The contract supports next-generation GPS IIIF satellites through 2030 The post Lockheed Martin wins $105 million contract for GPS ground control system as OCX winds down appeared first on SpaceNews.
SAN FRANCISCO – Albedo, the former Earth-observation startup now focused on satellite manufacturing, announced plans April 9 to send its second spacecraft into very low-Earth orbit (VLEO). Vicinity, scheduled to launch in 2027, will deploy solar arrays to provide far more power than the solar panels mounted on Precision, the bus that housed Albedo’s 2025 […] The post Albedo prepares second VLEO mission for 2027 launch appeared first on SpaceNews.
The companies will compete for contracts to build ‘neighborhood watch’ satellites The post Space Force taps 14 firms for $1.8 billion GEO surveillance program appeared first on SpaceNews.
Preparing to send astronauts back to the moon is no small feat. Spaceflight exposes the body to both known and unknown risks, some of which are subtle, cumulative, and difficult to predict. When humans were last on the lunar surface in 1972, they stayed for just over three days. On that final mission, Apollo astronauts […] The post What returning to lunar space means for human health appeared first on SpaceNews.
Space mobility company Portal Space Systems has raised $50 million to scale up development of its highly maneuverable spacecraft. The post Portal Space Systems raises $50 million to accelerate spacecraft development appeared first on SpaceNews.
he Pentagon is no longer asking whether commercial space will matter in future conflicts. It is building a strategy around the assumption that it will. The post A new kind of arsenal: commercial satellites appeared first on SpaceNews.
China carried out separate Long March 8 and Long March 6A launches this week, adding new batches of satellites to the country’s megaconstellation projects. The post China conducts pair of Long March launches for Thousand Sails and Guowang megaconstellations appeared first on SpaceNews.
In this episode of the Space Minds podcast, SpaceNews’ Mike Gruss interviews Heather Pringle, a retired Major General of the US Air Force who is now the CEO of the […] The post Heather Pringle on the upcoming Space Symposium and future international collaboration in space appeared first on SpaceNews.
MILAN – PLD Space signed a 30 million euro ($35 million) venture debt loan with the European Investment Bank (EIB) on April 7, a move to support the final development stage of MIURA 5, PLD’s lightweight rocket. Miura 5, which is designed to deploy roughly 540 kilograms to 1 ton of payload to low Earth […] The post PLD Space secures $35 million European Investment Bank loan for MIURA 5 launcher appeared first on SpaceNews.
Observing the Taurus Molecular Cloud, a research team led by Kyushu University has found that during the early growth period of a baby star, the protostellar disk blows magnetic flux 1,000 au in size and creates a giant, relatively warm ring. Describing these phenomena as a baby star’s “sneezes,” these expulsions of energy and gas help the star to properly develop.
A crew of tiny worms will spend six months aboard the International Space Station, helping researchers better understand how long-term spaceflight affects human astronauts. Continue ReadingCrew of tiny worms readies for April 10 launch to International Space Station
On the home stretch of their nine-day mission, the four astronauts flying aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft are just beginning to reflect on their experience of flying beyond the Moon. Their memories of Monday’s encounter with the Moon are still fresh as they return to Earth, heading for reentry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Friday evening. “I’m actually getting chills right now just thinking about it. My palms are sweating,” said Reid Wiseman, commander Continue ReadingThe gravity of their experience hasn’t quite set in for the Artemis II astronauts
A research group has successfully determined, for the first time in the world, the capsid (outer shell) structure of Melbournevirus—a member of the giant virus family—at a resolution of 4.4 Å using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). The work is published in the journal Viruses. The team was led by Project Professor Kazuyoshi Murata at the Exploratory Research Center on Life and Living Systems (ExCELLS) / National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS), in collaboration with Senior Researcher Kenta Okamoto at Uppsala University and Professor Chantal Abergel at Aix-Marseille University.
In response to a request from the U.S. government, Planet Labs made a decision not to share photos of Iran as well as the larger conflict region in the Middle East indefinitely Continue Reading‘It probably will start a precedent’: Why satellite company’s withholding of Iran imagery has this expert worried
After successfully completing their mission to the moon, the Artemis II crew are about to return to Earth.
The asteroid is on the European Space Agency’s Risk List, but poses no threat to Earth or the moon during the close approach. Continue ReadingA house-size asteroid is heading toward Earth tonight: Here’s what you need to know
A Virtual Telescope Project livestream will track NASA’s Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft as it races back toward Earth. Here’s how to watch it live. Continue ReadingWatch Artemis 2 race back to Earth in this telescope livestream tonight
Twin control rooms at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are actively supporting real-time mission operations in lunar orbit as part of the agency’s Artemis II mission, helping ensure astronaut safety and mission success as the crew prepares to return to Earth Friday, April 10.
The Lyrid meteor shower peaks overnight on April 21-22. Continue Reading1 week until the Lyrid meteor shower lights up April skies: Here’s what you need to know
‘I’m proof that if you keep dreaming big, you too can be out of this world.’ Continue ReadingNASA astronaut Leland Melvin makes a cartoon cameo in latest episode of Disney+’s ‘Hey A.J.!’
