Washington DC (SPX) Sep 22, 2022
NASA released a revised version of its Moon to Mars objectives Tuesday, forming a blueprint for shaping exploration throughout the solar system. These guideposts in the agency's Moon to Mars exploration approach will help shape NASA's investments, as well as those of the agency's industry and international partners, toward the Moon and beyond. Starting with 50 draft objectives developed by

Brussels, Belgium (SPX) Sep 22, 2022
Prospective Mars explorers can now take a hike around the landing site of NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover with an interactive map (https://maps.planet.fu-berlin.de/jezero/) loaded with orbital imagery, terrain data as well as synthetic and real 3D panoramic views of Jezero crater and its surrounding area. The map, which can be accessed through a normal web browser, has been presented at the

Vandenberg SFB CA (SPX) Sep 24, 2022
Team Vandenberg launched a National Reconnaissance Office mission (NROL-91) aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex-6 Saturday, Sept. 24, at 3:25 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. Col. Bryan Titus, Space Launch Delta 30 vice commander, was the launch decision authority. "Today the Western Range closed a chapter in history that began with

Paris, France (SPX) Sep 25, 2022
During a technical session at IAC, Michael Vergalla, CTO of Outpost, presented a paper on the findings of Outpost's two successful flight tests on a breakthrough technology of an autonomous paraglider re-entry system to enable industry-leading payload Earth return capabilities from orbit. The tests, conducted in April 2022, are a huge milestone for Outpost in creating a technology that wil

Luxembourg (SPX) Sep 25, 2022
An SES-led consortium of 20 European companies, with the European Space Agency (ESA) and European Commission support, will design, develop, launch and operate the EAGLE-1 satellite-based end-to-end system for secure Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), enabling in-orbit validation and demonstration of next-generation cyber-security across Europe. The groundbreaking partnership between ESA and a

Manoa HI (SPX) Sep 27, 2022
How old is our universe, and what is its size? A team of researchers led by University of Hawai?i at Manoa astronomers Brent Tully and Ehsan Kourkchi from the Institute for Astronomy have assembled the largest-ever compilation of high-precision galaxy distances, called Cosmicflows-4. Using eight different methods, they measured the distances to a whopping 56,000 galaxies. The study has been publ

London, UK (SPX) Sep 27, 2022
In October 2021, the UK Space Agency (UKSA) commissioned the ClearSpace UK-based subsidiary to perform a feasibility study for a mission to remove at least two UK-registered derelict objects from low Earth orbit (LEO). In this study, the team explored different mission scenarios, defined the mission and system requirements and selected the technologies necessary for the implementation of the mis

Fayetteville AK (SPX) Sep 27, 2022
Does the existence of life on Earth tell us anything about the probability of abiogenesis - the origin of life from inorganic substances - arising elsewhere? That's a question that has confounded scientists, and anyone else inclined to ponder it, for some time. A widely accepted argument from Australian-born astrophysicist Brandon Carter argues that the selection effect of our own existenc

Washington DC (SPX) Sep 27, 2022
After 10 months flying in space, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) - the world's first planetary defense technology demonstration - successfully impacted its asteroid target on Monday, the agency's first attempt to move an asteroid in space. Mission control at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, announced the successful impact at 7:14 p.m. E

Tucson AZ (SPX) Sep 27, 2022
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft successfully hit its target Sept. 26, and now scientists are analyzing to what degree the kinetic impact changed the trajectory of Dimorphos, the asteroid moonlet of Didymos. The mission is a test to see if hitting a body headed for Earth with a small spacecraft could redirect the threat away from us. Five Planetary Science In