UAE spacecraft to explore asteroid belt after Mars success
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 07:12The United Arab Emirates will launch a spacecraft to explore a major asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, officials said Tuesday, after a UAE probe reached the red planet early this year. The five-year journey from 2028 will traverse 3.6 billion kilometres (2.2 billion miles), with the unmanned craft drawing on gravity assists from Earth and Venus to reach the main asteroid belt beyond Ma
Space Systems Command awards $46.5 million contract for meshONE-Terrestrial
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 07:12The U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command's (SSC) Cross-Mission Ground and Communications Enterprise (ECX) has awarded a cost-plus fixed fee contract totaling $46.5 million to Sev1Tech LLC of Woodbridge, Virginia. The contract was awarded through the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC) Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement for meshONE-T. This prototype effort will deploy and demons
SBIRS GEO-6 Space Vehicle completes production
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 07:12Space Systems Command's (SSC) Production Corps achieved a major milestone with the completion of the final Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) satellite, SBIRS Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO)-6 on Sept. 2 at Lockheed Martin's Sunnyvale, California production facility. SBIRS GEO-6 will begin final preparations for a scheduled launch in the first half of 2022 on a United Launch Alliance Atl
Cesiumastro deploys active phased array experimental satellites
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 07:12CesiumAstro, Inc. announces the successful launch and deployment of its first two satellites featuring their leading-edge communications payloads aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V-401 rocket. Dubbed Cesium Mission 1(CM1), the duo of satellites will provide an on-orbit testbed for next generation wireless communications and sensing technologies. "We will see major advancements over th
HawkEye 360 reaches contractual milestone for delivering space-based radio frequency mapping
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 07:12HawkEye 360 reports it has secured new contracts totaling over $50 million in potential value since the start of the year as its next generation satellites have become operational. "HawkEye 360 is experiencing an exceptional year, with record growth in customer engagements and bookings," said HawkEye 360 CEO John Serafini. "We're building depth of customers across the United States,
Unique asteroid holds clues to early Solar System
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 07:12Set to launch next year, NASA's Psyche mission marks the first time the agency has set out to explore an asteroid richer in metal than rock or ice. More than 150 years have passed since novelist Jules Verne wrote "Journey to the Center of the Earth," but reality has yet to catch up with that science fiction adventure. While humans can't bore a path to our planet's metallic core, NASA has its sig
SwRI scientists confirm decrease in Pluto's atmospheric density
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 07:12When Pluto passed in front of a star on the night of August 15, 2018, a Southwest Research Institute-led team of astronomers had deployed telescopes at numerous sites in the U.S. and Mexico to observe Pluto's atmosphere as it was briefly backlit by the well-placed star. Scientists used this occultation event to measure the overall abundance of Pluto's tenuous atmosphere and found compelling evid
Spire Global and SpaceChain announce new partnership
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 07:12Spire Global has entered into a new partnership with SpaceChain, a global space-as-a-service solutions provider developing the world's first decentralized satellite infrastructure (DSI). Together, Spire and SpaceChain are launching a mission to demonstrate the feasibility of blockchain technology computation in space and resolve land-based centralized infrastructure issues. Many in the blo
Watch live: briefings for next Space Station mission
Wednesday, 06 October 2021 06:15Learn the latest about the launch of Crew-3 to the International Space Station during two virtual briefings this Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 October live on ESA Web TV Two.
Spire Global data to feed maritime-traffic algorithms
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 22:02LatConnect 60 will feed Spire Global Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel-tracking data into algorithms the Australian Earth-observation startup is developing with Curtin University to prevent maritime collisions.
Orbital Micro Systems and Thomas Keating forge weather data pact
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 20:45ST. LOUIS – Orbital Micro Systems announced an agreement Oct. 5 with UK technology firm Thomas Keating Ltd. to jointly fund design, development and testing of millimeter-wave instruments for commercial weather satellites. OMS launched the first commercial cubesat equipped with a microwave radiometer in 2019.
Late-time small-body asteroid disruptions can protect the Earth
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 18:57If an asteroid is determined to be on an Earth-impacting trajectory, scientists typically want to stage a deflection, where the asteroid is gently nudged by a relatively small change in velocity, while keeping the bulk of the asteroid together.
A kinetic impactor or a standoff nuclear explosion can achieve a deflection.
ODNI to share unclassified science and technology priorities
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 18:42The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is preparing unclassified documents to share its science and technology priorities with industry and academia, John Beieler, ODNI science and technology director.
Space data used to detect sources of GPS disruptions
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 18:18Radio-frequency data collected by HawkEye 360 satellites can be used to locate GPS interference hotspots
How low can satellites go? VLEO entrepreneurs plan to find out
Tuesday, 05 October 2021 18:14Why all the interest in VLEO? Satellite costs often rise with their altitude.