Space News from SpaceDaily.com
August 10, 2020
ROCKET SCIENCE
SpaceX, ULA win large government launch contracts



Washington DC (UPI) Aug 07, 2020
The U.S. military on Friday awarded two new defense contracts worth billions of dollars to space launch companies United Launch Alliance and SpaceX, which won a four-way competition, defeating Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman. The contract award means ULA and Elon Musk's SpaceX will launch about three dozen national security missions from 2022 to 2026 - at a price tag of about $1 billion per year. ULA said its contract represents about 60 percent of those missions. ULA, a launch provide ... read more

ROCKET SCIENCE
Russia wants to return to Venus, build reusable rocket
Moscow (AFP) Aug 7, 2020
The head of Russia's space agency said Friday that Roscosmos wants to return to Venus and bring back soil samples and build spacecraft that will surpass Elon Musk's rockets. ... more
IRON AND ICE
OSIRIS-REx is one rehearsal away from touching Asteroid Bennu
Tucson AZ (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
NASA's first asteroid sampling spacecraft is making final preparations to grab a sample from asteroid Bennu's surface. Next week, the OSIRIS-REx mission will conduct a second rehearsal of its touchd ... more
IRON AND ICE
Fragments of asteroids may have jumped the "Jupiter Gap"
Tempe AZ (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Using some cosmic detective work, a team of researchers has found evidence that tiny pieces of asteroids from the inner solar system may have crossed a gap to the outer solar system, a feat once tho ... more
MARSDAILY
NASA's MAVEN observes Martian night sky pulsing in ultraviolet light
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Vast areas of the Martian night sky pulse in ultraviolet light, according to images from NASA's MAVEN spacecraft. The results are being used to illuminate complex circulation patterns in the Martian ... more
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IRON AND ICE
NASA's Lucy mission passes critical mission milestone
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Last week marked the completion of a major milestone on the path to spacecraft assembly, test, and launch operations for NASA's Lucy mission. The Systems Integration Review ensured segments, c ... more
MARSDAILY
NASA scientists leverage carbon-measuring instrument for Mars studies
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Insights and technology gleaned from creating a carbon-measuring instrument for Earth climate studies is being leveraged to build another that would remotely profile, for the first time, water vapor ... more
SPACEMART
Exolaunch awarded contracts to deliver Swarm Satellites into orbit on Falcon 9
Mountain View CA (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Exolaunch, a Berlin-based rideshare launch and deployment solutions provider, signed a launch agreement with Swarm Technologies, a Mountain View-based satellite company providing low-cost global con ... more
RAY GUNS
US Army plans to mount anti-aircraft lasers on Stryker armored vehicles
Moscow (Sputnik) Aug 07, 2020
By the end of fiscal year 2021, the US Army plans to equip a platoon of modified Stryker armored vehicles with defensive lasers that can shoot down drones as well as missiles and even mortar rounds. ... more
SPACEMART
SES selects SpaceX for launch of new C-Band satellites
Luxembourg (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
SES reports that SpaceX will provide launch capability for up to 3 of its C-band satellites over two launches as part of the company's accelerated C-band clearing plan. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocke ... more
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MICROSAT BLITZ
Momentus to Launch Dodona Nanosat for Lockheed USC La Jument Program
Santa Clara CA (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Momentus and Lockheed Martin have announced a launch service agreement for a 3U satellite in Lockheed Martin and SERC (Space Engineering Research Center) University of Southern California's (USC) sm ... more
GPS NEWS
Software upgrades for Beidou to continue
Beijing (XNA) Aug 07, 2020
Designers of China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System will keep upgrading software on Beidou satellites to improve their capabilities and maintain technological advantages, according to a key figu ... more
SPACEMART
SES selects ULA to launch two C-Band satellites to accelerate C-Band clearing
Luxembourg (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
SES, the leader in global content connectivity solutions, has selected U.S.-based United Launch Alliance (ULA) to launch two C-band satellites. This launch is part of the company's accelerated C-ban ... more
GPS NEWS
Air Force navigation technology satellite passes critical design review
Kirtland AFB NM (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
The Navigation Technology Satellite - 3 (NTS-3) spacecraft passed Critical Design Review (CDR) on June 25, a major milestone, allowing L3Harris, the prime contractor for the spacecraft, to proceed i ... more
WEATHER REPORT
Lightning strikes more than 100 million times per year in the tropics
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 03, 2020
Researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama have published dramatic maps showing the locations of lightning strikes across the tropics in Global Change Biology. Based ... more


