ESA’s Ariane 6 and Vega-C will soon join the family of launch vehicles operating from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana to guarantee more opportunities for Europe to reach space. The P120C motor, which will power both Ariane 6 and Vega-C, will soon come into operations with the Vega-C inaugural flight.

An important milestone in the development of ESA’s tenth Earth Explorer satellite mission, Harmony, has been reached thanks to two aircraft flying in tight formation over the Dutch Wadden Islands collecting key data on sea state and currents. The main purpose of this tricky airborne experiment is to mimic the geometry at which the Harmony satellites will measure various aspects of ocean dynamics to understand how air and the ocean surface interact, which, in turn, will improve weather prediction and climate models.

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Mar 31, 2022
The Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) satellite sees the world very differently from the way the people who live there do. The German environmental satellite measures the solar radiation that is reflected by Earth's surface. EnMAP not only captures visible light, but also short-wave infrared. These data allow precise conclusions to be drawn about conditions and changes on

Washington DC (SPX) Mar 31, 2022
SpacePharma is preparing to launch three sets of experiments to orbit on the AXIOM-1 flight. One is ALEPH FARMS - Meat for Space, which tests a technology for growing meat products from animal cells. The second is CADW which examines whether a specific DNA damage pathway is activated by microgravity. And the third is AMORPHICAL which examines the influence of Amorphous Calcium Carbonate on

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Mar 30, 2022
Synspective Inc., a SAR satellite data and solutions provider, announced that the company has raised US $100M (11.9 billion yen) including a Series B funding round. The latest funding was led by Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. (Tokyo, Japan), Nomura SPARX Investment, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan), and Pavilion Capital Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) among others, as well as bank loans, and it is supposed to be ranked wi

Seoul (Yonhap) Mar 31, 2022
South Korea successfully test-fired a solid-fuel space rocket Wednesday, the defense ministry said, following North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch last week. The state-run Agency for Defense Development conducted the first such test at a testing site in Taean, 150 kilometers southwest of Seoul, to confirm capabilities of the homegrown space launch vehicle, accordi

Seoul (AFP) March 30, 2022
North Korea faked a "successful" launch of its most powerful long-range missile to shore up domestic support for Kim Jong Un's regime after the real test ended in failure, analysts say. State media trumpeted the "miraculous" launch of what it claimed was a new Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile on March 24, publishing dramatic photos and videos of leader Kim personally overseeing

White Sands NM (SPX) Mar 30, 2022
Lockheed Martin, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the U.S. Army have further integrated the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptor into the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Weapon System - resulting in a more tightly integrated, layered missile defense system. During a test, the THAAD system successfully launched a PAC-3 MSE to intercept a tactical ballistic mis

Falls Church VA (SPX) Mar 30, 2022
On the battlefield, snipers rarely work alone. Snipers act as part of a system with a spotter who surveys a wide area to identify potential targets. That's one way to think about the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) system, according to Mike Ciffone, director of programs, OPIR, Northrop Grumman. The Next-Generation Polar (NGP) satellites act as the spotter, surveying an

Almaty, Kazakhstan (AFP) March 30, 2022
A record-breaking US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts reached Earth Wednesday, with tensions between Moscow and the West soaring over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russia's space agency Roscosmos said. "The crew of Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, as well as NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, has returned to Earth," Roscosmos said after footage showed the Soyuz descent