James Webb Space Telescope: Launch of world's most complex observatory will rest on a nail-biting knife edge
Monday, 20 December 2021 12:33
When the immense sound of the Ariane 5 rocket rumbles across Europe's spaceport in French Guiana, it will signal the end of a journey decades in the making. Perched atop the rocket will be the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the most sophisticated and complex observatory ever constructed. An enormous mirror 6.5 meters across, consisting of 18 gold-plated segments, will be delicately folded to fit within the nose cone.
That precious cargo carries the hopes and dreams of thousands of engineers and scientists like us who have worked for so long to make this observatory a reality. We'll no doubt all be holding our breath.
If all goes well, humanity will have a new eye on the cosmos, with capabilities that far surpass anything that has gone before.
Soyuz returns from private astronaut mission to the ISS
Monday, 20 December 2021 11:16
A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian cosmonaut and two Japanese private astronauts returned to Earth late Dec. 19, wrapping up a banner year for commercial human spaceflight.
Secure Spanish satellites start construction
Monday, 20 December 2021 10:30
Two telecommunications satellites that can be reprogrammed while in space to respond to changing demands on Earth have passed their critical design reviews.
Engine computer problem delays first SLS launch
Monday, 20 December 2021 10:19
A malfunctioning computer in one of the four main engines of the Space Launch System will delay that vehicle’s first launch to no earlier than March.
NASA selects Axiom for second private astronaut mission to ISS
Monday, 20 December 2021 10:00
NASA selected Axiom Space to perform a second commercial flight to the U.S. segment of the International Space Station on a Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Boeing Starliner test flight planned for spring 2022
Monday, 20 December 2021 09:38
NASA and Boeing are planning no earlier than May 2022 for the rescheduled second uncrewed test flight of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft after deciding to change service modules for that mission.
ESA catches Webb's first call
Monday, 20 December 2021 09:35
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Webb is due to launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, at the earliest on 24 December. It will journey on a direct escape trajectory towards its target orbit more than 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. Part of ESA’s Estrack cooperative network, the 10-metre antenna in Malindi, Kenya, will make first contact from the ground with the fledgling mission, with the all-important ‘first acquisition of signal’.
About 23 minutes after lift-off, Malindi will locate the Ariane 5 launch vehicle in flight, rising above the Western horizon, still housing its precious cargo. Only five minutes later,
Dragon delivery – European science destined for space
Monday, 20 December 2021 08:42
The next SpaceX resupply vehicle is packed with European science, ready for delivery to the International Space Station just in time for Christmas.
Japanese space tourists safely return to Earth
Monday, 20 December 2021 07:57
Japanese space tourists return to Earth after 12 days on ISS
Monday, 20 December 2021 05:16
A Japanese billionaire returned to Earth Monday, after 12 days spent on the International Space Station where he made videos about performing mundane tasks in space including brushing teeth and going to the bathroom.
Online fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant Yozo Hirano parachuted onto Kazakhstan's steppe at around the expected landing time of 0313 GMT Monday, along with Russia NASA craft 'touches' sun for 1st time, dives into atmosphere
Sunday, 19 December 2021 16:00
Russia ready to 'fight' for space tourism supremacy
Sunday, 19 December 2021 09:00
After a decade-long hiatus, Russia is relaunching an ambitious bid for dominion over the world's budding space tourism industry, jostling with zealous billionaires, the United States, and rising China.
Russia flaunted its comeback this month dispatching two cosmic adventurers - Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant - to the International Space Station (ISS) in its first lau Raytheon Intelligence and Space to build Space Force weather satellite prototype
Sunday, 19 December 2021 09:00
Raytheon Intelligence and Space, a Raytheon Technologies business, has been awarded a $67 million contract to demonstrate an Electro-Optical Infrared Weather System, or EWS, Prototype with the ability to deliver operational data for the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command under an Other Transaction Authority contract. A successful prototype demonstration will provide Electro-optical/Infrare NCAR's mini-satellite to measure howling winds high in atmosphere
Sunday, 19 December 2021 09:00
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has received $6.5 million in funding from NASA to launch a roughly shoebox-sized satellite into space carrying an instrument designed to measure the howling thermospheric winds, which can gust more than 300 miles per hour through the highest reaches of the Earth's atmosphere.
The blustery winds in the thermosphere - the upper layer of the