Starburst Aerospace in talks to raise $50 million fund for space investments
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 12:01
TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. accelerator Starburst Aerospace plans to raise a $50 million fund this year to invest in space startups, CEO Francois Chopard told SpaceNews in an interview.
The company came close to securing a $200 million fund for similar purposes five years ago, before anchor investors pulled out in the final stages.
BAE Systems wins $325 million Pentagon contract for GPS receivers
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 12:00
WASHINGTON — BAE Systems announced May 18 it has been awarded a $325.5 million contract to supply Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite receiver equipment for the U.S. military and allies.
The contract was awarded by the Defense Logistics Agency.
The curious incident of Swarm and sprites in the night-time
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 12:00
We are all familiar with the bolts of lightning that accompany heavy storms. While these flashes originate in storm clouds and strike downwards, a much more elusive type forms higher up in the atmosphere and shoots up towards space. So, what are the chances of somebody taking photographs of these rarely seen, brief ‘transient luminous events’ at the exact same time as a satellite orbits directly above with the event leaving its signature in the satellite’s data?
York to quadruple smallsat manufacturing capacity with new facility
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 12:00
SAN FRANCISCO – York Space Systems announced plans May 18 to establish a “mega manufacturing facility” in Denver to quadruple the number of small satellites in production at once.
In the new facility, York will be able to produce as many as 80 satellites simultaneously, compared with York’s current production plant where employees can build 20 satellites at a time, York CEO Dirk Wallinger told SpaceNews.
Back to the space cradle
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 11:18
Like an infant adjusting to the new world, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet is relearning how to move around the weightless environment of space. His cradle is a familiar place though – this is Thomas’s second mission to the International Space Station, the orbiting lab where he where he broke records for science during his first six months in orbit.
Rocket Lab says engine issue caused Electron failure
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 10:28
WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab said an Electron rocket failed to reach orbit May 15 when the vehicle’s computer system detected a problem with the second stage engine and shut it down.
In a May 17 statement, the company said it is continuing to review data from the launch, which suffered a malfunction of some kind around the time the second stage separated and ignited its single Rutherford engine.
NASA rocket chasing the source of the sun's hot atmosphere
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 10:17
A new space instrument captures its first solar eruption
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 10:17
For new sun-watching spacecraft, the first solar eruption is always special.
On February 12, 2021, a little more than a year from its launch, the European Space Agency and NASA's Solar Orbiter caught sight of this coronal mass ejection, or CME. This view is from the mission's SoloHI instrument—short for Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager—which watches the solar wind, dust, and cosmic rays that fill the space between the sun and the planets.
It's a brief, grainy view: Solar Orbiter's remote sensing won't enter full science mode until November. SoloHI used one of its four detectors at less than 15% of its normal cadence to reduce the amount of data acquired.
Graphene sensor combines temperature and magnetic measurements
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:09
Graphene is the thinnest material known – possessing the thickness of a single atom but 200 times stronger than steel – and has a reputation for versatility. Now an ESA-backed project has come up with yet another use for this ‘wonder stuff’, as the basis for a combined temperature and magnetism sensor.
Understanding muscle wasting in space at the molecular level
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03
Most of us have imagined how free it would feel to float around, like an astronaut, in conditions of reduced gravity. But have you ever considered what the effects of reduced gravity might have on muscles? Gravity is a constant force on Earth which all living creatures have evolved to rely on and adapt to. Space exploration has brought about many scientific and technological advances, yet manned Dating the stars
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03
Scientists have succeeded in dating some of the oldest stars in our galaxy with unprecedented precision by combining data from the stars' oscillations with information about their chemical composition.
The team led by researchers at the University of Birmingham, surveyed around a hundred red giant stars, and were able to determine that some of these were originally part of a satellite gala Alien radioactive element prompts creation rethink
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03
The first-ever discovery of an extraterrestrial radioactive isotope on Earth has scientists rethinking the origins of the elements on our planet.
The tiny traces of plutonium-244 were found in ocean crust alongside radioactive iron-60. The two isotopes are evidence of violent cosmic events in the vicinity of Earth millions of years ago.
Star explosions, or supernovae create many of t Rocket Lab mission failure blamed on possible engine problem
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03
California-based launch company Rocket Lab has blamed a possible engine problem for the loss Saturday of its Electron rocket and commercial satellite payload.
The rocket fell safely into the Pacific Ocean off the company's launch site in New Zealand due to an automatic shutdown triggered by safety systems, according to the company.
It was the 20th mission for Electron and the sec Proposed base for Elon Musk's SpaceX project threatens lands and livelihoods in Biak, Papua
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03
In December 2020, the Indonesian government had offered the Papuan island of Biak, home to some 100,000 inhabitants, to the centibillionare Elon Musk as a potential launch site for the SpaceX Mars-bound expedition.
SpaceX, an aerospace corporation founded in 2002 by Musk, is arguably the world's most leading-edge technological project. It aims to enable humans to travel to and live on Mars New Phoebus contract paves the way for development of future lightweight composite rocket stages
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 08:03
The European Space Agency (ESA) and ArianeGroup, lead contractor and design authority for Ariane 6, have signed a new technological development contract in the field of carbon composites. The PHOEBUS (Prototype of a Highly OptimizEd Black UpperStage) program will increase the maturity of the technologies needed to lower both the manufacturing cost and the weight of the Ariane 6 upper stage.