Frankfurt, Germany (AFP) Sept 14, 2023
Germany has blocked a complete Chinese takeover of a satellite startup on national security grounds, sources close to the matter told AFP Thursday, as Berlin takes an increasingly hard line against Beijing. Concerned at the heavy reliance of Europe's top economy on China, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government has been pushing to "de-risk" and dial back dependencies. The German tech company

Paris, France (SPX) Sep 15, 2023
The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) is pleased to announce the launch of a new Capacity Building program through collaboration in the field of small satellites (Small Sats). Institutes and universities in developing countries which are interested in developing small satellites by setting up or expanding a local laboratory are invited to join the project. The program is expected to inc

Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 13, 2023
Earth planning date: Wednesday, September 13, 2023: Our view out of the window, in this case the front hazard camera, is spectacular today, as you can see above. Regular readers of the mission updates will know that this rocky road has caused us problems in our driving lately, but today it all went smoothly. We are planning another 30 metre drive in today's plan, so let's hope Mars will read the

Madrid, Spain (SPX) Sep 15, 2023
Multinational technology company GMV has successfully concluded ground validation tests for a space robot designed to assemble structures in Earth's orbit as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) MIRROR project (Multi-arm Installation Robot for Readying ORUS and Reflectors). These tests were conducted at GMV's facilities in Tres Cantos, Madrid, in the Platform-art robotic laboratory, where c

McLean VA (SPX) Sep 15, 2023
Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) has been awarded a five-year base Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with one five-year option by the U.S. Space Force for Iridium Certus services. The multiple awardee contract is part of a U.S. Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) Satellite-Based Services award and includes multiple Iridium partners. Unique in the satellite

Baltimore MD (SPX) Sep 15, 2023
The rate at which the universe is expanding, known as the Hubble constant, is one of the fundamental parameters for understanding the evolution and ultimate fate of the cosmos. However, a persistent difference called the "Hubble Tension" is seen between the value of the constant measured with a wide range of independent distance indicators and its value predicted from the big bang afterglow.

Chiba, Japan (SPX) Sep 15, 2023
"Cosmologists believe that only about 20% of the total matter is made of regular or 'baryonic' matter, which includes stars, galaxies, atoms, and life," explains first author Dr. Mohamed Abdullah, a researcher at the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics-Egypt, Chiba University, Japan. "About 80% is made of dark matter, whose mysterious nature is not yet known but may consist o

Long Beach CA (SPX) Sep 15, 2023
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has signed a contract with Leidos to launch four HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) missions. The missions, scheduled across 2024 and 2025, will lift off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 at Virginia's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Rocket Lab was selected by Leidos to provide hypersonic test la

Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image features swirls of vivid, emerald green algal blooms in the Gulf of Finland.