Iron-rich meteorites on Earth reveal geochemistry of solar system's youth

DRAGON SPACE
China seeks payload ideas for mission to moon, asteroid
Beijing (XNA) Aug 07, 2020
China is soliciting ideas for payloads aboard its proposed missions to the moon, an asteroid and a comet, according to the China National Space Administration. It is asking for primary, middle ... more
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CHIP TECH
Spin, spin, spin: researchers enhance electron spin longevity
Sendai, Japan (SPX) Aug 03, 2020
The electron is an elementary particle, a building block on which other systems evolve. With specific properties such as spin, or angular momentum, that can be manipulated to carry information, elec ... more
IRON AND ICE
Iron-rich meteorites show record of core crystallization in system's oldest planetesimals
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
New work led by Carnegie's Peng Ni and Anat Shahar uncovers new details about our Solar System's oldest planetary objects, which broke apart in long-ago collisions to form iron-rich meteorites. Thei ... more
MARSDAILY
Lava tubes on Mars and the Moon are so wide they can host planetary bases
Bologna, Italy (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
The international journal Earth-Science Reviews published a paper offering an overview of the lava tubes (pyroducts) on Earth, eventually providing an estimate of the (greater) size of their lunar a ... more
OUTER PLANETS
Shallow Lightning and Mushballs reveal ammonia to Juno scientists
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
New results from NASA's Juno mission at Jupiter suggest our solar system's largest planet is home to what's called "shallow lightning." An unexpected form of electrical discharge, shallow lightning ... more
OUTER PLANETS
Ammonia sparks unexpected, exotic lightning on Jupiter
Ithaca NY (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
NASA's Juno spacecraft - orbiting and closely observing the planet Jupiter - has unexpectedly discovered lightning in the planet's upper atmosphere, according to a multi-institutional study led by t ... more
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A QandA on the Demo-2 mission
Cleveland OH (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
When the SpaceX Crew Dragon docked with the International Space Station during the Demo-2 mission, it was a historic day for NASA and our nation as we returned the launch of American astronauts on American rockets from American soil to the orbiting laboratory. As Crew Dragon approached the space station, one thing may have gone unnoticed - a narrow rubber seal that plays a critical role in safel ... more
+ Power, bones, bubbles and other Weightless action on the Space Station
+ Roscosmos teases names of next year's ISS tourist group flight
+ Take Me to Mars
+ Richard Branson space-bound in early 2021 says Virgin Galactic
+ Work Begins on Delta Faucet's Droplet Formation Space Station Experiment This Week
+ ESA Astronauts Maurer and Pesquet continue training at JSC
+ Explore how space supports daily life around the world
Russia wants to return to Venus, build reusable rocket
Moscow (AFP) Aug 7, 2020
The head of Russia's space agency said Friday that Roscosmos wants to return to Venus and bring back soil samples and build spacecraft that will surpass Elon Musk's rockets. Last week America's first crewed spaceship to fly to the International Space Station in nearly a decade returned safely to Earth, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico. The mission was carried out jointly by NASA and ... more
+ SpaceX, ULA win large government launch contracts
+ NASA completes crucial test of moon rocket's propulsion system
+ SpaceX completes test flight of Mars rocket prototype
+ SpaceX launches 10th Starlink batch
+ Spaceflight and Benchmark sign green propulsion deal for Sherpa launcher
+ Proton-M with two telecommunication satellites launches from Baikonur
+ ABL Space Systems begins RS1 stage testing and reaches $90mm in funding


NASA scientists leverage carbon-measuring instrument for Mars studies
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Insights and technology gleaned from creating a carbon-measuring instrument for Earth climate studies is being leveraged to build another that would remotely profile, for the first time, water vapor up to nine miles above the Martian surface, along with wind speeds and minute particles suspended in the planet's atmosphere. Scientists Jim Abshire and Scott Guzewich, both at NASA's Goddard S ... more
+ Rice researchers use InSight for deep Mars measurements
+ NASA's MAVEN observes Martian night sky pulsing in ultraviolet light
+ Lava tubes on Mars and the Moon are so wide they can host planetary bases
+ A new look at Mars' eerie, ultraviolet nighttime glow
+ Radiation-Devouring Mold Could Be Humanity's Key to Venturing to Mars, New Research Says
+ A European dream team for Mars
+ Ice sheets, not rivers, carved valleys on Mars, new study says
China seeks payload ideas for mission to moon, asteroid
Beijing (XNA) Aug 07, 2020
China is soliciting ideas for payloads aboard its proposed missions to the moon, an asteroid and a comet, according to the China National Space Administration. It is asking for primary, middle school and university students across the country to provide ideas for payloads that would fly aboard the Chang'e 7 probe to the moon, and on another spacecraft to the asteroid 2016HO3 and the comet ... more
+ China marching to Mars for humanity's better shared future
+ From the Moon to Mars: China's long march in space
+ Tianwen 1 probe to soon blast off for Mars
+ China's newest carrier rocket fails in debut mission
+ China's tracking ship wraps up satellite launch monitoring
+ Final Beidou launch marks major milestone in China's space effort
+ Satellite launch center Wenchang eyes boosting homestay, catering sectors
Exolaunch awarded contracts to deliver Swarm Satellites into orbit on Falcon 9
Mountain View CA (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Exolaunch, a Berlin-based rideshare launch and deployment solutions provider, signed a launch agreement with Swarm Technologies, a Mountain View-based satellite company providing low-cost global connectivity for IoT devices, to launch 24 satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission. Under the contract, Exolaunch will provide launch, integration and deployment services to the Swarm satel ... more
+ SES selects SpaceX for launch of new C-Band satellites
+ SES selects ULA to launch two C-Band satellites to accelerate C-Band clearing
+ Hisdesat And XTAR Complete Transaction For XTAR-EUR Satellite
+ Amazon to invest $10 bn in space-based internet system
+ Latvia becomes ESA Associate Member State
+ State of the Space Industrial Base 2020 Report
+ ESA's Thomas Pesquet to be first European to ride a Dragon to Space Station
Scientists find way to track space junk in daylight
Paris (AFP) Aug 4, 2020
Scientists said Tuesday they had discovered a way to detect space debris even in daylight hours, potentially helping satellites to avoid the ever-growing cloud of junk orbiting the planet. Defunct rockets, satellites and spacecraft parts continue to orbit Earth after they are discarded. The estimated 500,000 objects circling the globe range in size from a single screw to an entire rocke ... more
+ At Aerospace: How Internships Went Virtual
+ First laser detection of space debris in daylight
+ Transforming e-waste into a strong, protective coating for metal
+ Return of the LIDAR
+ How to mix old tires and building rubble to make sustainable roads
+ Pentagon aims to continue supporting telework
+ Hole in none: how screen golf got serious in South Korea


