NASA, partners clear Axiom's second private astronaut mission crew
Tuesday, 14 February 2023 02:45NASA and its international partners have approved the crew for Axiom Space's second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2). Axiom Space's Director of Human Spaceflight and former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson will command the privately funded mission. John Shoffner of Knoxville, Tennessee, will serve as pilot. The two mission specialists, Ali Al
Russian Progress cargo craft docks at space station suffers loss of coolant
Tuesday, 14 February 2023 02:45On February 11, a Russian unmanned Progress MS-22/83P cargo ship successfully docked to the Zvezda service module at the International Space Station (ISS), however for the second time in just two months, another Progress has sprung a leak. Shortly after docking, Russia's space agency Roscosmos in Moscow announced via Telegram that mission control detected a "depressurization" in the Progre
Spacecraft controllers aim for the heights
Tuesday, 14 February 2023 02:45Like many office workers, Hu Guolin and his colleagues deal with figures, charts and graphics on their computer screens. However, the information in front of Hu's team comes from Earth's orbit or even planets hundreds of millions of kilometers away. From the first day of its existence, people working at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center - like Hu, some of the smartest minds in Chi
Earth's atmosphere adds a quick pinch of salt to meteorites, scientists find
Tuesday, 14 February 2023 02:45New analysis of the Winchcombe meteorite has revealed just how quickly space rocks which fall to Earth can be contaminated by our atmosphere. The meteorite, which landed in Gloucestershire in February last year, was the first to be recovered on UK soil in nearly 30 years. Fragments were recovered from a domestic driveway hours after it entered the Earth's atmosphere. More pieces were
Let's Drill: Sols 3742-3743
Tuesday, 14 February 2023 02:45Currently we are drilling the Dinira target! The scientists and engineers have been closely working together to adjust the drilling strategy to give us the best shot of a successful drill while also managing the wear and tear on our hardware. There is no guarantee it will work as Mars always loves to throw us curveballs, but we're giving it our best! It is also cloud season on Mars, so in additi
Kigen and Skylo work together to bring eSIM and satellite connectivity to expand the potential of 5G IoT
Tuesday, 14 February 2023 02:45Kigen, a global security leader in IoT enablement with its SIM, eSIM, and iSIM technology solutions, and Skylo, a Satellite Network or Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) operator focused on connecting anything, anywhere, are together making satellite connectivity integration frictionless for device makers, allowing for seamless transitions between cellular and satellite connectivity via Skylo's SIM p
Kacific and partners expand satellite connectivity in Southeast Asia and other regions
Tuesday, 14 February 2023 02:45Kacific Broadband Satellites Group (Kacific) and ST Engineering iDirect have reaffirmed their long-term technology partnership through deep cooperation on the ground systems infrastructure for Kacific's fleet of satellites. ST Engineering iDirect, whose Dialog hub platform was instrumental to Kacific1's highly successful program, will provide a comprehensive next-generation ground infrastr
SpaceX launches 55 Starlink satellites early Sunday morning
Tuesday, 14 February 2023 02:45The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket thundered off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, at 12:10:10 a.m. EST (0510:10 GMT) on Sunday, despite the weather. SpaceX's Starlink Group mission 5-4 launched 55 Starlink satellites onboard the Falcon 9. This is the fourth launch into a new orbital shell for SpaceX's second-generation Starlink constell
Large number of launches planned
Tuesday, 14 February 2023 02:45China plans to carry out more than 70 launch missions this year, according to the nation's major space contractors. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation's dominant space enterprise, has more than 60 launch missions planned for this year, and it aims to deploy more than 200 spacecraft in orbit, according to the Blue Book of China Aerospace Science and Technology Activitie
Noise complaints help bring down launch startup SpaceRyde
Monday, 13 February 2023 22:14Canadian launch startup SpaceRyde has filed for bankruptcy just months after noise complaints put an end to rocket engine tests.
New spacecraft can see into the permanently shadowed craters on the moon
Monday, 13 February 2023 21:11Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole is one of the locations on NASA's shortlist for human exploration with the future Artemis missions. But because craters at the lunar poles—like Shackleton—at have areas that are perpetually in shadow, known as permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), we don't know for sure what lies inside the interior. However, a new spacecraft with a specialized instrument is about to change all that.
Russia delays launch to space station while leak is probed
Monday, 13 February 2023 18:20Russia will postpone the launch of an empty space capsule to the International Space Station pending further investigation of a coolant leak on a supply ship docked to the station, the second such leak at a docked Russian craft in two months, the head of Russia's space corporation Roscosmos said Monday.
The Soyuz capsule was to be launched in automatic mode on Feb. 20 and dock with the orbiting outpost two days later, to serve as a lifeboat for crew evacuation in case of an emergency. Roscosmos director Yuri Borisov said the launch will be delayed, at most until early March.
A Soyuz capsule that can accommodate an astronaut capsule and was already docked to the station developed a coolant leak in December.
Russians Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio were supposed to return to Earth in March in that capsule, but Russian space officials said higher temperatures from the coolant leak could make that dangerous.
Then another coolant leak was detected Saturday in a docked supply ship. The leak was detected after a second supply ship docked with the space station.
Russia postpones launch of rescue ship to space station
Monday, 13 February 2023 17:29 Russia said Monday it had delayed the launch of a rescue ship supposed to bring home three astronauts whose planned return vehicle was damaged by a tiny meteoroid.
The mission's postponement until March came after the Russian space agency reported a new problem at the weekend, saying a supply ship docked at the International Space Station (ISS) had leaked coolant.
"A decision has been taken to postpone the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft in an unmanned mode until March 2023," the Russian space agency said.
"We stress that nothing threatens the life and health of the crew," it added.
Russia had said in early January it would send an empty spacecraft to the ISS on February 20 to bring back the three astronauts.
MS-22 flew Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the ISS in September after taking off from the Russian-operated Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
They were scheduled to return home in the same spacecraft in March.
But MS-22 began leaking coolant in mid-December after being hit by what US and Russian space officials believe was a tiny space rock.
Seventh shooting star ever spotted before strike
Monday, 13 February 2023 16:00For the seventh time, a small asteroid – a meteoroid as astronomers call it – was discovered in space as it raced towards Earth for impact. The predicted time and location of the impact (02:50 - 03:03 UTC, above northern France) were made possible with observations by European astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky using the 60 cm Schmidt telescope from the Piszkéstető Observatory in Hungary. 2023 CX1 is the second impactor discovered by Krisztián, after the impact of 2022 EB5 less than a year ago.
The last three predicted impacts have
Seventh shooting star ever spotted before it struck
Monday, 13 February 2023 16:00For the seventh time, a small asteroid – a meteoroid as astronomers call it – was discovered in space as it raced towards Earth for impact. The predicted time and location of the impact (02:50 - 03:03 UTC, above northern France) were made possible with observations by European astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky using the 60 cm Schmidt telescope from the Piszkéstető Observatory in Hungary. 2023 CX1 is the second impactor discovered by Krisztián, after the impact of 2022 EB5 less than a year ago.
The last three predicted impacts have