique with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to capture the shadows of starlight cast by the thin rings of Chariklo. Chariklo is an icy, small body, but the largest of the known Centaur population, located more than 2 billion miles away beyond the orbit of Saturn. Chariklo is only 160 miles (250 kilometers) or ~51 times smalle

Chongqing, China (XNA) Jan 26, 2023
China plans to use its new China Compound Eye facility in Chongqing to observe asteroids and Earth-like planets hundreds of millions of kilometers away as part of its planetary defense work. The Chongqing Innovation Center under the Beijing Institute of Technology, which designed and built the China Compound Eye, recently released its first 3D radar map of an area of moon craters taken by the hi

Wallops Island VA (SPX) Jan 26, 2023
A revolutionary NASA flight safety system has enabled a new era of space transportation with the successful flight of Rocket Lab USA's Electron rocket Jan. 24, from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. This mission, the first Electron launch from the United States, was enabled by NASA's work in developing the NASA Autonomous Flight Termination Unit (NAFTU), a critical piece of fligh

Houston (AFP) Jan 26, 2023
Emirati astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi said Wednesday that he will not be required to fast during Ramadan while on his upcoming space mission. The 41-year-old will become the first Arab astronaut to spend six months in space when he blasts off for the International Space Station (ISS) next month aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Neyadi, NASA's Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg and Russia's Andr

Munich, Germany (SPX) Jan 26, 2023
European launch service company Isar Aerospace, and U.S.-based Spaceflight Inc., the leading global launch services provider, announced they have signed a multi-launch services agreement. Under the agreement, Spaceflight secured one dedicated launch in 2026 to a sun-synchronous orbit taking off from Andoya, Norway and an option to add an additional dedicated launch to occur in 2025. "We've