NASA's moon rocket returns to pad for next launch attempt
Friday, 04 November 2022 15:03
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NASA's moon rocket is back on the pad for another launch attempt, following more repairs.
The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket departed its hangar in the middle of the night and completed the 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) trip shortly after sunrise Friday.
Video: Testing Galileo for space
Friday, 04 November 2022 14:34 Write a comment
Galileo has grown to become Europe's single largest satellite constellation, and the world's most accurate satellite navigation system, delivering meter-level positioning to more than 3.5 billion users around the globe.
It all began at ESTEC's Test Center, Europe's largest satellite testing facility. This is where the very first positioning fix took place in March 2013, after the launch into orbit of the initial four IOV satellites. Following that, all 34 Galileo Full Operational Capability satellites also passed by ESTEC for their pre-flight testing.
This 3000 sq. m environmentally-controlled complex, operated and managed by European Test Services for ESA, hosts an array of test equipment able to simulate all aspects of spaceflight, from the noise and vibration of launch to the vacuum and temperature extremes of Earth orbit.
The production line at manufacturer OHB in Germany completed one new satellite every six weeks. After integration each satellite was then shipped to the ESTEC Test Center for a three-month test campaign, after which it would be accepted by the Agency and declared ready for flight. Some facilities have had to be adapted specifically for Galileo, and the ESTEC Test Center had to institute new security protocols because this was the first time that satellites with security restrictions were being tested at the site.
Week in images: 31 October - 4 November 2022
Friday, 04 November 2022 13:30 Write a comment
Week in images: 31 October - 4 November 2022
Discover our week through the lens
Virgin Galactic delays introduction of second suborbital spaceship
Friday, 04 November 2022 10:39 Write a comment
Virgin Galactic’s second suborbital spaceplane won’t enter service in 2023 as previously planned because of demands on company personnel to both return the first spaceplane to flight and begin work on a next generation of vehicles.
The post Virgin Galactic delays introduction of second suborbital spaceship appeared first on SpaceNews.
Long March 5B rocket reenters over Pacific Ocean after forcing airspace closures in Europe
Friday, 04 November 2022 09:59 Write a comment
A large rocket stage used to launch the final module for China’s space station made an uncontrolled reentry into the atmosphere Friday after precautionary airspace closures took effect in southern Europe.
Rivada Space Networks issues RFP for its satellite constellation
Friday, 04 November 2022 09:29 Write a comment
Rivada Space Networks GmbH, a European network company launching a unique connectivity constellation for Government and Enterprise communications, has issued its request for proposals for 600 low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, having released the RFP for the associated heavy-lift launch services two weeks ago. The company anticipates selecting a prime contractor for the space segment, parts of th Rocket Lab delivers final solar panels for NASA Gateway's Power and Propulsion Element
Friday, 04 November 2022 09:29 Write a comment
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has delivered the final solar panels to Maxar that will fly on the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) for NASA's Gateway lunar space station. SolAero Technologies Inc, a leading space solar power provider acquired by Rocket Lab, was awarded the contract in 2019 from Maxar to design and manufacture the solar panels that will supply nearly 70 kilowatts of electr Inmarsat Government selects Rocket Lab to develop L-Band Radio
Friday, 04 November 2022 09:29 Write a comment
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has been selected by Inmarsat Government as partner to develop and manufacture an L-band radio in support of NASA's Communications Services Project (CSP). CSP seeks to accelerate the development of commercial near-Earth communications services by partnering with satellite communications (SATCOM) providers.
Rocket Lab will help enable Inmarsat's InCommand China completes in-orbit maneuver to complete Tiangong space station assembly
Friday, 04 November 2022 09:29 Write a comment
China's space industry achieved a historic new feat on Thursday as the in-orbit assembly of the country's Tiangong space station's T-shape configuration was completed.
In a crucial, hourlong repositioning maneuver that was completed at 9:32 am Beijing time on Thursday, the Mengtian lab module was moved from one port of the space station's Tianhe core module to another port, the China Manne Astronauts enter China's Mengtian lab module for first time
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Chinese astronauts onboard the nation's Tiangong space station entered the Mengtian lab module on Thursday afternoon, several hours after the completion of the station's in-orbit assembly.
Crew members of the Shenzhou XIV mission - mission commander Senior Colonel Chen Dong, Senior Colonel Liu Yang and Senior Colonel Cai Xuzhe - opened Mengtian's hatch and entered the lab component at 3:12 Last chance to see Total Lunar Eclipse until 2025
Friday, 04 November 2022 09:29 Write a comment
For the second time in 2022, stargazers will have the opportunity to view a total lunar eclipse on Nov. 8. At least a portion of the phenomenon will be visible throughout eastern Asia, Australia, the Pacific, and North America. The previous total lunar eclipse happened in May.
According to Alphonse Sterling, astrophysicist from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to Can cosmic inflation be ruled out
Friday, 04 November 2022 09:29 Write a comment
Astrophysicists say that cosmic inflation - a point in the Universe's infancy when space-time expanded exponentially, and what physicists really refer to when they talk about the 'Big Bang' - can in principle be ruled out in an assumption-free way.
The astrophysicists, from the University of Cambridge, the University of Trento, and Harvard University, say that there is a clear, unambiguous Rice from space promises robust new varieties
Friday, 04 November 2022 09:29 Write a comment
Mutated rice seeds brought from space may provide new species on Earth and result in higher yields than their terrestrial counterparts. At a scientific research demonstration base in Wuhan, Hubei province, workers from Hubei Jinguang Agricultural Technology Co recently completed harvesting space rice from 20 hectares of paddies where they had planted seeds from China's Shenzhou-12 manned space m Mars's crust more complex, evolved than previously thought
Friday, 04 November 2022 09:29 Write a comment
Early crust on Mars may be more complex than previously thought-and it may even be similar to our own planet's original crust.
The Martian surface is uniformly basaltic, a product of billions of years of volcanism and flowing lava on the surface that eventually cooled. Because Mars did not undergo full-scale surface remodeling like the shifting of continents on Earth, scientists had though Saltzman formally elevated to Space Force's highest position - Chief of Space Operations
Friday, 04 November 2022 09:29 Write a comment
Pledging to build on the Space Force's achievements while also infusing the nascent service with new approaches, Gen. B. Chance Saltzman was officially installed Nov. 2 as Chief of Space Operations, the service's highest-ranking military post and only the second person to hold the position in the Space Force's history.
In remarks during a solemn "Change of Responsibility" ceremony in which