Copernical Team
FAA Begins Scoping Period for Environmental Review at SpaceX Launch Site
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is holding a public scoping period for the draft Environmental Assessment (EA) related to plans by SpaceX to apply for licenses for suborbital and orbital launches of its Starship/Super Heavy project at its facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
The scoping period will help the FAA in determine the scope of issues for analysis in the draft EA. The FAA requ ESA highlights 2020
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2020 has been another year of progress for ESA. The launch and commissioning of Solar Orbiter heralded a new era of space science, whilst Eutelsat Konnect revolutionised telecommunications. The new Vega SSMS began a cost-effective new launch system for small satellites, deploying exciting new technologies such as PhiSat and ESAIL. ESA’s Earth Observation activities were also showcased, with the launch of Sentinel-6 and an international effort to monitor the environmental and economic impact of COVID-19. Gaia and Cheops yielded new findings about our universe; ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano returned successfully from orbit. With a lunar programme agreement
Image: Instruments installed on Euclid spacecraft
The optical and infrared instruments of Euclid, ESA's mission to study dark energy and dark matter, have passed the qualification and acceptance review and are now fully integrated into the spacecraft's payload module. This marks an important step forward in the assembly of the Euclid space telescope, which is scheduled for launch in 2022.
The visible and infrared instruments are crucial to measure the shapes and distances of billions of galaxies. This will enable scientists to reconstruct 10 billion years of cosmic history, and investigate the mysterious dark matter and dark energy that are thought to dominate the universe.
This image shows Euclid's payload module, which consists of a silicon baseplate supporting the telescope and two instruments. The visual imager is visible towards the top, which, with more than 600 megapixels, will be one of the biggest cameras in space. The near-infrared spectrometer and photometer is to the right. The telescope's primary and secondary mirrors are hidden from view and inside the white baffle with gold multi-layer insulation, underneath the baseplate in this orientation.
NASA Discoveries, R&D, Moon to Mars Exploration Plans Persevere in 2020
“NASA has impressed the nation with our resilience and persistence during the pandemic,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. China's new Long March-8 rocket makes first flight
China's new carrier rocket, the Long March-8, made its maiden flight on Tuesday, the country's space agency said, the first phase of a strategy to deploy launch vehicles that can be reused.
The Long March-8 series is part of China's endeavours to develop reusable rockets, potentially lowering mission costs and paving the way towards commercial launch services.
The programme has drawn parallels to private US rocket firm SpaceX's Falcon range, although China said in 2018 its reusable carrier vehicle would use different technologies.
The new medium-lift carrier rocket sent five satellites into planned orbit, blasting off from the Wenchang launch site on the southern Hainan island at 12:37 pm Beijing time (0437 GMT) on Tuesday.
What's with all the US space-related agencies?
For centuries, the U.S. military has fought wars on land and sea. For that, America has the Army, the Navy and the Marine Corps. Then, in 1909, the U.S. Army bought America's first military aircraft with a $30,000 contract awarded to the Wright brothers. Less than four decades later, in 1947, the U.S. military gave birth to the U.S. Air Force to operate in the air domain.
Now, the Defense Japan's signs historic MOU with the US Space Force
The U.S. Space Force and Japan's Office of National Space Policy signed an historic Memorandum of Understanding this week to launch two U.S. payloads on Japan's Quasi Zenith Satellite System.
The Department of the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center is developing the payloads, which feature Space Domain Awareness optical sensors and will launch from Japan's Tanegashima Space Cente Ethiopia takes over operation of Chinese-built satellite
The Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite-1, the African nation's first satellite, has been handed over to its Ethiopian operators, according to the China Academy of Space Technology, which designed and built the spacecraft.
A delivery ceremony was held earlier this month in Beijing with participants from both countries, it said in a statement.
Ethiopian Ambassador to China Teshome Toga China ponders moon base within five years
According to a report, China's national space agency said it would invite other agencies and foreign partners to work jointly on the project if possible, with the next lunar mission likely to take place in the next five years.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced it will analyse whether it can build a permanent base on the moon, media reports revealed on Thursday. China's space landing site chosen with utmost care
For Siziwang Banner of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, falling spacecraft are nothing unusual.
Before the landing of Chang'e 5 at 1:59 am on Thursday, the site also welcomed back 11 Shenzhou spacecraft designed for China's manned spaceflight program, as well as 14 astronauts over the past two decades.
Siziwang Banner is located at the center of Inner Mongolia, about 80 kilomete 
