Stock market losses for space companies not affecting private investment
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 23:20
Many space companies that have gone public in the last year through SPAC deals have suffered major losses in the stock market in recent months, but that decline doesn’t necessarily mean a broader skepticism about the industry.
Space Development Agency experiment demonstrates on-orbit data processing
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 19:32
A data processor launched to orbit by the Space Development Agency has performed an early demonstration of autonomous data fusion in space.
The post Space Development Agency experiment demonstrates on-orbit data processing appeared first on SpaceNews.
Riding a laser to Mars
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 17:10
Could a laser send a spacecraft to Mars? That's a proposed mission from a group at McGill University, designed to meet a solicitation from NASA. The laser, a 10-meter wide array on Earth, would heat hydrogen plasma in a chamber behind the spacecraft, producing thrust from hydrogen gas and sending it to Mars in only 45 days. There, it would aerobrake in Mars' atmosphere, shuttling supplies to human colonists or, someday perhaps, even humans themselves.
In 2018, NASA challenged engineers to design a mission to Mars that would deliver a payload of at least 1,000 kilograms in no more than 45 days, as well as longer trips deep into, and out of, the solar system. The short delivery time is motivated by a desire to ferry shipments and, someday, astronauts to Mars while minimizing their exposure to the damaging effects of galactic cosmic rays and solar storms.
Monitoring crop health across the Netherlands
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 15:19
The Copernicus Sentinel satellite missions measure and image our planet in different ways to return a wealth of complementary information so that we can understand and track how our world is changing, and how to better manage our environment and resources. Thanks to the benefits of different types of data from two particular Copernicus Sentinel missions and an ingenious new dataset tool, people working in the agriculture sector, but who are not satellite data experts, can monitor the health and development of crops, right down to each crop in individual fields.
Protecting dark and quiet skies from satellite constellation interference
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 14:46
If you've ever tried to star gaze in a residential or urban area, you know that a streetlight or even the lights from a nearby town can greatly interfere with your ability to identify Orion's Belt and see a rare comet or other celestial bodies. But what is more of a disappointment for us is a cosmic disruption for scientists and others in the space industry.
To preserve this vital characteristic of the universe, a new International Astronomical Union Centre for the Protection of the Dark Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference has been established.
Siegfried Eggl, faculty member in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Robert Gruendl in Illinois' Dept. of Astronomy have been selected to participate. They are both members of the Center for AstroPhysical Surveys in the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at UIUC.
Lockheed Martin wins contract to build rocket for Mars Sample Return
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 11:30
NASA has selected Lockheed Martin to build a small rocket that will transport samples collected by the Perseverance rover into orbit around Mars.
The post Lockheed Martin wins contract to build rocket for Mars Sample Return appeared first on SpaceNews.
Lynk satellites connect with thousands of devices
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 10:00
Lynk Global satellites have connected with thousands of unmodified smartphones, tablets, internet-of-things devices and vehicles, the Fall Church, Virginia, startup announced Feb. 8.
The post Lynk satellites connect with thousands of devices appeared first on SpaceNews.
ESA seeks software ideas to bring smart satellites to life
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 07:00
If we were to talk about our bodies in the technical terms that we typically use to talk about spacecraft, our bones, muscles and ligaments would be our 'hardware', our brain the 'central processing unit (CPU)', and our nervous system the 'software'.
Search is on for young space entrepreneurs ahead of first UK rocket launches
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 06:52
With Britain's first satellite launches set to take place this year, the SatelLife Competition is looking for the best new ideas for how to use data collected from space to benefit daily life, from supporting local communities and the NHS, to monitoring the environment and tackling climate change.
The competition is now in its fifth year, with previous winning ideas including drones carryi UCF lands DOD award for advance hypersonic propulsion research
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 06:52
Anew race to harness hypersonic speed for travel and defense has started, and University of Central Florida researchers are helping the U.S. stay ahead of the pack with a new $1.5 million U.S. Department of Defense award to develop high-performance fuels for hypersonic propulsion.
The race, which includes competition from Russia and China, recently intensified when it was reported that Chi Arianespace to serve OneWeb's ambitions, will orbit 34 additional satellites with Soyuz
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 06:52
After the successful launch of NASA's Webb Space Telescope on December 25 with Ariane 5, Arianespace is back to the Guiana Space Center (CSG) with Soyuz for a February 10 lift-off. The first Arianespace mission of the year will orbit 34 additional OneWeb satellites. With this mission, Arianespace will exceed 100 satellites launched on Soyuz from the CSG, while OneWeb's fleet will be brought to 4 Protons are probably actually smaller than long thought
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 06:52
A few years ago, a novel measurement technique showed that protons are probably smaller than had been assumed since the 1990s. The discrepancy surprised the scientific community; some researchers even believed that the Standard Model of particle physics would have to be changed.
Physicists at the University of Bonn and the Technical University of Darmstadt have now developed a method that Researchers set record by preserving quantum states for more than 5 seconds
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 06:52
Breakthrough using common material could pave way for new quantum technologies. Quantum science holds promise for many technological applications, such as building hackerproof communication networks or quantum computers that could accelerate new drug discovery. These applications require a quantum version of a computer bit, known as a qubit, that stores quantum information.
But researchers Scientists develop exceptional surface to explore exotic physics
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 06:52
By demonstrating exceptional control of an open optical system, an international research team has provided a path to experimentally measure and test exotic phenomena and gain insights into new physics with exquisite sensitivity.
Reported in Nature Communications, the Penn State, Michigan Technological University and Vienna University of Technology researchers created a stable surface of ' Collaborative research project on quantum technology starts on the International Space Station
Tuesday, 08 February 2022 06:52
In early December 2021, the project "Development of a laser system for experiments with Bose-Einstein condensates on the International Space Station within the BECCAL payload (BECCAL-II)" commenced, with the involvement of a team of researchers led by Professor Patrick Windpassinger and Dr. Andre Wenzlawski from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU).
In collaboration with Humboldt-Univ