Science

We’re pretty familiar with our Sun. We’ve even sent a probe to go study it; we haven’t done that with any other star. Given how closely we study it, it would be tempting to think of it as a typical example of a G-type main-sequence star, or yellow dwarf. New research suggests that this is

Inhofe: “Given that the FCC has made its decision, it’s critical our members understand the national security implications.” WASHINGTON – The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) announced the committee has scheduled a May 6 hearing on the impact on national security of the Federal Communications Commission’s approval of Ligado’s

The hailstone is so massive it even stunned meteorologists. “It’s incredible,” said meteorologist Matthew Kumjian from Penn State University in the US. “This is the extreme upper end of what you’d expect from hail.” The hefty ice lump smashed down from a supercell thunderstorm in Argentina two years ago, in the heavily populated town Villa Carlos

A comet only just discovered in December of last year has already met its demise. It didn’t reach perihelion, or its closest approach to the Sun. It didn’t even pass inside Earth orbit. Yet Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) has now absolutely shattered. In images taken on April 20 and April 23, the Hubble Space Telescope

WASHINGTON — SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said April 27 that he hopes to test a new way to reduce the brightness of the company’s Starlink satellites on the next launch for the broadband megaconstellation. In a briefing to a committee working on the next astrophysics decadal survey, Musk said the experimental “VisorSat,” along with

Tory Bruno: “A big thing when this started was that we had to be all over our supply chain.” WASHINGTON — The crushing impact of the coronavirus pandemic on small businesses has became a front-burner issue for United Launch Alliance, which depends on dozens of tiny companies to supply materials and parts needed to build

HELSINKI — China has named its first independent interplanetary mission Tianwen-1, with the combined Mars orbiter and rover spacecraft apparently proceeding towards launch in July. The name and mission logo were unveiled at a China National Space Administration online ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the launch of the country’s first satellite. DFH-1 launched

Called Tetra-1, the microsatellite was the first project awarded in 2018 by the Space Enterprise Consortium. WASHINGTON — Millennium Space Systems, based in El Segundo, California, has completed the development and integration of a cubesat scheduled to be launched to geosynchronous orbit later this year on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rideshare mission for the U.S.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) office responsible for licensing commercial launches and reentries has completed a reorganization announced nearly a year ago intended to improve its efficiency. In an April 3 memo, Wayne Monteith, associate administrator for commercial space transportation at the FAA, said the reorganization of the Office of Commercial Space Transportation,

WASHINGTON — NASA announced April 17 that it has set a May 27 launch date for a SpaceX commercial crew test flight that will be the first mission to launch NASA astronauts to orbit from the United States in nearly a decade. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the launch date in a tweet, saying that

SAN FRANCISCO — Spire Global announced plans to work with VesselBot, a Greek technology company focused on the international maritime industry, to develop products based on Spire’s automatic identification system (AIS) data. San Francisco-based Spire formed Spire Maritime in 2018 to develop vessel tracking and monitoring services. Spire Maritime is forging partnerships with industry experts like

WASHINGTON — SpaceX won a NASA contract to deliver cargo to the lunar Gateway by offering what the agency determined to be the most effective solution and at the lowest price. NASA announced March 27 that it awarded SpaceX for a Gateway Logistics Services (GLS) contract to deliver cargo to the lunar Gateway. The agency

The contract is for three dedicated launches to deliver 44 small satellites to low Earth orbit. WASHINGTON — VOX Space, a subsidiary of Virgin Orbit that focuses on the national security launch market, was awarded a $35 million contract for three dedicated launches to deliver 44 small satellites to low Earth orbit, the U.S. Space

Raymond said he is “concerned with our ability to stay ahead of the threat.” WASHINGTON — A report recommending changes in how military space systems are funded and acquired will be sent to Congress in the next few days, Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond said April 7. Speaking on a video chat hosted

WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency has restored operations of four space science missions it placed on hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, a move that illustrated how one agency’s actions can affect others. ESA announced March 24 it had suspended operations of the Cluster, ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, Mars Express and Solar Orbiter missions,

WASHINGTON — NASA released a report April 2 outlining its long-term approach to lunar exploration that involves establishing a “base camp” at the south pole of the moon, but with few details about cost and schedule. NASA prepared the report, “NASA’s Plan for Sustained Lunar Exploration and Development,” for the National Space Council at the

WASHINGTON — NASA has completed the crew for the first operational SpaceX commercial crew mission to the International Space Station, one that will not include any Russian cosmonauts after Roscosmos officials said they would not fly on what they consider an unproven vehicle. NASA announced March 31 that it had assigned veteran astronaut Shannon Walker

This system is meant to unlock the full potential of satellite data Raytheon has developed a prototype system for managing the floods of satellite data that help generate warnings and intelligence information for combatants and eventually, civilian first responders and researchers. The U.S. government’s global satellite network produces a constant flood of data — petabytes and petabytes

WASHINGTON — Satellite internet startup OneWeb is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as soon as Friday after its largest investor, Softbank, rejected a request for additional funding, according to sources familiar with the situation.  OneWeb’s imminent filing was first reported by The Financial Times. Softbank, having already invested roughly $2 billion in OneWeb,

It is obvious the tiny novel coronavirus is giving and will continue to give all of us a very hard time for a prolonged period.  When news of the COVID-19 outbreak and of its obvious severity first emerged, we may all have thought we were in for a hard time but I don’t think any

WASHINGTON and SAN FRANCISCO — Maxar Technologies warned customers that it may not be able to deliver spacecraft on time or on budget due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, satellite manufacturing and testing are continuing in its California facilities.  In a March 20 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Maxar said Santa Clara,

WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab is continuing with preparations for a launch later this month despite the coronavirus pandemic, although another small launch company’s plans for a launch this month remain unclear. Rocket Lab spokesperson Morgan Bailey said March 19 that the company was still planning to launch an Electron rocket from New Zealand later this

WASHINGTON — Gogo, an in-flight Wi-Fi provider with capacity on 34 satellites, will seek price concessions to rein in bandwidth costs as airlines continue to ground flights amid coronavirus-related travel bans.  Gogo CEO Oakleigh Thorne said the coronavirus pandemic is partly behind the company’s cost-saving efforts, since decreased airline traffic has had a knock-on effect

WASHINGTON — The Orion spacecraft that will fly on the first launch of the Space Launch System has completed testing at an Ohio facility and will soon be shipped back to the Kennedy Space Center for final launch preparations. NASA held a ceremony March 14 at Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, run by the

WASHINGTON — Manufacturers are generally optimistic that last year’s rebound in commercial geostationary satellite market orders marks the beginning of trend. After two years of single-digit totals, manufacturers sold 15 geostationary satellites in 2019.   At the Satellite 2020 conference, executives from Airbus, Boeing, Maxar, Thales Alenia Space and Northrop Grumman expressed confidence that commercial business

Tory Bruno: “We are limiting non essential business travel but that doesn’t include launch and rockets.” WASHINGTON — Defense Department and NASA launch provider United Launch Alliance is implementing emergency measures in response to the coronavirus outbreak but continues to support upcoming missions, the company’s CEO Tory Bruno said March 10 during a meeting with

Planet felt like it didn’t have a choice. When the Earth-observation startup began launching cameras into orbit in 2013 and 2014, manufacturing lines weren’t churning out cubesats by the dozens. That’s no longer the case. Blue Canyon Technologies, AAC Clyde Space, GomSpace, NanoAvionics, Tyvak and several others are ready and willing to build cubesats en

When the bipartisan leadership of the House Science Committee introduced a NASA authorization bill Jan. 24, it surprised many people in the civil space community. The bill appeared to reject the goal of NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the moon by 2024, requiring instead a return only by 2028. It also spurned NASA’s