Three more service modules for Artemis to be built in Europe
Monday, 01 February 2021 10:46ESA signed a further contract with Airbus for the construction of three more European Service Modules for Orion, NASA’s spacecraft that will fly astronauts to the Moon and lunar Gateway as part of the Artemis programme.
SpaceX aims to launch 'all-civilian' trip into orbit
Monday, 01 February 2021 09:10SpaceX announced Monday it's aiming to launch this year the first all-civilian mission into Earth's orbit, led by a tech billionaire who plans to raffle off one of the spots aboard the craft.
Entrepreneur Jared Isaacman is to be joined by three other novice astronauts for a multi-day journey into space, including one lucky winner of a drawing.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime adventure: a journey into outer space on the first all-civilian space flight," according to a website dedicated to the mission.
SpaceX, the company started by Elon Musk, said Isaacman is "donating the three seats alongside him.
Juice Up Your Rocket! art competition
Monday, 01 February 2021 09:00Juice Up Your Rocket! art competition
Businessman plans first all-civilian SpaceX flight to benefit St. Jude's hospital
Monday, 01 February 2021 08:48SpaceX announced plans on Monday for the first all-civilian mission to space in late 2021 - a days long orbit of the Earth, to be led by finance company executive and pilot Jared Isaacman. Isaacman has purchased a four-person mission in the SpaceX Dragon capsule Resilience to launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. He expects a mission duration ranging from two to four days.
Virgin Galactic flight test program update
Monday, 01 February 2021 08:48Virgin Galactic has announced the date of its new flight window for a rocket-powered test flight of its SpaceShipTwo Unity. The flight window will open on February 13 with opportunities to fly throughout February, pending good weather conditions and technical readiness. The test flight will be crewed by two pilots and will carry research payloads as part of the NASA Flight Opportunities program.
NASA completes spacewalk to finish power system upgrades
Monday, 01 February 2021 08:48Two NASA astronauts completed a major upgrade to the orbiting platform's power systems and other tasks during a spacewalk on Monday. The project began at 6:56 a.m. EST and lasted for five hours and 20 minutes. The expedition was the second spacewalk in five days for Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover. "You guys had a great day. You guys rocked it," astronaut Bob Hines said from gr
NASA will pay $500,000 for good ideas on food production in space
Monday, 01 February 2021 08:48NASA is prepared to pay $500,000 for a good idea to help feed astronauts on long-term space missions with something other than dried, packaged food from Earth. The space agency has set a July 30 deadline on its Deep Space Food Challenge, when it will choose a winning idea. The Canadian Space Agency launched a similar challenge with phased awards totaling $500,000 that will result in a g
Could the surface of Phobos reveal secrets of the Martian past
Monday, 01 February 2021 08:48The Martian moon Phobos orbits through a stream of charged atoms and molecules that flow off the Red Planet's atmosphere, new research shows. Many of these charged particles, or ions, of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and argon, have been escaping Mars for billions of years as the planet has been shedding its atmosphere. Some ions, scientists predict, have been smashing into the surface of Phob
Study reveals MESSENGER watched a meteoroid strike Mercury
Monday, 01 February 2021 08:48NASA's MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission to Mercury has been out of operation for nearly six years, but the data it collected keeps on giving, from revealing new insights about Venus' atmosphere to providing a new way to measure the length of time neutrons can survive on their own. Now, a recent study in Nature Communications shows the spacecr
NASA names leaders to key Agency roles
Monday, 01 February 2021 08:48NASA has named appointees for senior agency positions. Bhavya Lal joins the agency as acting chief of staff, Phillip Thompson will serve as White House liaison, Alicia Brown will serve as associate administrator for the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, and Marc Etkind will serve as associate administrator for the agency's Office of Communications. In addition, Jackie McGuinne
Backreaction observed for first time in water tank black hole simulation
Monday, 01 February 2021 08:48Scientists have revealed new insights into the behaviour of black holes with research that demonstrates how a phenomenon called backreaction can be simulated. The team from the University of Nottingham have used their simulation of a black hole, involving a specially designed water tank, for this latest research published in Physical Review Letters. This study is the first to demonstrate t
Searching for dark matter through the fifth dimension
Monday, 01 February 2021 08:48Theoretical physicists of the PRISMA+ Cluster of Excellence at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz are working on a theory that goes beyond the Standard Model of particle physics and can answer questions where the Standard Model has to pass - for example, with respect to the hierarchies of the masses of elementary particles or the existence of dark matter. The central element of the theory
Astronomers detect extended dark matter halo around ancient dwarf galaxy
Monday, 01 February 2021 08:48The Milky Way is surrounded by dozens of dwarf galaxies that are thought to be relics of the very first galaxies in the universe. Among the most primitive of these galactic fossils is Tucana II - an ultrafaint dwarf galaxy that is about 50 kiloparsecs, or 163,000 light years, from Earth. Now MIT astrophysicists have detected stars at the edge of Tucana II, in a configuration that is surpri
Kongsberg Geospatial improves BVLOS drone operations safety with a horizonless air picture
Monday, 01 February 2021 08:48Kongsberg Geospatial, developer of the TerraLens Geospatial SDK, uAvionix, creators of the PingStation Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) transponder, and Aireon, developers of a space-based ADS-B network announced that they will be demonstrating a horizonless air picture to help improve drone operations safety in an upcoming online seminar hosted by the Association for Unmanned
Connecting machines in remote regions
Monday, 01 February 2021 08:48On Nov. 26, seven fishermen aboard a small fishing boat off the coast of Maharashtra in western India were struck with panic when their vessel was damaged and began to sink. The panic was warranted: The boat was too far from shore to radio for help. Tens of thousands of fishermen find themselves in a similar situation around the world every year. Globally, the vast majority of small, deep-