Biden taps Aerospace Corp.’s John Plumb to run DoD space policy
Thursday, 29 July 2021 18:15
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President Biden has nominated John Plumb to be assistant secretary of defense for space policy, the White House announced July 29.
Ground system for NASA's Roman Space Telescope moves into development
Thursday, 29 July 2021 16:08 Write a comment
When it launches in the mid-2020s, NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will revolutionize astronomy by building on the science discoveries and technological leaps of the Hubble, Spitzer, and Webb space telescopes. The mission's wide field of view and superb resolution will enable scientists to conduct sweeping cosmic surveys, yielding a wealth of information about celestial realms from our solar system to the edge of the observable universe.
On July 23rd, the Roman Space Telescope successfully completed the critical design review of the mission's ground systems, which are spread over multiple institutions including the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland; NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; and Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California. STScI will host the Science Operations Center (SOC) while Goddard will provide the Mission Operations Center and Caltech/IPAC will house the Science Support Center. The passing of the critical design review means the plan for science operations provides all the necessary data processing and archiving capabilities. The mission will now proceed to the next phase: building and testing the newly designed systems that will enable planning and scheduling of Roman observations and managing the resulting data, anticipated to be over 20 petabytes (20,000,000 GB) within the first five years of operations.
Inmarsat unveils multi-orbit Orchestra constellation
Thursday, 29 July 2021 16:02 Write a comment
British operator Inmarsat plans to add at least 150 low-Earth-orbit satellites to its global fleet, stepping up competition against OneWeb and others developing megaconstellations for mobility markets.
NASA performs field test of 3D imaging system for descent and landing
Thursday, 29 July 2021 13:57 Write a comment
Producing rapid and accurate images on missions to the Moon, Mars and other terrestrial destinations is crucial for a safe descent and landing. A NASA project called Safe and Precise Landing—Integrated Capabilities Evolution, or SPLICE, includes a key element that will help ensure a clearer touchdown site.
The SPLICE team recently performed a dynamic test of the hazard detection lidar (HDL) engineering development unit, a prototype specifically built for testing, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. HDL—an element of SPLICE—is a laser-based 3D imaging system that can quickly and accurately scan a planetary surface to create a map of the landing field. It's designed to help a mission avoid hazardous obstacles and land in a safe area.
NASA rocket carrying solar X-ray scanner set to launch
Thursday, 29 July 2021 13:57 Write a comment
The Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer, or MaGIXS, mission is about to take flight. The launch window opens at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on July 30.
Led by Dr. Amy Winebarger at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, MaGIXS will fly aboard a sounding rocket, a launch vehicle that lifts scientific instruments above Earth's atmosphere for a few minutes in space before falling back to Earth for recovery.
Russian lab module docks with space station after 8-day trip
Thursday, 29 July 2021 12:48 Write a comment
Russia's long-delayed lab module successfully docked with the International Space Station on Thursday, eight days after it was launched from the Russian space launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
The 20-metric-ton (22-ton) Nauka module, also called the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, docked with the orbiting outpost after a long journey and a series of maneuvers.
The launch of Nauka, which is intended to provide more room for scientific experiments and space for the crew, had been repeatedly delayed because of technical problems. It was initially scheduled to go up in 2007.
In 2013, experts found contamination in its fuel system, resulting in a long and costly replacement. Other Nauka systems also underwent modernization or repairs.
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Russia's Nauka science module docks with ISS
Thursday, 29 July 2021 12:48 Write a comment
Russia's long-delayed lab module successfully docked with the International Space Station on Thursday, eight days after it was launched from the Russian space launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
The 20-metric-ton (22-ton) Nauka module, also called the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, docked with the orbiting outpost after a long journey and a series of maneuvers.
The launch of Nauka, which is intended to provide more room for scientific experiments and space for the crew, had been repeatedly delayed because of technical problems. It was initially scheduled to go up in 2007.
In 2013, experts found contamination in its fuel system, resulting in a long and costly replacement. Other Nauka systems also underwent modernization or repairs.
