NASA delays VIPER lunar rover launch by a year
Original Publication Date: 2022-07-19 11:01
NASA has delayed the launch of an ice-prospecting lunar rover by a year. The one-year delay is to conduct additional ground testing of the Griffin lunar lander. The rover is designed to land near Nobile Crater in the south polar regions of the moon.
DirecTV says 5G plan would degrade satellite TV reception
Original Publication Date: 2022-07-18 23:14
DirecTV: Mobile operations in the band would cause extensive harmful interference. Both Dish and DirecTV are already using frequencies in the band to provide linear TV programming. OneWeb and SpaceX recently commissioned studies showing the proposed 5G services would significantly disrupt their networks.
L3Harris, Northrop Grumman to build 28 missile-tracking satellites for U.S. Space Development Agency
Original Publication Date: 2022-07-18 18:56
L3Harris Technologies and Northrop Grumman to each build 14 missile-tracking satellites. The satellites will be part of a global network of eyes in the sky. The satellites are intended to detect and track the latest generation of ballistic and hypersonic missiles. Having a constellation of infrared sensing satellites is a top priority for the Pentagon.
For JWST, celebrating the future while remembering the past - SpaceNews
Original Publication Date: 2022-07-18 15:38
On July 12, NASA will release the first observations from the James Webb Space Telescope. Jeff Foust: The observations are intended to demonstrate JWST’s full range of capabilities. He says engineers are moved by just how well JWST has performed in space. Foust: NASA needs to demonstrate it can do a better job managing big science missions.
Long March rocket launches two radar satellites for China Siwei – Spaceflight Now
Original Publication Date: 2022-07-18 00:00
The Siwei Gaojing 2-01 and 2-02 satellites lifted off from the Taiyuan launch base in northern China’s Shanxi province. The satellites are owned by China Siwei Surveying and Mapping Technology Ltd., a subsidiary of CASC. China Siwei sells satellite remote sensing imagery on a commercial basis.
NASASpaceFlight.com
India launched its 55th Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on June 30, 2022. This launch was the second orbital launch for India in 2022. The launch was the 15th launch of the PSLV-CA variant, the second dedicated mission by the NewSpace India Limited (NSIL)
Commercial Archives
Impulse Space has announced that the company will launch the first commercial payload to Mars on board Relativity Space’s Terran R rocket. Under the new partnership, Relativity will launch Impulse’s Mars Cruise Vehicle and Mars Lander from Cape Canaveral, Florida, as part of an exclusive agreement until 2029.
International Archives
China launched two satellites on July 15 onboard a Chang Zheng 2C. Liftoff was at 22:57 UTC and confirmed to be a success a few minutes later. The payloads went to a Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) and are called Siwei Gaojing-2 1/02, or SuperView Neo-2 01/02. They are operated and constructed by China Siwei Survey and Mapping Technology Co. Ltd.
Chinese Long March 3B Launches APStar-6C Communications Satellite – Spaceflight101
China conducted a rare commercial launch of a Long March 3B rocket with the APStar-6C communications satellite. Long March 3B lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 16:06 UTC on a mission of under half an hour to lift the spacecraft into an elliptical Geostationary Transfer Orbit. Confirmation of launch success was provided by APT Satellite around 40 minutes after liftoff when the satellite had been separated into its target orbit.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard Reaches new Heights in latest Test Flight – Spaceflight101
Blue Origin's New Shepard reached a peak altitude of 107 Kilometers on Sunday. The mission was the eighth in Blue Origin’s New Shepard flight test program. Sunday’s flight was host to “Mannequin Skywalker’ – an instrumented test dummy to collect data on the environment human crew members would experience.
News – Spaceflight101
Europe's Copernicus satellite fleet is gearing up for the arrival of its next addition on Wednesday. A Russian Rockot booster is set to blast off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 17:57 UTC with the Sentinel-3B multi-function satellite.
ISS Updates – Spaceflight101 – International Space Station
A veteran NASA spacewalker and an EVA rookie from Japan ended their week with nearly six hours of work outside the International Space Station. The restoration of the Station’s Mobile Servicing System started last year and continued in January to provide Canadarm2 with a new pair of grappling hands.
Featured – Spaceflight101
SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts first of at least six cargo ships inbound to ISS this year. The Dragon spacecraft will deliver science gear, supplies and maintenance hardware to the orbiting laboratory. The Falcon 9 was still covered in soot from a previous supply run to the International Space Station.
Re-Entry: Long March 11 Rocket Body – Spaceflight101
The CZ-11 fourth stage used leftover propellant for a partial de-orbit maneuver, lowering its perigee to 120 Kilometers to significantly accelerate its orbital decay. It is reportedly built around a YF-50 main engine and in a nominal mission conducts the orbital circularization after the three CZ-11 stages.
The Exploration Behind the Inspiration at NASA
Video shows fanciful, imagined adventures to real places we’ve studied at NASA. Inspired by a series of travel posters produced by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. A NASA videographer used green screens to add motion and real people to fanciful scenes from real places.
Discovery Alert: Two New, Rocky Planets in the Solar Neighborhood
HD 260655 b and HD 260655 c are among the closest-known rocky planets yet found outside our solar system that astronomers can observe crossing the faces of their stars. Both planets are ‘super-Earths’ – terrestrial worlds like ours, only bigger. Planet b is about 1.2 times as big around as Earth, planet c 1.5 times.
Discovery Alert: See the Image – 2 Planets Orbit a Sun-like Star
TyC 8998-760-1 b and c are the first multi-planet system to be directly imaged around a Sun-like star. The inner planet, b, is about 14 times the mass, or heft, of Jupiter, c about 6 times. Planet b is 160 times the Earth-Sun distance, planet c is about 320 times.
Download our Exoplanet Coloring Pages and #ColorWithNASA
NASA studies exoplanets with telescopes on the ground and in space. These posters are now available as coloring pages for you to add your own creative vision to exoplanet art. Grab crayons, markers, paint or colored pencils and shade in the hues of rocky terrain, lava oceans, planetary systems and more.
New apps: 'NASA Selfies' and TRAPPIST-1 VR
The new NASA Selfies app lets you generate snapshots of yourself in a virtual spacesuit, posing in front of gorgeous cosmic locations. The new Exoplanet Excursions VR app gives users a guided tour of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system, featuring artist impressions of the seven Earth-size planets therein.
New clues to compositions of TRAPPIST-1 planets
Seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system are mostly made of rock. Some of the planets could have the potential to hold more water than Earth. The form that water would take on these planets would depend on the amount of heat they receive from their star, which is a mere 9 percent as massive as our Sun.
Can garnet planets be habitable?
Astronomers in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey have made these observations using the APOGEE spectrograph on the 2.5m Sloan Foundation Telescope at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico. Plate tectonics is believed to be essential for life on Earth, because of how volcanoes and ocean ridges recycle elements.