Space

From its red and rugged surface, Mars looks like a lifeless planet, both dry and desolate. But that hasn’t always been the case. NASA’s Curiosity Rover has now collected even more evidence of an ancient salty lake that once lapped the edges of the Gale crater some 3.7 billion years ago. Analysing soil samples collected

WASHINGTON — As it explores changes to its constellation orbit and spacecraft design, Kepler Communications on Oct. 7 said it nonetheless secured launch slots for its first two fully commercial satellites.  Kepler will launch the two six-unit cubesats on a Russian Soyuz rocket operated by GK Launch Services in mid-2020.  Kepler arranged the launch through

Just less than 13,000 years ago, the climate cooled for a short while in many parts of the world, especially in the northern hemisphere. We know this because of what has been found in ice cores drilled in Greenland, as well as from oceans around the world. Grains of pollen from various plants can also

SAN FRANCISCO – Iceye announced an agreement Oct. 7 to work with ST Engineering Geo-Insights Pte Ltd., a technology, defense and engineering firm based in Singapore, to expand the South East Asia market for Iceye’s synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, data and analytics products. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding and an agreement

The centre of the Milky Way galaxy is a relatively calm place now (compared to other galactic centres), but that hasn’t always been the case. In fact, just 3.5 million years ago, it was positively riotous – expelling a burst of energy that eventually blasted 200,000 light-years above and below the galactic plane. The shockwaves

SDA’s top priority is to deploy a 250-satellite or larger communications constellation. WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency in a draft budget proposal seeks more than $11 billion over five years to plan, design and deploy large constellations of satellites for military use. The bulk of the funding is to build a 250-satellite or

When China’s Chang’e-4 spacecraft landed on the lunar far side on 3 January 2019, it made history. It was the first spacecraft to visit that part of the Moon, and among its payload was a 2.6 kg (5.7 lb) mini-biosphere called the Lunar Micro Ecosystem (LME). The sealed, cylindrical biosphere is only 18 cm (7.1

As it plans future experiments DARPA wants to take advantage of the growing availability of launch options. WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is seeking information from small-lift launch providers on the capabilities of their vehicles. The agency is doing market research in preparation for a 2022 launch of a payload that “may

When a single neutrino was detected by a neutrino detector in Antarctica in September 2017, it was the start of something amazing. It was to become the first-ever high-energy neutrino that astronomers could trace back to an origin – a blazar galaxy called TXS 0506+056, 3.8 billion light-years away. But, in the manner of many

WASHINGTON — As NASA gears up for a lengthy series of spacewalks to perform repairs on the International Space Station, the agency is seeking input on plans to produce a new generation of spacesuits needed for the moon. At an Oct. 4 briefing, NASA officials outlined plans to conduct 10 spacewalks outside the ISS over

In a death-defying maneuver for the spacecraft, NASA’s Juno has completed an unprecedented and unplanned engine burn. The purpose? To save the spacecraft’s ‘life’, or at least the rest of its mission to Jupiter. Jupiter casts a deep, dark shadow. Dark enough, in fact, to effectively kill Juno if it flies through it. Rather than

NEWARK, Delaware — A French startup developing optical communications systems for spacecraft and other industries has raised 8 million euros ($8.8 million) from a mix of venture capital firms and the French government.  Cailabs, a Rennes, France-based company founded in 2013, says it has developed a technology that controls the shape of light within optical

After counting all the normal, luminous matter in the obvious places of the universe – galaxies, clusters of galaxies and the intergalactic medium – about half of it is still missing. So not only is 85 percent of the matter in the universe made up of an unknown, invisible substance dubbed “dark matter”, we can’t

WASHINGTON — A new holding company seeks to back the development of space industry startups through both funding and infrastructure support. Denver-based Voyager Space Holdings, backed by space industry investor Dylan Taylor and with a board that includes a former NASA official and retired Air Force general, believes that space startups struggle to raise funding

Astronomers across the globe were quick to begin studying 2I/Borisov – the second known interstellar object to visit our solar system – almost immediately upon its detection in August. Those observations are already yielding fascinating insights into the comet – including the fact that its solar system of origin might not be that different from

Satellites in low Earth orbit should reenter the atmosphere soon after they complete their missions instead of waiting many years, said Carine Claeys, who leads the Space Task Force for the European External Action Service, which acts as the European Union’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs. “That limit of 25 years has to be updated,” Claeys,

According to local news reports in Chile, something was seen blazing a trail across the sky over the island of Chiloé last Wednesday. Naturally, with several small fires appearing soon after the sightings, some residents concluded the two events were linked. But experts have now ruled if what people saw was a meteorite, the space

Don Claussen is passionate about satellite communications. After serving for seven years in the U.S. Army on active duty, Claussen worked as a systems engineer working for the Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate, helping soldiers deploy very small aperture terminals in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Sept.

In April, an international team of scientists captured the first-ever photo of a black hole. In September, they won a US$3 million Breakthrough Prize for that accomplishment. But they’re far from finished. Next, the team behind the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is planning a cinematic debut. The subject: the supermassive black hole at the centre of our

WASHINGTON — Intuitive Machines, a company with a NASA contract to fly payloads to the moon in 2021, announced Oct. 2 it has signed a contract with SpaceX for the launch of its lunar lander. The company said that SpaceX will launch its Nova-C lander on a Falcon 9 in 2021. The company said it