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When ESA’s Gaia spacecraft scanned the Scorpius constellation and its ancient globular star cluster Messier 4, it captured something strange: a huge dark blob at the cluster’s centre, 800 times more massive than our Sun.

It is normal for globular clusters to have dark centres made up of many dead stars. But the mass at the centre of Messier 4 looks different – despite being especially large, it seems to be squeezed into a surprisingly small volume of space.

“Using the latest Gaia and Hubble data, it was not possible to distinguish between a dark population of stellar remnants and a

Life-saving data that enables European governments to respond rapidly to crises is flowing swiftly from space to Earth, thanks to the most sophisticated space-based laser communication network ever built.

London UK (SPX) Jun 09, 2023
Representatives at the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) took part in a successful demonstration of combined Geo-stationary (GEO) and low Earth orbit (LEO) multi-orbit capability from satellite companies and strategic partners, OneWeb and Eutelsat last month. The hands-on live demonstration enabled the NATO attendees to get a real feel for the steps that, together, both com

Beijing (XNA) Jun 09, 2023
China launched a ZK 1A carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, transporting 26 satellites into space and setting a new record for the most spacecraft launched by a single Chinese rocket. The 30-meter, solid-propellant rocket blasted off at 12:10 pm and soon placed the satellites into preset orbits, including the Shiyan 24A and 24B experimental satelli

Reston VA (SPX) Jun 08, 2023
SES Space and Defense, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, has announced the availability of flexible, secure, and reliable satellite-powered network connectivity for AWS Modular Data Center. AWS Modular Data Center makes it easy for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to deploy modular data centers managed by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in infrastructure-limited locations. In February 2023, AWS an

Reston VA (SPX) Jun 09, 2023
Science Applications International has been selected for a $64 million award from the Space Development Agency (SDA) to develop, implement and maintain the Battle Management Command, Control and Communications (BMC3) Application Factory for the agency's constellation of low-earth orbit satellites called the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). "The BMC3 component of the PWSA

Oslo, Norway (SPX) Jun 09, 2023
Marlink, the smart network and digital solutions company, is enabling Japanese Shipping Company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) to evaluate the impact of LEO Internet services on business sustainability and crew welfare. Under an agreement struck at the end of 2022, the leading Japanese shipping company will assess past, present and future user experiences and explore access how Internet access

Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Jun 09, 2023
In recent years, the world has focused on shifting away from fossil fuels, with the goal of using renewable energy sources as the future means of powering the globe. Currently, 22% of global energy production comes from various renewable energy sources, like photovoltaic devices, which are a fast-growing contributor to solar energy solutions. To create more energy-efficient photovoltaic de

Boulder CO (SPX) Jun 09, 2023
Recently on Mars, Perseverance wrestled with sampling a crumbly rock and continued our boulder-bonanza! We've been exploring the Onahu outcrop for the past 3 weeks, having previously performed an abrasion named Ouzel Falls. We saw from this abrasion that the rock is most likely a conglomerate worth sampling, but was also likely to be crumbly. The team therefore elected to drive and r

Adelaide, Australia (SPX) Jun 09, 2023
Neumann Space, a technology leader of in-space electric propulsion today announced that it has signed a contract with Space Inventor, a leading European manufacturer of microsatellites that will enable it to gain greater access to space as part of its program of in-orbit demonstration (IOD). As part of the contract, Space Inventor will provide Neumann Space with the opportunity to integrat