After many technical and programmatic challenges, the first satellite of the next generation of the Meteosat family has taken a major step towards its first flight, currently scheduled for launch in autumn 2022.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Cosmonauts Find Cracks in the Aging Zarya ISS Module
It appears that the International Space Station is showing its age. Or, at least, the older modules that have been in space since 1998 certainly are. According to statements made by a senior Russian space official, cosmonauts aboard the ISS have discovered new cracks in the Functional Cargo Block (FCB) module – aka. Zarya (“Dawn”). These cracks were found in seven of the module’s twenty windows and could eventually threaten the entire station.
Pilots saw 'red light' warning during Virgin Galactic's historic spaceflight with Richard Branson: report
The flight could have ended very badly.
Crew completes spaceship fit check ahead of all-private mission to orbit
Commander Jared Isaacman and crewmates Hayley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor, and Chris Sembroski pose with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft Aug. 30 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Credit: SpaceX / Inspiration4
The four private citizens who will fly into orbit later this month on a chartered SpaceX capsule visited their spaceship at Cape Canaveral this week for fit checks.
Halo Infinite will launch Dec. 8 to bring back Master Chief: report
The leak was confirmed by the game's creative director during Gamescom last week.
Taurid meteor shower: Winter fireballs
The Taurid meteor shower is relatively sparse, but may display impressive fireballs.
Japanese Epsilon rocket launches nine small satellites
The Caldor Fire, one of the largest in California's history, has been blazing since Aug. 14, 2021.
Globalstar spare satellite to launch on SpaceX rocket this month
NASA's Perseverance rover is on track to collect its first-ever Mars sample in the next few days.
BepiColombo: Exploring Mercury, the least visited planet of the inner solar system
The European-Japanese BepiColombo mission hopes to shed light on many of the unexplored mysteries of Mercury, the least explored planet of the inner solar system.
Mount Etna volcano erupts for 50th time of 2021 in this satellite photo
The European Sentinel 2 satellite has flown over Mount Etna just as the volcano, the most active in Europe, erupted for the 50th time this year on Sunday (Aug 29).
Making Time for Morning Comets
If you like mixing comets with the quietude of observing in the small hours, September opens with five fuzzy vagabonds — located in the same region of the sky — just waiting for a visit.
How fast is Earth moving?
Earth moves around the sun and across the universe on its axis and at an incredible rate.
NASA tallies Hurricane Ida damage to Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans
NASA personnel at the agency's manufacturing facility in Louisiana are continuing to evaluate damage caused by Hurricane Ida, which made landfall on Sunday (Aug. 29).
Dusty Snow on Mars Could be Melting Just Below the Surface
Dust on Mars gets everywhere – including on top of ice deposited during one of Mars’ previous ice ages. Just how that dust affects the ice is still up for some debate. Adding to that debate, a recent paper by researchers at Arizona State University and the University of Washington has laid out a map between the dust content of a glacier and the brightness of its ice.
ESA and UN offer worldwide access to hypergravity testing
ESA and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs are opening the second round of their HyperGES fellowship, part of the Access to Space For All Initiative, offering student teams around the globe the chance to perform hypergravity experiments using the Large Diameter Centrifuge at ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands, with a particular focus on developing nations.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, September 10 – 18
Research results in astronomy, solar physics, and planetary science are about to become more widely accessible to scientists and the public alike. The American Astronomical Society (AAS) today announced the switch of the Society’s prestigious journals to fully open access as of 1 January 2022.
Lunchables will launch kids to space camp with limited 'Lunchabuilds' kits
A rocket-shaped stack of cheese and crackers could now launch your kid on a real-life space adventure.
Brown Dwarfs are Probably Much More Common in the Milky Way Than Previously Believed
Brown dwarfs are strange things. They are in the middle ground between planets and stars. A star is defined as an object massive enough for helium to fuse into hydrogen into its core, while a planet is too small for core fusion to occur. It seems a simple distinction until you learn about fusion. Anything with a mass below about 13 Jupiters is too small for fusion to occur, and is thus a planet. If your mass is about about 80 Jupiters, then you can fuse helium and are therefore a star. But if your mass is between 13 and 80 Jupiters, things get interesting. You can’t fuse hydrogen to shine brightly, but you can fuse lithium into other elements. This is known as lithium burning. It doesn’t provide lots of energy, but it is technically nuclear fusion.
A quarter of sunlike stars eat their own planets, according to new research
How rare is our solar system? In the 30 years or so since planets were first discovered orbiting stars other than our sun, we have found that planetary systems are common in the galaxy.
Inspiration4 astronauts to conduct health research on private SpaceX mission
The private astronauts of Inspiration4 will be helping to expand our understanding of how space affects the human body on their mission around Earth.
NASA's 'quiet' X-59 supersonic plane is coming together as space agency chases faster flight
NASA engineers are building a next-generation supersonic plane that will produce a barely audible thump instead of the infamous boom that can rattle furniture and break glass.
