Houston TX (SPX) Jul 11, 2023
The inaugural CHAPEA, or Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, mission began Sunday, June 25, when the four-person volunteer crew entered its new home at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to begin a 378-day Mars surface simulation. This is the first of three planned missions. NASA will use research gained from CHAPEA to determine how to best support crew health and performan

Beijing, China (SPX) Jul 11, 2023
LandSpace, a leading private rocket maker in China, will soon carry out the second launch of its ZQ 2, the world's first methane-propelled carrier rocket, at a launch facility in the Gobi Desert. The rocket was transported to its service tower at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China on Thursday, and would go through final function checks, LandSpace said on Friday, noti

Space Coast FL (SPX) Jul 11, 2023
A 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket thundered off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on Sunday at 11:58 p.m. EDT (0358 UTC Monday). SpaceX's Starlink Group mission 6-5 launched 22 Starlink onboard the Falcon 9. This is the fifth launch into a new orbital shell for SpaceX's second-generation Starlink constellation, called Starlink Gen2, that

Hindmarsh, Australia (SPX) Jul 11, 2023
Australian space company Southern Launch is celebrating growing from a start-up with big ideas to a pioneer of Australia's space industry with a brand new logo. Southern Launch CEO Lloyd Damp says, 'Our new logo marks the next chapter for Southern Launch. It signifies the growth we have had as a company over the past 5 years and sends a message to the global space industry that what we hav

Forres UK (SPX) Jul 11, 2023
K-based spaceflight company, Orbex, has extended its footprint by over thirty percent across its Scottish and Danish design and production facilities, in preparation for the launch of its Prime rocket. The company is adding an extra 1,500 square metres of factory and office space to its existing 4,750 square metre estate in Forres, Scotland and Copenhagen, Denmark. The additional space wil

Houston TX (SPX) Jul 11, 2023
Collins Aerospace, an RTX business (NYSE: RTX) announced today it has been awarded a new task order under NASA's Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services ("xEVAS") contract to modify the company's current spacesuit to support lunar endeavors. The follow-on task order allows Collins to add on to the company's new spacesuit design, developing elements that are compatible for use on the l

Elche, Spain (SPX) Jul 11, 2023
PLD Space, the company that designs, develops, manufactures and operates the first private launcher in Europe, wins the aerospace public-private partnership contract promoted by Spanish Government to develop a micro launcher (PERTE), having obtained the best technical qualification by the Contracting Committee, as well as the independent experts appointed to evaluate the projects submitted.

Washington DC (UPI) Jul 10, 2023
NASA is expanding its options for spacewalking suits and moonwalking suits with task orders from Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace. The Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services task orders will include a spacesuit for use in low-Earth orbit from Axiom Space and a spacesuit for Artemis missions on the lunar surface from Collins Aerospace, with each valued at $5 million. These

Paris (AFP) July 10, 2023
A scorching hot world where metal clouds rain drops of titanium is the most reflective planet ever observed outside of our Solar System, astronomers said on Monday. This strange world, which is more than 260 light years from Earth, reflects 80 percent of the light from its host star, according to new observations from Europe's exoplanet-probing Cheops space telescope. That makes it the

After exceeding its planned life in orbit, ESA’s Aeolus wind satellite is on its way back to Earth. The satellite is currently falling around 1 km a day, and its descent is accelerating. ESA’s spacecraft operators will soon intervene and attempt to guide Aeolus in a first-of-its-kind assisted reentry. Why is ESA doing this?