FCC C-band auction raised nearly $81 billion so far
Friday, 15 January 2021 00:59
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SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Federal Communication Commission’s C-band auction of 280 megahertz of C-band has raised nearly $81 billion and it’s not quite over.
Still to come is the assignment phase, where companies awarded spectrum blocks bid for frequency-specific licenses.
NASA ceases efforts to deploy Mars InSight heat flow probe
Friday, 15 January 2021 00:45 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — After nearly two years of struggles, NASA has abandoned efforts to deploy a heat flow probe on its InSight lander into the surface of Mars.
In a Jan. 14 statement, NASA said that a final effort to hammer the “mole” into the surface of Mars Jan.
Six-wavelength spectroscopy can offer new details of surface of Venus
Thursday, 14 January 2021 19:40 Write a comment
A trio of papers provide new insight into the composition and evolution of the surface of Venus, hidden beneath its caustic, high temperature atmosphere. Utilizing imaging from orbit using multiple wavelengths—six-band spectroscopy proposed as part of the VERITAS and EnVision missions—scientists can map the iron content of the Venusian surface and construct the first-ever geologic map.
"Previous missions have only imaged one wavelength, and used 30-year-old topographic data to correct the spectra. Moreover, they were based on theoretical ideas about what Venus spectra look like, at very high temperatures. So the prior data have all been fairly qualitative," said M. Darby Dyar, a Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and author on three recent papers on the topic.
These papers are based on new data from the Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory at German Aerospace Center Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin, where Dyar works with a team including Jörn Helbert, first author of "Deriving iron contents from past and future Venus surface spectra with new high-temperature laboratory emissivity data" that appears today in Science Advances.
Foust Forward | “Pro-space” lawmakers on wrong side of history after Capitol riot
Thursday, 14 January 2021 19:34 Write a comment
After further review, Space Force confirms selection of NSTXL to manage industry consortium
Thursday, 14 January 2021 18:25 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL) on Jan. 15 received a contract to manage the U.S. Space Force’s Space Enterprise Consortium for the next 10 years.
The Space and Missile Systems Center intended to award the contract Dec.
Week in images: 11 - 15 January 2021
Thursday, 14 January 2021 14:20 Write a comment
Week in images: 11 - 15 January 2021
Discover our week through the lens
Mars is still an active world—here's a landslide in Nili Fossae
Thursday, 14 January 2021 14:05 Write a comment
Since the 1960s and '70s, scientists have come to view Mars as something of a "dead planet." As the first close-up images from orbit and the surface came in, previous speculation about canals, water and a Martian civilization were dispelled. Subsequent studies also revealed that the geological activity that created features like the Tharsis Mons region (especially Olympus Mons) and Valles Marineris had ceased long ago.
However, in the past few decades, robotic missions have found ample evidence that Mars is still an active place. A recent indication was an image taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which showed relatively fresh landslides in a crater near Nili Fossae. This area is part of the Syrtis Major region and is located just north of the Jezero Crater (where the Perseverance rover will be landing in six weeks).
The landslide was captured as a part of a larger image acquired by the MRO's Context Camera (CTX) on September 21, 2018.
Metal Fuels. We research. You benefit.
Thursday, 14 January 2021 13:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:07:30
Did you know that in microgravity we are preparing one of the most promising fuels for the future?
Microgravity is helping to find answers and models to refine the processes needed to efficiently burn solid fuel like iron dust. Are we witnessing the raise of a new "Iron Age"? Could we use metal powders instead of petrol to fuel our cars?
Solid fuels are used for burning a match, lighting a sparkler on New Year's Eve as well as the fuel inside the boosters of Ariane and of other rockets. But metals such as iron can also burn, in
ESA kids app now available
Thursday, 14 January 2021 12:35 Write a comment
ESA kids app now available
OneWeb raises $400 million
Thursday, 14 January 2021 12:07 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Broadband satellite company OneWeb announced Jan. 15 it has raised $400 million from SoftBank and Hughes Network Systems, allowing the company to continue deployment of its constellation.
The new round includes $350 million from SoftBank, who was the biggest shareholder in OneWeb before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2020.
SLS core stage ready for Green Run test firing
Thursday, 14 January 2021 11:18 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — NASA officials expressed confidence that a key test of the Space Launch System scheduled for Jan. 16 will go well, keeping open the chances that the vehicle will make its long-delayed debut before the end of the year.
Tanezrouft Basin
Thursday, 14 January 2021 09:00 Write a comment
Image:
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Tanezrouft Basin – one of the most desolate parts of the Sahara Desert. Earth from Space: Tanezrouft
Thursday, 14 January 2021 09:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:02:50
In this week's edition of the Earth from Space programme, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Tanezrouft Basin – one of the most desolate parts of the Sahara Desert.
See also Tanezrouft Basin to download the image.
Citizen scientists help create 3D map of local stellar neighborhood
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21 Write a comment
Is our solar system located in a typical Milky Way neighborhood? Scientists have gotten closer to answering this question, thanks to the NASA-funded Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project, a "citizen science" collaboration between professional scientists and members of the public.
Scientists tapped into the worldwide network of 150,000 volunteers using Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 to find new exam Low-orbit, crewed equatorial space control stations
Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:21 Write a comment
Many think the idea of a military crewed space station is new. It is not. The Russian Almaz ("Diamond") was a highly secret Soviet military space station program that began in the early 1960s. In fact, three crewed military reconnaissance stations were launched between 1973 and 1976.
These were referred to as Salyut 2, Salyut 3 and Salyut 5. To camouflage their real mission the three stati