Copernical Team
Suborbital aerospace plane makes maiden flight
China carried out the maiden flight of the prototype of a reusable suborbital aerospace plane in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Friday, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the country's major space contractor.
The unnamed prototype was lifted by a carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and flew for a certain period of time before maki The role of the COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection
COSPAR, the Committee on Space Research, and its Panel on Planetary Protection (PPP) have recommended on 18 May 2021 that missions to the Moon would remain under the general terms of COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy Category II, but have added two sub-categories for lunar surface missions.
Category IIa concerns all missions to the surface of the Moon whose nominal mission profile does no Thruster research to help propel spacecraft
Faster space manoeuvres and safer, more sustainable, propellants may soon be possible thanks to a new three-year partnership between The Australian National University and French propulsion company ThrustMe.
Led by the ANU Research School of Physics, the joint research program will explore how electrothermal plasmas can help advance space propulsion technology.
ANU researcher Associa Thales Alenia Space to provide the first two pressurized modules for Axiom Space Station
Thales Alenia Space, Joint Venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), and Axiom Space of Houston, Texas (USA), have signed the final contract for the development of two key pressurized elements of Axiom Space Station - the world's first commercial space station. Scheduled for launch in 2024 and 2025 respectively, the two elements will originally be docked to the International Space Station Boeing's Starliner secured atop Atlas V rocket for second uncrewed launch
Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft was secured atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Saturday in preparation for this month's second uncrewed flight test.
The Starliner capsule was towed from Boeing's Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at to ULA's Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for hoisting atop the Atlas V, NASA s After conquering Earth, Bezos eyes new frontier in space
Jeff Bezos sets his sights on a new frontier in space in the coming days after building a gargantuan business empire which has in many ways conquered the Earth.
His journey into space aboard a reusable rocket built by his firm Blue Origin comes just two weeks after he stepped aside as chief executive of Amazon, which grew from a garage startup into one of the world's most formidable business Events expanding to mark 100 years since John Glenn's birth
Hubble Space Telescope fixed after month of no science
Activity discovered on largest comet ever found
A newly discovered visitor to the outer edges of our solar system has been shown to be the largest known comet ever, thanks to the rapid response telescopes of Las Cumbres Observatory. The object, which is named Comet C/2014 UN271 Bernardinelli-Bernstein after its two discoverers, was first announced on Saturday, June 19th, 2021. C/2014 UN271 was found by reprocessing four years of data from the Dark Energy Survey, which was carried out using the 4-m Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile between 2013 and 2019.
James Webb Space Telescope testing progress continues
Engineers have made considerable progress in checking off NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's final series of tests. Three big milestones have recently been completed, bringing the world's most complex and powerful space science telescope ever built much closer to being fully prepared for its million-mile journey to orbit. These three testing milestones are outlined below:
Deployable Tower Assembly Testing: Completed
This telescoping tower helps Webb maintain its necessary super cool operating temperatures by separating its mirrors and instruments from the comparatively warmer Sun-facing side and spacecraft bus.