WASHINGTON — A joint NASA/NOAA spacecraft that monitors space weather and provides imagery of Earth has been offline for more than a week because of a problem with its positioning system. The Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR, spacecraft went into a “safehold” June 27, interrupting its science observations from its perch at the Earth-sun

The SDA is looking to develop an “agile, responsive next-generation space architecture.” WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency on July 1 issued its first Request for Information, or RFI, asking interested contractors to submit 10-page white papers by August 5. According to the solicitation, the SDA is looking for “ideas, methodologies, approaches, technologies, and systems

WASHINGTON — Cable and broadband giant Charter Communications has teamed up with two telecom-sector trade organizations on a pitch to repurpose almost double the amount of C-band spectrum offered in the satellite operator-led C-Band Alliance plan. Charter, ACA Connects and the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) on July 1 filed a counterplan with the U.S. Federal

The rotation of giant discs of dust and gas swirling into supermassive black holes billions of light-years away may sound like a difficult thing to measure, but astronomers have found a way to do it. Using a new technique, researchers have determined the spin of five accretion discs – finding that one, in a quasar

TITUSVILLE, Fla. — Development of a European-Russian Mars lander hit a setback when the spacecraft’s parachutes malfunctioned in a recent test, but project officials said they still have time to correct the problem before its launch in a year. In a June 28 statement, the European Space Agency said that two parachutes suffered “unexpected damage”

The death of a binary star is not a peaceful affair. They rumble and erupt, blasting off their outer material and spewing radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum out into space. It’s a process that can take a very long time – the more massive the star, the more spectacular the firework display. Eta Carinae, a

WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman will build two satellites for Space Norway, each equipped with payloads for Inmarsat, the Norwegian Ministry of Defense, and the U.S. Air Force.  Space Norway announced the purchase July 3, having downselected between Northrop Grumman and an unnamed, competing U.S. satellite manufacturer. SpaceX will launch both satellites on a Falcon 9

WASHINGTON — SpaceIL’s recent decision not to mount a second lunar lander mission is only the latest sign of delays and retrenchment among international ventures planning missions to the moon. In a June 25 tweet, SpaceIL announced that, contrary to announcements made shortly after the its Beresheet lunar lander crashed attempting a soft landing on

They’re some of the most mysterious and powerful events in space, and we don’t know what causes them – but in a major fear, astronomers have just traced another weird signal to its source. The strange, energetic phenomena are called fast radio bursts (FRBs), and for just the second time in history – both announced in

Two potential new tenants are rocket manufacturers Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman that are competing for a National Security Space Launch Phase 2 contract. VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — Missions to polar orbits are not in high demand these days, and that has caused a slowdown in space launch activity at the 99,000-acre Western

At the same time as a solar eclipse was passing over Argentina and Chile on July 2, a massive hurricane was brewing in the Eastern Pacific ocean – and satellite cameras tracking the path of the eclipse have caught both in a stunning video. The eclipse began over the South Pacific east of New Zealand

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — With a successful test of the spacecraft’s abort system now complete, the manager of NASA’s Orion program is optimistic the spacecraft will be ready to send humans to the moon in 2024 even as development schedules continue to slip. The Ascent Abort-2 test, carried out July 2 from Launch Complex

HELSINKI — China has released a set of rules to guide the development of launch vehicles in the growing commercial sector as companies continue to progress and new actors emerge. The document outlines rules for the research, development, testing of launch vehicles, safety, confidentiality and export control, interaction with launch sites, dealing with propellants, as

There’s something about Jupiter that mesmerizes those who gaze at it. It’s intricate, dazzling clouds are a visual representation of the laws of nature that are hard to turn away from. And even though the Juno spacecraft has been at Jupiter for almost three years now, and has delivered thousands of images of the gas

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — NASA successfully demonstrated the abort system for its Orion spacecraft July 2 during a dramatic in-flight test of the system at Cape Canaveral. A refurbished Peacekeeper rocket motor lifted off from Space Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station lifted off at 7 a.m. Eastern, carrying a boilerplate

Well, friends, we have another dimming star mystery on our hands, and it’s unlike any dimming star we’ve seen yet. It’s called EPIC 249706694, a binary star located around 350 light-years away, and astronomers have identified 28 dips in its brightness. While the drops in light are mostly the same, there’s also a problem –

WASHINGTON — The failure of at least five percent of the first batch of SpaceX Starlink satellites has put a spotlight on the growing concerns that satellite megaconstellations could litter low Earth orbit with hundreds of dead satellites. SpaceX said in a June 28 statement that three of the 60 Starlink satellites the company launched

Interstellar object ‘Oumuamua – that strange, cigar-shaped chunk of rock from somewhere a vast distance beyond the Solar System – is, new research has concluded, absolutely, positively not an alien spaceship. OK, well, probably not. We can’t tell for sure without closely examining the thing, and it’s passed beyond our reach now. But, after carefully

HELSINKI — The Chang’e-4 lander and Yutu-2 rover resumed science and exploration activities June 27 for the start of the mission’s seventh lunar day on the far side of the moon. The 140-kilogram Yutu-2 (Jade Rabbit-2) rover awoke at 1:26 a.m. Eastern, followed by the lander at 9:45 p.m., with both spacecraft and their science

Super-Massive Black Holes (SMBH) are hard to explain. These gargantuan singularities are thought to be at the center of every large galaxy (our Milky Way has one) but their presence there sometimes defies easy explanation. As far as we know, black holes form when giant stars collapse. But that explanation doesn’t fit all the evidence.