Congressional letter asks NASA to rescind Chandra cuts
Original Publication Date: 2024-06-13 09:32
Nine members of Congress ask NASA to reconsider changes to operations of Chandra X-Ray Observatory. They oppose NASA's budget proposal to slash funding for the 25-year-old telescope. NASA is concluding a review it announced in March to find ways to reduce the costs of operating both Chandra and Hubble.
ESA-China moon cooperation could end with Chang’e-6
Original Publication Date: 2024-06-12 20:28
European-Chinese cooperation in lunar exploration could come to an end. ESA provided a payload for China’s Chang’e-6 complex lunar far side sample return mission. The mission aims to gather and return samples from the lunar far side. China is preparing for two lunar south pole missions with Chang'e-7 around 2026.
Apex raises $95 million to increase satellite bus production
Original Publication Date: 2024-06-12 09:46
Satellite manufacturing startup Apex has raised $95 million. The company will use the funding to accelerate production of its Aries satellite bus. Apex plans to double its workforce to about 100 employees by the end of the year. The funding will allow Apex to start producing Nova buses in 2025.
Fifth helium leak detected on Starliner
Original Publication Date: 2024-06-12 01:56
NASA confirms fifth helium leak in Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. NASA had mentioned there were four in a briefing hours after the spacecraft’s June 6 docking. Engineers estimate Starliner has enough helium to support 70 hours of flight operations. Only seven hours is needed for Starliner to return to Earth.
Rocket Lab wins government support to expand solar cell production
Original Publication Date: 2024-06-11 23:30
Rocket Lab has signed an agreement with the U.S. Commerce Department. The agreement would allow the company to receive up to $23.9 million. Rocket Lab said it secured $25.5 million in financial assistance and incentives from the state of New Mexico. The funding will go towards expansion of a Rocket Lab facility in Albuquerque.
Pentagon embracing SpaceX’s Starshield for future military satcom
Original Publication Date: 2024-06-11 22:00
Defense Department plans to add more than 100 of SpaceX's Starshield satellites. Starshield is a militarized version of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites. Unlike Starlink, which is a commercial service, the Starshield satellites would be owned by U.S.
Kongsberg NanoAvionics strengthens government focus with new CEO
Original Publication Date: 2024-06-11 19:56
Kongsberg NanoAvionics appoints national security specialist Atle Wøllo as CEO. Wøllo joined after nearly three decades at Norway's Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. NanoAvionics produces satellites ranging from about 10 to 220 kilograms. The company currently employs around 300 people across offices in Lithuania, UK and U.S.
SpaceX scrubs Wednesday Starlink satellites launch – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2024-06-12 00:00
SpaceX scrubbed Wednesday’s launch and will attempt on Thursday batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The delay is due to weather conditions that remained ‘poor’ Tropical downpours deluged Florida and a possibility of 4-6 inches in some Central Florida areas.
Optical Surfaces receives order for extremely large reference flat for testing space optics – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2024-06-12 00:00
JEEWOO Photonics has ordered a 700mm diameter reference flat from Optical Surfaces Ltd. The reference flat is a key component in an optical test system being developed for a space optics organization. The production of the large CLEARCERAM®-Z reference flat is well underway, we hope to move onto final polishing and testing soon.
Digital Earth Africa’s major advancement in the observation + monitoring of Africa’s waterbodies – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2024-06-12 00:00
Digital Earth Africa has launched their Waterbodies Monitoring Service. This service is a world-first developed in – and for – the African continent. The service is unique among satellite-based global surface water datasets. It identifies more than 700,000 unique water bodies across Africa, incorporating more than 40 years of satellite observations.
Rocket Lab to launch France’s “No Time Toulouse” IoT mission – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2024-06-12 00:00
Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch the “No Time Toulouse’ mission on June 19. Rocket Lab will send Electron from Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. First of five dedicated flights on behalf of Kinéis, a French Internet-of-Things company.
Lakita Lowe: Leading Space Commercialization Innovations and Fostering STEM Engagement
Original Publication Date: 2024-06-12 14:25
Lakita Lowe is a project integrator for NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program (CLDP) She leverages her background in scientific research and biomedical studies to bridge the gap between science and commercial innovation. Lowe recently supported both planning and real-time operations contributing to the successful completion of the Axiom-3 private astronaut mission.
Coming in Hot — NASA’s Chandra Checks Habitability of Exoplanets
Original Publication Date: 2024-06-12 13:26
Researchers examined stars close enough to Earth that telescopes set to begin operating in the next decade or two could take images of planets in the stars’ so-called habitable zones. This term defines orbits where the planets could have liquid water on their surfaces. Researchers used almost 10 days of Chandra observations and about 26 days of XMM observations, available in archives, to examine the X-ray behavior of 57 nearby stars.
NASA’s Repository Supports Research of Commercial Astronaut Health
NASA’s Open Science Data Repository is based out of the agency's Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. NASA continues to pursue the best methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through science conducted in laboratories, ground-based analogs, and missions to the International Space Station, NASA continues to research innovative ways to keep astronauts healthy.
NASA’s Roman Mission Gets Cosmic ‘Sneak Peek’ From Supercomputers
The Roman and Rubin simulations cover the same patch of the sky, totaling about 0.08 square degrees. The full simulation to be released later this year will span 70 square degrees, about the sky area covered by 350 full Moons. Overlapping them lets scientists learn how to use the best aspects of each telescope.
NASA Funds Study of Proposals to Investigate Space Weather Systems
NASA has selected three proposals for concept studies of missions to investigate the complex system of space weather that surrounds our planet. The three concepts propose how to enact the DYNAMIC (Dynamical Neutral Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling) mission. The DYNAMIC mission is designed to study how changes in Earth's lower atmosphere influence our planet's upper atmosphere.
Ed Stone, Former Director of JPL and Voyager Project Scientist, Dies
Edward Carroll Stone Jr. Was born on Jan. 23, 1936, in Knoxville, Iowa. He grew up in the nearby commercial center of Burlington. Stone was a construction superintendent who taught his son how to take things apart and put them back together again. In 1991, roughly two years after the mission completed its planetary flybys, Stone became director of JPL.