Herndon VA (SPX) Jan 12, 2022
HawkEye 360 Inc., the world's leading commercial provider of space-based radio frequency (RF) data and analytics, has announced it has been awarded a three year, $15.5 million Experimental Purpose Agreement (EPA) contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate. Through the agreement, HawkEye 360 will provide radio frequency analytics research, development, and

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 13, 2022
The Air Force's and Space Force's highest ranking officers issued grim warnings to Congress Jan. 12, telling a House subcommittee that failing to approve a new spending plan for the current fiscal year would directly harm readiness, inhibit modernization and diminish the services' capacity to confront emerging security threats. Rolling over the current Air Force budget for another year, a

Moscow (Sputnik) Jan 13, 2022
Previously, the fictitious "Russian threat" mentioned by numerous agencies and security services, coupled with a media narrative of an "assertive" and "aggressive" Moscow has been cited as the reason for a plethora of military measures, including a historic hike of the military budget unseen since the Cold War-era and a re-establishment of units. More countries see space as a possible aren

Orlando FL (UPI) Jan 14, 2022
Virgin Orbit kicked off an ambitious launch schedule for 2022 on Thursday by sending seven small satellites into space aboard a rocket launched from a jet high above the Pacific Ocean. The LauncherOne rocket ignited around 2:53 p.m. PST from under the wing of the company's Cosmic Girl, a modified 747, about an hour after it took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in Southern California. "

Livermore CA (SPX) Jan 14, 2022
The discovery of more than 4,500 extra-solar planets has created a need for modelling their interior structure and dynamics. As it turns out, iron plays a key role. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and collaborators have used lasers at the National Ignition Facility to experimentally determine the high-pressure melting curve and structural properties of pure iron up

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 14, 2022
Tom Jacobs of Bellevue, Washington, loves treasure hunts. Since 2010, the former U.S. naval officer has participated in online volunteer projects that allow anyone who is interested - "citizen scientists" - to look through NASA telescope data for signs of exoplanets, planets beyond our solar system. Now, Jacobs has helped discover a giant gaseous planet about 379 light-years from Earth, or

Montreal, Canada (SPX) Jan 14, 2022
Imagine being in a place where the winds are so strong that they move at the speed of sound. That's just one aspect of the atmosphere on XO-3b, one of a class of exoplanets (planets outside our solar system), known as hot Jupiters. The eccentric orbit of the planet also leads to seasonal variations hundreds of times stronger than what we experience on Earth. In a recent paper, a McGill-led

Maunakea HI (SPX) Jan 14, 2022
Three newly-discovered planets have been orbiting dangerously close to stars nearing the end of their lives. Out of the thousands of extrasolar planets found so far, these three gas giant planets first detected by the NASA TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) Mission, have some of the shortest-period orbits around subgiant or giant stars. One of the planets, TOI-2337b, will be consumed b

New York NY (SPX) Jan 14, 2022
Astronomers have reported a second, super-sized moon orbiting a Jupiter-sized planet beyond our solar system. If confirmed, the sighting could mean that exomoons are as common in the universe as exoplanets, and that big or small, such moons are a feature of planetary systems. But it could be a long wait. The first-ever sighting of an exomoon four years ago is still awaiting confirmation, and ver

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 14, 2022
Two new studies using data from NASA's retired Spitzer Space Telescope shed light on giant exoplanets and brown dwarfs, objects that aren't quite stars but aren't quite planets either. Both studies will be the focus of virtual news conferences hosted by the American Astronomical Society on Jan. 13. One investigation shows that the weather on brown dwarfs - which form like stars but don't h