Explore further
© 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Op-ed | The costs of extreme weather and climate are soaring. Commercial space data should be a bigger part of the solution
Thursday, 29 July 2021 12:28 Write a comment
Weather forecasting has made steady progress during the past several decades, yet the financial costs of extreme weather are staggering and getting worse. Part of the problem is that forecast improvements for the most impactful types of weather, including hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and winter storms, have been slower to materialize, often resulting in fluctuating forecasts and large uncertainties even at short lead times.
How the Galileo Project will search the skies for alien technology
Thursday, 29 July 2021 11:49 Write a comment
Can we find alien technology? That is the ambitious goal of the Galileo Project, launched this week by Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb with substantial private financial backing.
The project is far from the first attempt to detect signs of civilisations beyond Earth. Loeb has been criticized in the past for his dismissive approach to previous efforts to find extraterrestrial life and his argument that an alien artifact passed through our solar system in 2017.
So why do Loeb and his collaborators think they have a chance of finding something where others have failed? There are three triggers that suggest they might.
Exoplanets, "Oumuamua, and UFOs
First, years of painstaking observations have shown that many stars host Earth-like planets. There is a real chance these "exoplanets" might be home to alien civilisations.
Second, five years ago, an interstellar visitor, dubbed "Oumuamua, tumbled though our solar system. It was a skinny object about 400 meters long, and we know from its speed and trajectory that it arrived from outside our solar system. It was the first time we had ever seen an interstellar object enter our neighborhood.
GeoOptics to launch next-generation Earth science constellation
Thursday, 29 July 2021 11:13 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — GeoOptics is planning to deploy of constellation of dozens of smallsats over the next five years to collect weather and other Earth science data for government and commercial customers.
The Pasadena, California-based company announced July 29 that it will start launching next year a line of satellites called CICERO-2 that are upgraded versions of the CICERO satellites it has previously launched to collect global navigation satellite system (GNSS) radio occultation data used in weather forecasting.
Astronomers detect light from behind a black hole for the first time
Thursday, 29 July 2021 10:28 Write a comment
Gas, dust and light that get sucked into a black hole are lost forever - so it shouldn't be possible to see light from behind a black hole.
But that's just what astronomers spotted while observing a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy 800 million light-years away.
While studying a series of X-ray flares emitted by the black hole, Stanford University astrophysicist Spacecom Leader Discusses the Value of Partnerships in Defending Space
Thursday, 29 July 2021 10:28 Write a comment
Army Gen. James H. Dickinson said today that the role of the Space Force is to organize, man, train and equip space forces, while Spacecom employs those forces in operations.
Both Spacecom and the Space Force were created because of the threat from adversaries in the space domain and the need to protect and defend space assets from those adversaries, he said.
Dickinson noted that the 'Metaverse': the next internet revolution?
Thursday, 29 July 2021 10:28 Write a comment
Imagine a world where you could sit on the same couch as a friend who lives thousands of miles away, or conjure up a virtual version of your workplace while at the beach.
Welcome to the metaverse: a vision of the future that sounds fantastical, but which tech titans like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg are betting on as the next great leap in the evolution of the internet.
The metavers Tesla quarterly profits top $1 bn for 1st time
Thursday, 29 July 2021 10:28 Write a comment
US electric carmaker Tesla reported its first-ever quarterly profit above $1 billion Monday as it reiterated its 2021 production targets despite supply chain upheaval.
Record deliveries of electric cars during the period allowed Elon Musk's company to garner earnings of $1.1 billion in the quarter, up from $104 million in the year-ago period as revenues nearly doubled to $12.0 billion. Senate confirms Kendall to be Air Force Secretary
Thursday, 29 July 2021 10:28 Write a comment
Frank Kendall won confirmation from the Senate July 26 to be the 26th Secretary of the Air Force, placing an official with decades-long service in defense issues in the top civilian job at a time when the department is navigating new global challenges and wide-reaching modernization efforts.
The vote reflected both Kendall's well-known record in previous active duty and policy jobs and his