Satellite News
EarthCARE satellite to launch with advanced climate instruments
Scheduled for a May launch, the EarthCARE satellite is equipped with four advanced instruments aimed at studying Earth’s clouds and their impact on climate. This joint effort by Airbus, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) seeks to deepen our understanding of climate dynamics and temperature regulation via cloud behavior.
Launcher News
SpaceX Starship will be 500 feet tall to prepare for Mars missions, Elon Musk says (video)
Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, told employees on April 4 that Starship will eventually be as tall as 500 feet (150 meters), roughly 20 percent higher than the massive system aboard the Super Heavy rocket right now.
South Korea to launch second spy military satellite next week
South Korea will launch its second domestically made military spy satellite in the United States next week, Seoul’s defence ministry confirmed Friday, in its latest move to better counter nuclear-armed North Korea.The latest developments intensify a space race on the Korean peninsula after the North launched its own first military eye in the sky in November last year.
Self-eating rocket prototype engine consume itself then explode (video)
British researchers have tested a prototype self-eating rocket that could launch tiny satellites cheaply and without leaving any debris behind.
Exploration News
Boeing’s 1st Starliner astronaut launch delayed again, to May 6
The five-day push will accommodate high levels of activity on the International Space Station. CFT will send NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS aboard Starliner for a roughly 10-day stay. The mission will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Japanese astronaut to be first non-American to set foot on Moon
A lucky Japanese astronaut will become the first non-American to set foot on the Moon during one of NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions, US President Joe Biden announced Wednesday. n a joint media release, the United States and Japan clarified that a Japanese national would land on the Moon “assuming important benchmarks are achieved,” without clarifying further. The Toyota lunar rover provided by Japan in return will be pressurized, meaning astronauts can travel farther and work for longer periods on the lunar surface, according to the statement.
NASA continues Artemis program amid advancements in Starship program at SpaceX
Artemis plays a key diplomatic role through the Artemis Accords, an international agreement that establishes a cooperative framework for space exploration. This initiative not only advances U.S. leadership in space but also promotes global partnerships crucial for the long-term success of extraterrestrial endeavors.While SpaceX’s Starship continues to make headlines for its cost-effectiveness and potential for future missions, it remains in the experimental phase. The transition to a new system for critical missions would require extensive validation to meet NASA’s rigorous safety and reliability standards.
US Moon lander ‘permanently’ asleep after historic landing: company
Houston-based Intuitive Machines said late Saturday that the lander, named Odysseus, had not phoned home this week when its solar panels were projected to receive enough sunlight to turn on its radio.
NewSpace News
Private Sector Innovation and Its Impact on the Space Industry
The private sector’s involvement in space exploration has dramatically transformed the landscape of the industry. Companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and others have introduced new technologies
Control moment gyroscopes deliver a quantum leap in smallsat capabilities
For more than a decade, RTX’s small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider, Blue Canyon Technologies’, high-precision, advanced solutions have disrupted the space industry by demonstrating how lower-cost smallsats serve as a complement to larger satellites in the commercial, science and defense sectors. Now, the same can be said for the company’s components.
Astroscale’s ADRAS-J mission enters next phase
Space Safety News
Office of Space Commerce selects locations for TraCSS operations centers
During a panel at the 39th Space Symposium April 11, Richard DalBello, director of the Office of Space Commerce, announced that the primary operations center for the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) will be at the David Skaggs Research Center, operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Boulder, Colorado. A secondary center will be at another NOAA facility in Suitland, Maryland.
LeoLabs zeroes in on anomalies in satellite operations
A LeoLabs visualization tool shown at the 39th Space Symposium tracks maneuvers performed by satellites that change their orbits frequently. And it highlights maneuvers conducted by satellites that did not typically perform them.
Science & Technology News
AI-driven hyperspectral imaging breakthrough by intuition-1 satellite
KP Labs has achieved a critical milestone with the successful acquisition and AI processing of hyperspectral images on its Intuition-1 satellite. This new capability offers unprecedented detail in Earth observation, particularly across the equatorial regions, significantly enhancing the potential for scientific and commercial data analysis.
2024 solar eclipse! Totality over Ohio, New York and Maine in 2-minute time-lapse
See totality occur over Ohio, New York and Maine in these time-lapsed views. Total solar eclipse 2024 thrills millions across North America: https://www.space.com/total-solar-ecl…
Sierra Space wants to drop cargo from orbit to anywhere on Earth in 90 minutes
On-demand cargo delivery from orbit? Sierra Space wants to make it a reality with its new “Ghost” concept.
