Bristol UK (SPX) Feb 24, 2022
Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has signed a study contract with the European Space Agency worth one million euros for a payload concept to extract oxygen from Moon rock. For a sustainable habitation on the Moon, humans will need to utilise resources that they find on the Moon rather than transport these resources from Earth; one of these resou

Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 24, 2022
Before the science team says "OK TO GO!," today's plan involves getting one of the last looks at the rocks right below the Greenheugh Pediment, some observations at the contact between them, and some higher up on Gediz-Vallis Ridge. The rover will collect two APXS measurements on "Galdenoch," one a brushed location and another offset from it, including some MAHLI images (see image) to docu

Boston MA (SPX) Feb 24, 2022
If faced with the choice of sending a swarm of full-sized, distinct robots to space, or a large crew of smaller robotic modules, you might want to enlist the latter. Modular robots, like those depicted in films such as "Big Hero 6," hold a special type of promise for their self-assembling and reconfiguring abilities. But for all of the ambitious desire for fast, reliable deployment in domains ex

Colorado Springs CO (SPX) Feb 24, 2022
Northrop Grumman Corporation has been awarded a $341 million contract by the U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) to develop, test and deliver a Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) in support of its Space Domain Awareness mission. "The DARC program will field a resilient ground-based radar providing our nation with significantly enhanced space domain awareness for ge

NASA’s plans to shift from the International Space Station to commercial space stations may force one key partner to rethink how it cooperates in low Earth orbit.

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American and European officials said Feb. 23 that space cooperation with Russia remains unaffected even as that country continues to threaten a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The post U.S. and Europe say space cooperation with Russia not affected yet by Ukraine crisis appeared first on SpaceNews.

The director of the National Reconnaissance Office Christopher Scolese warned that satellites in space could be targeted by Russia’s military in an effort to disrupt communications and GPS services. 

The post NRO chief warns satellite operators to ‘secure their systems’ as Ukraine crisis unfolds appeared first on SpaceNews.

The director of the National Reconnaissance Office, Christopher Scolese, warned that Russia’s military could target satellites in space to disrupt communications and GPS services. 

The post NRO warns satellite operators of possible Russian attacks appeared first on SpaceNews.

The U.S. Space Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $341 million contract to develop a radar site to track active satellites and debris in high orbits.

The post Northrop Grumman wins $341 million Space Force contract to develop a deep-space tracking radar appeared first on SpaceNews.

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The NIRSpec instrument is the workhorse near-infrared spectrograph on board the James Webb Space Telescope and is provided by ESA.

NIRSpec will allow scientists to study objects embedded in shrouds of gas and dust, to find out more about how galaxies formed and evolved, and to characterise the atmospheres of exoplanet to determine if water is present.

The primary goal of NIRSpec is to enable large spectroscopic surveys of astronomical objects like stars or distant galaxies. This is made possible by its powerful multi-object spectroscopy mode, which will make use of use of roughly a quarter of a