Space companies in Europe that could create telecommunications and navigation services for missions to the Moon will be invited to bid for the work, following the completion of two feasibility studies.

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Webb's picture of the month December is dominated by NGC 7469, a luminous, face-on spiral galaxy approximately 90 000 light-years in diameter that lies roughly 220 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. 

This spiral galaxy has recently been studied as part of the Great Observatories All-sky LIRGs Survey (GOALS), which aims to study the physics of star formation, black hole growth, and feedback in four nearby, merging luminous infrared galaxies. Other galaxies studied as part of the survey include previous ESA Webb Pictures of the Month II ZW 096 and IC 1623.

NGC 7469 is home

Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-3 image shows the wide-coverage of snowfall in the Alps, which hopefully bodes well for the coming year.

Year in images 2022

Our year through the lens: a selection of our favourite images for 2022

San Francisco (AFP) Dec 21, 2022
Elon Musk said Tuesday he would resign as chief executive of Twitter once he finds a replacement, in apparent response to a poll he launched that suggested users wanted him to step down. Musk has fully owned Twitter since October 27 and has repeatedly courted controversy as CEO, sacking half of its staff, readmitting far-right figures to the platform, suspending journalists and trying to cha

Moscow (AFP) Dec 20, 2022
The head of Russian space agency Roscosmos on Tuesday praised Russia-US cooperation at the International Space Station following a major coolant leak from a Soyuz crew capsule. "Say hello to the entire American team. They proved themselves to be very worthy in this situation and lent us a helping hand," Borisov said, speaking to the Russian crew on board the ISS. "But I hope we will manage o

Washington DC (UPI) Dec 20, 2021
The InSight Mars lander has sent what could be its final image to Earth as NASA expects the probe to stop transmitting. "My power's really low, so this may be the last image I can send. Don't worry about me though: my time here has been both productive and serene. If I can keep talking to my mission team, I will - but I'll be signing off here soon. Thanks for staying with me," the InSi

Kourou (AFP) Dec 21, 2022
The European light launcher rocket Vega-C was lost shortly after lift-off from French Guiana on Tuesday with two Airbus satellites on board, the company behind the launch said. The rocket had been trying to bring into orbit two Earth observation satellites built by Airbus, intended to join an existing network that captures high-quality images of any point on the globe several times a day.

A hackathon challenged aerospace students to develop a detailed digital system model for a robotic assistant for astronauts on the Moon, able to identify key areas of interest in advance of any humans landing, guide them to their habitat and even rescue any moonwalkers in distress. 

The winning team, from France’s Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace, completed their task within just two weeks, using Model Based System Engineering to do so. This method involves creating digital models of space missions to manage their design, construction, test and operation – and has been highlighted by ESA Director General Josef