Science

SAN FRANCISCO — Electro Optic Systems Holdings Ltd. of Australia (EOS) completed its acquisition May 28 of Silicon Valley startup Audacy and announced plans to spend approximately $1.2 billion Australian dollars ($800 million) to create the EOSLink satellite communications constellation. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved EOS’ plan to take over Audacy’s spectrum license and

WASHINGTON — As NASA and SpaceX complete final preparations for the first crewed flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, the agency is already looking ahead to the spacecraft’s next mission. Technicians spent the day May 26 wrapping up work ahead of the scheduled 4:33 p.m. Eastern May 27 launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft on

The Air Force sent the report to congressional committees May 21 and notified them the next day that what they had received was not the final version. WASHINGTON — A Department of the Air Force report sent to Congress last week proposing changes to Space Force acquisition programs was an “initial version” and not the

SpaceNews in Conversation withMAJ. GEN. JOHN SHAWU.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command———Thursday, May 282 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Pacificvia Zoom As NASA prepares to launch astronauts from U.S. soil for the first time since the space shuttle retired in 2011, the U.S. military is reviving the astronaut-rescue role it has been performing since the Apollo era.

Air Force Secretary Barrett argues that DoD space programs and investments should be integrated under the Space Force as soon as possible. WASHINGTON — Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett is pushing back on a Defense Department proposal that would delay transferring the Space Development Agency to the Space Force until October 2022. In a May

SAN FRANCISCO – Isotropic Systems won two defense contracts in two months, an important sign the satellite terminal developer is diversifying its customer base, John Finney, Isotropic founder and CEO, told SpaceNews. On May 18, Isotropic announced a contract with the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), an organization established in 2015 to help the U.S.

U.S. Space Command for the next six years will remain at its provisional headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force on May 15 announced an open bidding process to select the permanent location of U.S. Space Command headquarters. The new process allows any state with large military

One way to help the industry is for the government to communicate what problems it needs solved and commit funding for the right solutions. The COVID-19 economic slowdown will have lasting implications on the new space sector. Yet the United States cannot afford another lost decade of commercial space innovation. Adversaries are building their own

WASHINGTON — The United Arab Emirates plans to double the size of its astronaut corps by early next year with the selection of two new astronauts from a pool of more than 4,000 applicants. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre announced May 10 that it received 4,305 applications from citizens of the UAE to become

The $8.9 million “fleet surveillance” contract gives the Space Force a closeup view of SpaceX commercial and civil space launches. WASHINGTON — SpaceX on May 6 was awarded an $8.9 million contract modification that gives the U.S. Space Force direct insight into the inner workings of the company’s commercial and civil space missions. The contract

WASHINGTON — The National Space Council is in discussions with the Federal Communications Commission and other agencies about new orbital debris mitigation regulations after the FCC deferred a decision last month on a controversial set of measures. In a May 6 podcast by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Scott Pace, executive secretary of

Treasury is said to be concerned that changing the rule for venture-owned startups would subvert the intent of the relief loan program. WASHINGTON — Industry groups representing space companies and other sectors have been lobbying the Treasury to waive the so-called “affiliation” rule that disqualifies many startups from coronavirus relief loan programs. To be eligible

It’s not every day that scientists uncover an entirely new species of mammal, let alone a creature whose shrouded origins lie so far back in time, they emanate from the mysterious supercontinent of ancient Gondwana. In a new study, researchers have unveiled the fossilised remains of a new genus and species discovered in Madagascar. Dubbed

As the Roman Empire drew to a dramatic collapse towards the end of the 5th century, ripples were felt across its former territories. Balances shifted as new powers rushed to fill the vacuums Rome’s retreats left behind. The changes to the everyday lives of the people are far less well documented, but a cemetery in

In the depths of space 3.5 billion light-years away, two supermassive black holes are locked in one of the most extreme orbital dances in the Universe. Their riotous, somewhat erratically flaring death spiral has been documented for decades. With new observations, astronomers have now characterised the way they whirl about each other in the centre

Satellite images and other data can be analyzed to forecast potential spreads of the disease and move resources to help combat it. WASHINGTON — Using overhead satellite imagery and analytics software, geospatial data companies track the global impact of the coronavirus pandemic. They forecast trends such as shortages of supplies and identify areas where there

A single tail from one of the largest and most enigmatic dinosaur species looks to have solved a longstanding mystery about these extinct creatures: whether they could swim. The discovery of a giant fossilised tail belonging to the theropod Spinosaurus aegyptiacus suggests these huge predators were aquatic animals after all, using tail-propelled locomotion to swim

Our short-term memory is wired to deceive us on purpose, scientists have found – a trick that enables us to better recognise what we’re seeing in the world around us. The deception kicks in when we take a second glance at something: our brains partly falsify that second glance, so it matches up with the

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