Copernical Team
Engineers investigating NASA's Voyager 1 telemetry data
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While the Voyager 1 spacecraft continues to return science data and otherwise operate as normal, the mission team is searching for the source of a system data issue.
The engineering team with NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is trying to solve a mystery: The interstellar explorer is operating normally, receiving and executing commands from Earth, along with gathering and returning science data. But readouts from the probe's attitude articulation and control system (AACS) don't reflect what's actually happening onboard.
The AACS controls the 45-year-old spacecraft's orientation. Among other tasks, it keeps Voyager 1's high-gain antenna pointed precisely at Earth, enabling it to send data home. All signs suggest the AACS is still working, but the telemetry data it's returning is invalid.
Blue Origin delays next flight over technical issues
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Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin said it would push back the launch of its fifth crewed rocket, originally scheduled for Friday, over technical issues.
"During our final vehicle check-outs, we observed one of New Shepard's back-up systems was not meeting our expectations for performance," the company said in a statement Wednesday, referring to its suborbital spaceship.
"In an abundance of caution, we will be delaying the NS-21 launch," it continued, adding there would be further updates.
Blue Origin is a leading player in the nascent space tourism market, offering passengers a roughly ten minute hop from its base in west Texas to just beyond the atmosphere, and back again.
Ticket prices are a closely guarded secret.
The fifth flight is to include engineer Katya Echazarreta, who at 26 is set to become the youngest American woman in space.
Her spot was sponsored by the "Space for Humanity" program, which seeks to democratize access to space and selected her from among 7,000 candidates.
Blue flew its founder Bezos in its maiden crewed flight in July 2021, and has also flown Star Trek icon William Shatner and Laura Shepard Churchley, the daughter of the first American in space.
The Sun as you’ve never seen it before
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Powerful flares, breathtaking views across the solar poles, and a curious solar ‘hedgehog’ are amongst the haul of spectacular images, movies and data returned by Solar Orbiter from its first close approach to the Sun. Although the analysis of the new dataset has only just started, it is already clear that the ESA-led mission is providing the most extraordinary insights into the Sun’s magnetic behaviour and the way this shapes space weather.
Solar Orbiter’s first close encounter
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On 26 March and enduring temperatures of some 500 degrees Celsius from within the orbit of planet Mercury, Solar Orbiter returned spectacular imagery of the Sun during its first close encounter with our home star. Detailed new movies show activity in the solar atmosphere and reveal a variety of features, including something scientists are nicknaming ‘the hedgehog’ with spikes of hot gas reaching out in all directions.
Solar Orbiter’s ten science instruments are now all working together for the first time. Some are looking at the Sun while others are simultaneously measuring the environment around the spacecraft, enabling
Dusty demise for NASA Mars lander in July; power dwindling
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Telescope set to unravel cosmic mysteries
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The Chinese Survey Space Telescope, also known as the Chinese Space Station Telescope or the Xuntian Space Telescope, is a space-based optical observatory that will allow astronomers to conduct surveys by capturing a general map or images of the sky.
The CSST is a bus-sized facility, whose length is equal to that of a three-story building. Although it has an aperture of 2 meters, a little Artemis I mission availability
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When Artemis I is ready to launch, a range of personnel from NASA, industry, and several international partners will be poised to support the mission. Before they get to launch day, the alignment of the Earth and Moon will determine when the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the uncrewed Orion spacecraft atop it can launch, along with several criteria for rocket and spacecraft performance. Mitsubishi Electric develops technology for the freeform printing of satellite antennas in outer space
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Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) reports that the company has developed an on-orbit additive-manufacturing technology that uses photosensitive resin and solar ultraviolet light for the 3D printing of satellite antennas in the vacuum of outer space.
The novel technology makes use of a newly developed liquid resin that was custom formulated for stability in vacuum. The resin ena Terran Orbital delivers NASA's CubeSat Proximity Operations Demonstration to SpaceX for launch
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Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP), a global leader in satellite solutions, primarily serving the United States aerospace and defense industry, has announced it delivered its CubeSat Proximity Operations Demonstration (CPOD) satellite to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for integration into the SpaceX Transporter-5 launch vehicle.
The CPOD project is being led by Terr Iran planning to launch 7 satellites in March 2023
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Iran continues production of seven homegrown satellites, which may be launched in March next year when designers are expected to put final touches on the projects, Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Monday, citing the head of the Iranian Space Agency, Hassan Salarieh.
The spacecraft that are planned for the 2023 launch include the already manufactured Iranian Nahid, Pars-1 and