SpaceX launches first Starlink satellite mission of 2021
Wednesday, 20 January 2021 09:26
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SpaceX launched another shipment of 60 Starlink satellites from Florida on Wednesday morning, adding to a rapidly growing cluster of high-speed broadband communications spacecraft.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off as planned at 8:02 a.m. EST into a cool, blue winter sky from Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center. The satellites deployed into their intended orbit one hour and four minutes aft Search for axions from nearby star Betelgeuse comes up empty
Wednesday, 20 January 2021 09:26 Write a comment
The elusive axion particle is many times lighter than an electron, with properties that barely make an impression on ordinary matter. As such, the ghost-like particle is a leading contender as a component of dark matter - a hypothetical, invisible type of matter that is thought to make up 85 percent of the mass in the universe.
Axions have so far evaded detection. Physicists predict that i Astroscale's ELSA-d debris buster ready for a March launch
Wednesday, 20 January 2021 09:26 Write a comment
Astroscale reports that its End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) satellite has arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, ready for anticipated launch on March 20, 2021. ELSA-d will launch on a Soyuz rocket operated by GK Launch Services.
"We can now begin the final phase of pre-launch activities, including integration of the satellite on the rocket and operatio Lunar Surface Trash or Treasure?
Wednesday, 20 January 2021 09:26 Write a comment
Now that NASA is leading the development of the Artemis lunar habitation program that will send men and women to the Moon within the next few years, this may be a good time to preview at least one aspect of the environment that the astronauts will experience when they arrive, i. e., trash from Earth.
Since 1959, the lunar surface has experienced a barrage of man-made attacks of various kin Autonomous driving on intelligent road at Europe's edge
Wednesday, 20 January 2021 09:26 Write a comment
An ESA-supported effort put an intelligent road up in Finnish Lapland through its paces, assessing its suitability for testing autonomous vehicles in some of Europe's most challenging driving conditions.
"If autonomous vehicles can drive well here, they can drive almost anywhere," says Sarang Thombre of the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute, managing the Arctic-PNT project.
"Our Astronomers dissect the anatomy of planetary nebulae using Hubble images
Wednesday, 20 January 2021 09:26 Write a comment
Images of two iconic planetary nebulae taken by the Hubble Space Telescope are revealing new information about how they develop their dramatic features. Researchers from Rochester Institute of Technology and Green Bank Observatory presented new findings about the Butterfly Nebula (NGC 6302) and the Jewel Bug Nebula (NGC 7027) at the 237th meeting of the American Astronomical Society on Friday, J Lake heatwaves to increase due to climate change
Wednesday, 20 January 2021 08:00 Write a comment
Lake heatwaves – periods of extreme warm surface water temperature in lakes – may become hotter and longer by the end of the 21st century, according to a new study published in Nature, increasing the link between climate change and extreme events.
Satellogic signs multi-launch contract with SpaceX
Wednesday, 20 January 2021 00:00 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Earth observation company Satellogic announced Jan. 19 it signed a contract with SpaceX covering several rideshare launches of its satellites through next year.
The multiple launch services agreement makes SpaceX Satellogic’s preferred provider for launching its constellation of microsatellites, after previously relying on Chinese, European and Russian vehicles, including a launch of 10 satellites as the primary payload on a Long March 6 Nov.
On National Security | Defense contractors forced into uneasy role in wake of Capitol riot
Tuesday, 19 January 2021 21:55 Write a comment
As the fallout from the Jan. 6 deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol continues, the crisis has forced a reckoning of sorts in a sector of American industry that typically steers clear of political controversy.
Space challenges for President Biden: Four issues for the next four years
Tuesday, 19 January 2021 21:23 Write a comment
As Joe Biden begins the first year of his presidency, there is still much we don’t know about where he and his vice president, Kamala Harris, stand on major issues in civil and national security space.
Policy experts named for DoD space, missile defense posts
Tuesday, 19 January 2021 19:18 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — David Zikusoka, aerospace research fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, will serve as special assistant at the office of the assistant secretary of defense for space policy, CSBA announced Jan.
Genesis of blue lightning into the stratosphere detected from ISS
Tuesday, 19 January 2021 17:33 Write a comment
SpaceX surpasses 1,000-satellite mark in latest Starlink launch
Tuesday, 19 January 2021 15:28 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — SpaceX launched its latest set of Starlink satellites Jan. 20, bringing the total number of spacecraft launched so far for that broadband constellation to more than 1,000.
The Falcon 9 lifted off at 8:02 a.m.
Genesis of blue lightning into the stratosphere detected from the International Space Station
Tuesday, 19 January 2021 14:48 Write a comment
Dark clouds, the smell of rain on a hot sidewalk, the flashes of intense light followed by a loud crackling and then a low, rolling thunder – who doesn’t love a good summer thunderstorm? We’ve all seen one, heard one, or been completely soaked by one. But how much do we really know about this weather phenomenon?
Physicist proposes human-populated mega-satellite orbiting Ceres
Tuesday, 19 January 2021 14:10 Write a comment
Physicist Pekka Janhunen with the Finnish Meteorological Institute has developed a novel idea to colonize a place other than the Earth—and it is not the moon or Mars. Instead, Janhunen is suggesting in a paper posted on the arXiv preprint server that humans populate a giant satellite that orbits Ceres, a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars.
Many space scientists have noted the difficulties and dangers of attempting to colonize either the moon or Mars—both have extremely hostile environments. So many in the field have been promoting the idea of building a structure large enough to host tens of thousands of people somewhere in space. But doing so would present its own set of problems. Paying for the construction of such a mammoth project, for example, and protecting the inhabitants from solar radiation—and what about providing gravity, and where would the structure reside? In his paper, Janhunen suggests that Ceres would be an ideal place to put such a structure, which would make it a satellite. He notes that such an orbit would be close enough to the dwarf planet that a 636-mile-long space elevator could carry material from the surface to the satellite for construction and resupply—Ceres has more than enough nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide to support such a venture.