The role of the COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43
COSPAR, the Committee on Space Research, and its Panel on Planetary Protection (PPP) have recommended on 18 May 2021 that missions to the Moon would remain under the general terms of COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy Category II, but have added two sub-categories for lunar surface missions.
Category IIa concerns all missions to the surface of the Moon whose nominal mission profile does no Suborbital aerospace plane makes maiden flight
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43
China carried out the maiden flight of the prototype of a reusable suborbital aerospace plane in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Friday, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the country's major space contractor.
The unnamed prototype was lifted by a carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and flew for a certain period of time before maki Beyond Visible Noise: the 'sounds of space' on film
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43
Space scientists, spoken word artists and filmmakers teamed up to create a new short film, 'Beyond Visible Noise', that will launch at the National Astronomy Meeting on Tuesday 20 July. Dr Martin Archer of Imperial College London will describe how scientists and poets worked together to take the incredibly weak sound waves found in space and convert them to the audible content that features in t Billionaires in space: Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin touts rocket safety
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43
As Jeff Bezos prepares to become the second billionaire to blast into space on his own company's rocket next week, his Blue Origin is touting the safety of its rocket system.
The New Shepard suborbital rocket is scheduled for liftoff at 9 a.m. EDT Tuesday from the company's Corn Ranch launch site 160 miles east of El Paso, Texas - pending any weather or technical delays.
Blue Or First measurement of isotopes in atmosphere of exoplanet
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43
An international team of astronomers have become the first in the world to detect isotopes in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. It concerns different forms of carbon in the gaseous giant planet TYC 8998-760-1 b at a distance of 300 light years in the constellation Musca (Fly).
The weak signal was measured with ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile and seems to indicate that the planet is relat NASA returns Hubble Space Telescope to science operations
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43
NASA has returned the science instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope to operational status, and the collection of science data will now resume. This will be the first science data collected since the payload computer experienced a problem on June 13, which placed the instruments in a safe configuration and suspended science operations.
"Hubble is an icon, giving us incredible insight in AstroAccess opens applications to disabled crew participants for space training on zero gravity flight
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43
This morning the SciAccess Initiative announced the launch of Mission: AstroAccess, a program bringing a diverse group of disabled people on a historic ZERO-G parabolic flight. Mission: AstroAccess' crew of disabled volunteers will participate in targeted tasks during the program's flight to help answer important questions about how disabled people can safely travel and work in space.
"Spa Hubble returns to normal operations after switch to backup computer
Saturday, 17 July 2021 15:45
WASHINGTON — NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope returned to science operations July 17 after a hiatus of more than a month as controllers successfully switched the orbiting observatory to a backup payload computer.
NASA said the instruments of the 31-year-old telescope are now operational nearly five weeks after a payload computer, which commands those instruments, malfunctioned.
Malaysia’s Measat-3 satellite tumbling in GEO
Friday, 16 July 2021 21:12
TAMPA, Fla. — Malaysian operator Measat has likely lost control of an aging satellite that has been drifting westward in geostationary orbit for nearly a month, according to analysts at space tracking company ExoAnalytic Solutions.
Biden to nominate CSIS’ Andrew Hunter as top Air Force acquisition executive
Friday, 16 July 2021 20:31
WASHINGTON — The White House announced July 16 that President Biden intends to nominate defense procurement expert Andrew Hunter to be assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics.
Events expanding to mark 100 years since John Glenn's birth
Friday, 16 July 2021 19:57
SES spearheading quantum technology encryption network for Luxembourg
Friday, 16 July 2021 18:25
TAMPA, Fla. — Satellite operator SES is leading a consortium to design a system for guarding communications in Luxembourg against cyberattacks, which could feed into Europe’s broader plan for a network that is also protected by quantum technology.
Hubble Space Telescope fixed after month of no science
Friday, 16 July 2021 16:16
China launches secretive suborbital vehicle for reusable space transportation system
Friday, 16 July 2021 15:32
HELSINKI — China conducted a clandestine first test flight of a reusable suborbital vehicle Friday as a part of development of a reusable space transportation system.
Umbra and Hypergiant among firms selected for Air Force JADC2 contract
Friday, 16 July 2021 15:03
SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Air Force awarded indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts to 29 companies including Umbra, Kymeta, Hughes Network Systems and Hypergiant Galactic Systems to support the Defense Department’s campaign to ensure sensors from all the services feed data into a common network.