Virgin Galactic plans its next commercial flight to the edge of space for August
Thursday, 13 July 2023 19:17
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Astronauts' new rides for Artemis missions arrive at Kennedy Space Center
Thursday, 13 July 2023 19:12 Write a comment
While the next humans to fly to the moon will rely on the Orion spacecraft for the nearly half-million-mile trip next year on the Artemis II mission, the final 9 miles to the launch pad will come while riding in one of three new astronaut transports now parked at Kennedy Space Center.
Three curvy electric vehicles officially referred to as CTVs, as in crew transportation vehicles, were built by California-based Canoo Technologies and arrived to KSC on Tuesday. They will be used during training leading up to the Artemis II flight slated for no earlier than November 2024.
That mission will fly the crew of three NASA astronauts and one Canadian Space Agency astronaut on a 10-day mission around the moon, the first time humans will fly in the Orion capsule launching atop the powerful Space Launch System rocket. It will pave the way for Artemis III no earlier than 2025 that seeks to return humans including the first woman to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.
The new zero-emission CTVs are equipped to bring the four crew suited up in their spacesuits along with support personnel including a spacesuit technician on the ride from the Neil A.
Centaur modifications push first Vulcan launch to fourth quarter
Thursday, 13 July 2023 17:07 Write a comment
United Launch Alliance is now planning a first launch of its Vulcan Centaur rocket in the fourth quarter after the company completes modifications to and testing of the upper stage.
Senate defense panel leaves National Security Space Launch unsecured
Thursday, 13 July 2023 16:54 Write a comment
Congress should listen to the Space Force and reject the Senate Armed Services Committee’s changes to the U.S. Space Force's National Security Space Launch procurement plans.
Decoding the impact flash created by high-velocity impacts
Thursday, 13 July 2023 13:46 Write a comment
In an experimental study published in PNAS Nexus, researchers explore the visible impact flash that is created by high-velocity impacts.
Impacts by debris and meteoroids pose a significant threat to satellites, space probes, and hypersonic craft. Such high-velocity impacts create a brief, intense burst of light, known as an impact flash, which contains information about both the target and the impactor.
Gary Simpson, K.T. Ramesh, and colleagues explored the impact flash by shooting stainless steel spheres into an aluminum alloy plate, at a speed of three kilometers per second—about 6,700 miles per hour, or more than nine times the speed of sound.
The resulting impact flashes were photographed using ultra-high-speed cameras and high-speed spectroscopy, which measures the color and brightness of the light. Immediately after impact, a luminous disk is seen expanding around the impacting sphere. Only a few millionths of a second later, the disk takes on an almost floral shape, as fragments ejected from the impact crater form an ejecta cone, with petal-like projections at the outer edge.
Saltzman urges allies to ‘collectively train like we fight’
Thursday, 13 July 2023 13:34 Write a comment
“Certainly the situation in Ukraine has demonstrated the critical importance of timely coordination among partners,” Gen.
Orbital Composites wins $1.7 million Space Force contract
Thursday, 13 July 2023 13:00 Write a comment
The Small Business Innovation Research contract, awarded through the SpaceWERX Orbital Prime program, gives an important boost to the startup’s plans for in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing.
Euclid’s large halo around indefinitely small point
Thursday, 13 July 2023 12:30
Hanwha registers as South Korean satellite communications provider
Thursday, 13 July 2023 12:26 Write a comment
South Korea’s Hanwha Systems, the OneWeb investor with plans for its own low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband constellation, has secured regulatory permission to operate as a satellite communications provider in the country.
Plasma spectrometer delivered for moon mission
Thursday, 13 July 2023 12:10 Write a comment
Southwest Research Institute has delivered a plasma spectrometer for integration into a lunar lander as part of NASA's Lunar Vertex investigation, scheduled to commence next year.
ESA ground stations support Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission
Thursday, 13 July 2023 12:00
ViaSat-3 Americas’ antenna problem impacts rollout
Thursday, 13 July 2023 11:55 Write a comment
The problem with ViaSat-3 Americas' main antenna does not affect current services provided by Viasat but does impact plans for new broadband services in North America that the spacecraft would have offered.
HawkEye 360 announces $58 million funding round
Thursday, 13 July 2023 11:17 Write a comment
HawkEye 360, a commercial operator of remote-sensing satellites, announced July 13 it has raised $58 million in new funding.
The post HawkEye 360 announces $58 million funding round appeared first on SpaceNews.
Plato’s structural test campaign
Thursday, 13 July 2023 11:00 Write a comment
From May to August 2023 a structural model of ESA’s next exoplanet mission, Plato, is undergoing a test campaign at ESA’s ESTEC Test Centre, at Noordwijk in the Netherlands. Plato is planned to launch on an Ariane 6 in 2026. During lift-off Plato will have to withstand intense vibrations and immense blasts of noise. To make sure the satellite can survive the start of its journey to space, engineers test its structural integrity beforehand.
Muon Space awarded additional funding from AFLMC and DIU to collect space weather data
Thursday, 13 July 2023 10:42 Write a comment
Muon Space has been awarded an option to their contract with Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLMC)'s Weather Systems Branch and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to collect ionospheric data on their MuSat-2 satellite mission.
The performance period for this contract is two years extending through September 2024. This is an optional expansion in scope to the original contract award