Rocket Lab to launch NASA's cyclone-tracking satellite constellation from New Zealand
Thursday, 13 April 2023 06:58
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Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) will launch NASA's TROPICS constellation across two dedicated Electron missions lifting off from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand next month.
The TROPICS constellation (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of Small Sats) will monitor the formation and evolution of tropical cyclones, including hurri Chinese FY-3 satellites enrich global soil moisture dataset
Thursday, 13 April 2023 06:58 Write a comment
Surface soil moisture (SSM) plays an important role in drought and flood monitoring, weather forecasting, among other natural resource activities, and is also critical in water and heat exchanges between land and atmosphere.
SSM can be measured by instruments in the field or by remote sensing techniques. Satellite observations from active and passive microwave sensors are best suited for t Relativity shelves Terran 1 after one launch, redesigns Terran R
Thursday, 13 April 2023 00:14 Write a comment
Relativity Space has decided to retire its Terran 1 small launch vehicle after a single flight that failed to reach orbit, focusing its resources on a revised version of its larger Terran R rocket.
Amid commercial boom, U.S. military lacks timely access to satellite imagery
Wednesday, 12 April 2023 21:39
Inmarsat and MediaTek expand direct-to-device partnership
Wednesday, 12 April 2023 20:45 Write a comment
Inmarsat and Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek announced plans April 12 to jointly develop technologies needed to enable more mass market devices to connect directly to the British satellite operator’s network.
3D-printed rocket maker to focus on bigger vehicle for commercial launches
Wednesday, 12 April 2023 19:32 Write a comment
Relativity Space, an aerospace startup that carried out the first test flight of a 3D-printed rocket, announced Wednesday that it will focus on a bigger rocket to compete for commercial launches with SpaceX and other companies.
The Long Beach, California-based company launched the world's first 3D-printed rocket, Terran 1, on March 22 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Although it failed to reach orbit, the test flight proved that the rocket—whose mass is 85 percent 3D-printed—could withstand the rigors of liftoff and space flight.
Relativity Space said it was shifting its focus from Terran 1 to a larger, reusable 3D-printed rocket known as Terran R, with the first commercial launches scheduled for 2026 from Florida.
"Relativity is accelerating the company's focus on Terran R to meet significant and growing market demand," the company said in a statement.
"Terran R also represents a large leap towards Relativity's mission to build humanity's multiplanetary future, eventually offering customers a point-to-point space freighter capable of missions from the Earth to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Russia will use International Space Station 'until 2028'
Wednesday, 12 April 2023 19:31 Write a comment
Russia said Wednesday it planned to use the International Space Station until 2028, an apparent reversal of an earlier announcement to quit the orbiting laboratory after 2024.
In July last year, Moscow said it was leaving the International Space Station "after 2024" as ties unraveled between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, said Moscow's participation in the international space project had been extended.
"By the decision of the government, the operation of the International Space Station has been extended until 2028," Borisov told President Vladimir Putin during a televised meeting, referring to the Russian segment.
He said the "time has come" to discuss the creation of a Russian orbital station.
"Time is running fast and we cannot take a break from manned spaceflight under any circumstances," Borisov told the Kremlin chief.
The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of increased US-Russia cooperation following the Cold War "Space Race."
ISS partners—the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan—are for the moment only committed to operate the orbiting laboratory until 2024, though US officials have stated they want to continue until 2030.
Space race! Meteorites hit Maine, museum offers $25K reward
Wednesday, 12 April 2023 19:28 Write a comment
Somewhere in a remote stretch of forest near Maine's border with Canada, rocks from space crashed to Earth and may be scattered across the ground—just waiting to be picked up.
If you're the first to find a really big one, a museum says it'll pay out a $25,000 reward.
The unusually bright fireball could be seen in broad daylight around noon Saturday, said Darryl Pitt, chair of the meteorite division at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in Bethel.
NASA said the meteorite fall was observed on radar—a first for Maine—and witnesses heard sonic booms.
The museum wants to add to its collection of moon and Mars rocks, Pitt said, so the first meteorite hunters to deliver a 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) specimen will claim the $25,000 prize.
According to Pitt, the fact that radar detected the fiery descent assures the meteorites can be found on the ground.
"With more people having an awareness, the more people will look—and the greater the likelihood of a recovery," Pitt said Wednesday.
Still, there's no guarantee there are any meteorites big enough to claim the payout.
Is the US in a space race against China?
Wednesday, 12 April 2023 17:24 Write a comment
Headlines proclaiming the rise of a new "space race" between the U.S. and China have become common in news coverage following many of the exciting launches in recent years. Experts have pointed to China's rapid advancements in space as evidence of an emerging landscape where China is directly competing with the U.S. for supremacy.
This idea of a space race between China and the U.S. sounds convincing given the broader narrative of China's rise, but how accurate is it? As a professor who studies space and international relations, my research aims to quantify the power and capabilities of different nations in space. When I look at various capacities, the data paints a much more complex picture than a tight space race between the U.S.
Ariane 5 VA 260 with Juice - Ready for launch
Wednesday, 12 April 2023 13:25 Write a comment
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Ariane 5 VA 260 with Juice ready for launch on the ELA-3 launch pad at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on 12 April 2023.
Juice – JUpiter ICy moons Explorer – is humankind’s next bold mission to the outer Solar System. This ambitious mission will characterise Ganymede, Callisto and Europa with a powerful suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments to discover more about these compelling destinations as potential habitats for past or present life. Juice will monitor Jupiter’s complex magnetic, radiation and plasma environment in depth and its interplay with the moons, studying the Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giant
Delivering Data: What customers get wrong about the ground segment
Wednesday, 12 April 2023 13:24 Write a comment
Through packaged services, partnerships and APIs, ground segment providers aim to make communicating with satellites as easy as possible.
Juice? No charge
Wednesday, 12 April 2023 11:20 Write a comment
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Juice? No charge Op-ed | U.S. leadership of cislunar space hinges on foresight and planning
Wednesday, 12 April 2023 11:11 Write a comment
Fifty years after the conclusion of the Apollo program — arguably the greatest technological achievement in human history — the eyes of the entire world are once again fixed upon […]
Slingshot’s space-tracking network to extend coverage of low Earth orbit
Wednesday, 12 April 2023 11:00 Write a comment
Slingshot Aerospace, a space tracking and data analytics company, announced April 12 it is expanding its network of ground-based optical telescopes to increase coverage of low Earth orbit.
Ariane 5 ready to launch ESA’s JUICE mission to Jupiter
Wednesday, 12 April 2023 10:40 Write a comment
Europe’s first mission to Jupiter is ready to launch on the next to last flight of the Ariane 5 on April 13.