...the who's who,
and the what's what 
of the space industry

Copernical Team

Copernical Team

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Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 25, 2023
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) recently completed a Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command's Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Polar (NGP) program. The company is on track to begin production of the early-warning missile system in defense of the nation. The design review establishes the company's technical approach for the full i
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Merrimack NH (SPX) May 26, 2023
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded BAE Systems' FAST LabsTM research and development organization a $7 million contract for the Oversight autonomous space-based target custody program. Traditional space intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) collection can be siloed, labor intensive, and unable to dynamically re-evaluate quickly enough to take a
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Jiuquan, China (AFP) May 30, 2023
China sent three astronauts to its Tiangong space station on Tuesday, putting a civilian into orbit for the first time as it pursues plans to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030. The world's second-largest economy has invested billions of dollars in its military-run space programme in a push to catch up with the United States and Russia. The Shenzhou-16 crew took off atop a Long Ma
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Ash plume moving over Greece

Aeolus enhances volcanic ash forecasts for aviation safety

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Jiuquan, China (AFP) May 30, 2023
China sent three astronauts to its Tiangong space station on Tuesday, putting a civilian into orbit for the first time as it pursues plans to send a crewed mission to the Moon by the end of the decade. The world's second-largest economy has invested billions of dollars in its military-run space programme in a push to catch up with the United States and Russia. The Shenzhou-16 crew took o
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Juice deployments complete: final form for Jupiter
Juice comes to life (artist’s impression). Credit: ESA (acknowledgement: ATG Medialab)

Flight controllers at ESA's mission control center in Germany have been busy this week, working with instrument teams on the final deployments to prepare ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) for exploring Jupiter.

It has been six weeks since Juice began its journey, and in that time the Flight Control Team have deployed all the , antennas, probes and booms that were tucked away safely during launch. The last step has been the swinging out and locking into place of the probes and antennas that make up Juice's Radio & Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI).

"It's been an exhausting but very exciting six weeks," says Angela Dietz, deputy spacecraft operations manager for the mission. "We have faced and overcome various challenges to get Juice into the right shape for getting the best science out of its trip to Jupiter."

We've had regular snapshots of the entire deployment process thanks to Juice's two onboard monitoring cameras, each with a different field of view.

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China plans to land astronauts on moon before 2030, another step in what looks like a new space race
Chinese astronauts for the upcoming Shenzhou-16 mission, from left, Gui Haichao, Jing Haipeng, and Zhu Yangzhu wave as they stand behind glass during a meeting with the press at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Monday, May 29, 2023.
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rocket launch
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

After a week of stormy weather delays, SpaceX waited just a bit longer but managed an early Saturday liftoff of a satellite to knock out the Space Coast's 26th launch of the year.

A Falcon 9 carrying the Arabsat BADR-8 telecommunications satellite headed for let the winds die down from the opening of the launch window late Friday, but managed to blast off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:30 a.m. a little over an hour later.

It was the fourth night launch for SpaceX this month with three previous successful Starlink missions from Cape Canaveral lighting up the sky in the wee hours.

The first-stage booster made its 14th flight with a recovery on SpaceX's droneship Just Read the Instructions down range in the Atlantic Ocean. It was the 195th time the company has recovered a booster from its rockets.

This was the second launch SpaceX has done for Arabsat following what was the first Falcon Heavy launch with a customer in 2019. SpaceX has a third launch contracted for what will be the first of Arabsat's seventh-generation satellites.

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China plans to land astronauts on moon before 2030, another step in what looks like a new space race
Chinese astronauts for the upcoming Shenzhou-16 mission, from left, Gui Haichao, Jing Haipeng, and Zhu Yangzhu wave as they stand behind glass during a meeting with the press at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Monday, May 29, 2023.
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