SpaceX launches record-setting cluster of smallsats
Saturday, 23 January 2021 16:49
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WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched 143 small satellites for a wide range of customers Jan. 24 on the company’s first dedicated rideshare mission, a service that poses a competitive threat to emerging small launch vehicles.
Hyten: U.S. Space Force is ‘on solid ground’ despite speculation
Saturday, 23 January 2021 11:55 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — What does a change in administration mean for the U.S. Space Force? “I get that question a lot,” Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Jan.
U of Louisiana-Lafayette mini-satellite zipping around Earth
Friday, 22 January 2021 13:43 Write a comment
A cubical satellite small enough to sit on the palm of your hand is zipping around the world and sending data about radiation to the Louisiana students who designed and built it.
The satellite, called CAPE-3, carries a chip designed and built by students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to detect radiation, with an eye to keeping astronauts safe.
"The detectors would provide liquid crystal display readings so astronauts could constantly monitor how much radiation they're being exposed to," Dr. Paul Darby, the university's project leader, said in a news release.
The satellite also carries a tiny Geiger counter so students can tell whether the chip is accurate.
Each side of the satellite is only 10 centimeters—less than 4 inches—across. It was among 10 launched Jan. 17 from a Virgin Orbit rocket that itself was launched high above the Pacific Ocean from a customized Boeing 747.
Eight of the other nine were built by students at other schools. The tenth was built by NASA, which runs the CubeSat Launch Initiative to give nonprofit organizations and schools at all levels a chance to do scientific investigations in space and help NASA with exploration and technology development.
Northrop Grumman and L3Harris to build sensor satellites for Missile Defense Agency
Thursday, 21 January 2021 22:12 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman and L3Harris were selected by the Defense Department’s Missile Defense Agency to each build a prototype sensor satellite capable of tracking hypersonic and ballistic missiles.
The Missile Defense Agency awarded Northrop Grumman a $155 million contract Jan.
Arecibo replacement could support space situational awareness
Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:44 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — A proposal to replace the giant radio telescope at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico with a new facility suggests it could be used for tracking space objects as well as for scientific research.
SpaceX’s record-setting rideshare mission a challenge for space traffic control
Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:29 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — U.S. Space Command’s traffic watchers have been working with SpaceX and satellite operators in recent days in preparation for Transporter-1, a rideshare mission scheduled to launch Jan. 23 that could set a new record for the most satellites ever launched in a single flight.
Magnetic waves explain mystery of Sun's outer layer
Thursday, 21 January 2021 15:57 Write a comment
The Sun's extremely hot outer layer, the corona, has a very different chemical composition from the cooler inner layers, but the reason for this has puzzled scientists for decades.
One explanation is that, in the middle layer (the chromosphere), magnetic waves exert a force that separates the Sun's plasma into different components, so that only the ion particles are transported into the corona, while leaving neutral particles behind (thus leading to a build-up of elements such as iron, silicon and magnesium in the outer atmosphere).
Now, in a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal, researchers combined observations from a telescope in New Mexico, the United States, with satellites located near Earth to identify a link between magnetic waves in the chromosphere and areas of abundant ionized particles in the hot outer atmosphere.
Lead author Dr. Deborah Baker (UCL Space & Climate Physics) said: "The different chemical compositions of the Sun's inner and outer layers were first noted more than 50 years ago. This discovery generated what is one of the long-standing open questions in astrophysics.
Week in images: 18 - 22 January 2021
Thursday, 21 January 2021 14:19 Write a comment
Week in images: 18 - 22 January 2021
Discover our week through the lens
French startup demonstrates iodine propulsion in potential boost for space debris mitigation efforts
Thursday, 21 January 2021 13:19 Write a comment
HELSINKI — French startup ThrustMe has performed the first on-orbit tests of an innovative iodine-fueled electric propulsion system, proving its ability to change a CubeSat’s orbit.
SpaceX to send TU Dresden satellite into space
Thursday, 21 January 2021 12:57 Write a comment
TU Dresden's SOMP2b satellite will be lifted into orbit by SpaceX on January 22, 2021. It will be used to investigate new nanomaterials under the extreme conditions of space, to test systems for converting the sun's heat into electricity and to precisely measure the residual atmosphere around the satellite. SOMP2b will begin its journey around the Earth at an altitude of 500 km—slightly higher than the ISS space station. It will orbit the Earth in a special polar, sun-synchronous orbit, always flying over the TU Dresden ground station at approximately the same time of day and sending measurement data.
SOMP2b is a follow-up satellite to SOMP2, a nanosatellite jointly developed by students, Ph.D. candidates and scientists from TU Dresden's Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering. SOMP2b stands for Student On-Orbit Measurement Project 2b. It is 20 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm in size and weighs a little less than 2 kilograms.
ESA and EU mend relations
Thursday, 21 January 2021 12:26 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — After fraying relations in recent years, officials with the European Union and European Space Agency say they’re committed to rebuilding a more cooperative relationship on space programs.
Nanosatellite thruster emits pure ions
Thursday, 21 January 2021 09:58 Write a comment
A 3D-printed thruster that emits a stream of pure ions could be a low-cost, extremely efficient propulsion source for miniature satellites.
The nanosatellite thruster created by MIT researchers is the first of its kind to be entirely additively manufactured, using a combination of 3D printing and hydrothermal growth of zinc oxide nanowires. It is also the first thruster of this type to pro NASA may limit its presence in Russia over shrinking cooperation on ISS
Thursday, 21 January 2021 09:58 Write a comment
NASA may cut its presence in Russia over the shrinking cooperation on the International Space Station, sources in the space and rocket industry told Sputnik.
NASA currently has a central office in Moscow as well as its missions in the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center in Zvyozdny Gorodok, in the Mission Control Center in the Moscow Region and in the Institute of Medical a Framework agreement facilitates future slot bookings by ESA
Thursday, 21 January 2021 09:58 Write a comment
The European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus have agreed on service orders for two independent payload missions to be launched to the Bartolomeo payload hosting facility on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2022 and 2024, respectively.
The first payload mission is ESA's Exobiology Platform (EXPO). This facility carries a set of radiation experiments aimed at better understanding the e Six things to know about NASA's Mars helicopter on its way to Mars
Thursday, 21 January 2021 09:58 Write a comment
Ingenuity, a technology experiment, is preparing to attempt the first powered, controlled flight on the Red Planet.
When NASA's Perseverance rover lands on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, it will be carrying a small but mighty passenger: Ingenuity, the Mars Helicopter.
The helicopter, which weighs about 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms) on Earth and has a fuselage about the size of a tissue box, start