Hubble uses Earth as a Proxy for identifying oxygen on exoplanets
Baltimore MD (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Taking advantage of a total lunar eclipse, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have detected Earth's own brand of sunscreen - ozone - in our atmosphere. This method simulates how astronomers and astrobiology researchers will search for evidence of life beyond Earth by observing potential "biosignatures" on exoplanets (planets around other stars). Hubble did not look at Earth di ... more
+ VLBA finds planet orbiting small, cool star
+ Surprisingly dense exoplanet challenges planet formation theories
+ Deep sea microbes dormant for 100 million years are hungry and ready to multiply
+ Microbes in the seabed survive on little energy
+ Surprising number of exoplanets could host life
+ As if space wasn't dangerous enough
+ Scientists revive microbes from 100 million years ago
Ammonia sparks unexpected, exotic lightning on Jupiter
Ithaca NY (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
NASA's Juno spacecraft - orbiting and closely observing the planet Jupiter - has unexpectedly discovered lightning in the planet's upper atmosphere, according to a multi-institutional study led by the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which includes two Cornell University researchers. The work was published Aug. 5 in the journal Nature. Jupiter's gaseous atmosphere seems placid f ... more
+ Shallow Lightning and Mushballs reveal ammonia to Juno scientists
+ NASA's Webb Telescope Will Study Jupiter, Its Rings, and Two Intriguing Moons
+ NASA Juno takes first images of Ganymede's North Pole
+ Subaru Telescope and New Horizons explore the outer Solar System
+ The collective power of the solar system's dark, icy bodies
+ Ocean in Jupiter's moon Europa "could be habitable"
+ Evidence supports 'hot start' scenario and early ocean formation on Pluto


New method lets scientists peer deeper into ocean
Boothbay ME (SPX) Aug 03, 2020
Researchers have advanced a new way to see into the ocean's depths, establishing an approach to detect algae and measure key properties using light. A paper published in Applied Optics reports using a laser-based tool, lidar, to collect these measurements far deeper than has been typically possible using satellites. "Traditional satellite remote sensing approaches can collect a wide range ... more
+ Marine heatwaves may force fish to flee huge distances: study
+ Florida Current study confirms decline in strength of Gulf Stream
+ China bans its fleet from fishing off Galapagos reserve
+ AU mediates Ethiopia dam talks
+ Beach SOS leads to rescue of sailors stranded on Pacific isle
+ Massive seagrass die-off leads to widespread erosion in a California estuary
+ 'Hundreds' of homes destroyed after Sudan dam collapse
Air Force navigation technology satellite passes critical design review
Kirtland AFB NM (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
The Navigation Technology Satellite - 3 (NTS-3) spacecraft passed Critical Design Review (CDR) on June 25, a major milestone, allowing L3Harris, the prime contractor for the spacecraft, to proceed into fabrication, demonstration, and test. In partnership with the Space and Missile Systems Center, United States Space Force, and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, the Air Force Resea ... more
+ Software upgrades for Beidou to continue
+ Beidou's eye can help spot and stop rampant illegal mining
+ Xi unveils Beidou full-scale coverage
+ China's self-developed BDS officially opens for global users with upgraded services
+ Full global service of Beidou signals space tech independence
+ Beidou also belongs to world
+ Last BeiDou satellite starts operation in network


Russian Cosmonauts Could Be Going to the Moon Without a Super-Heavy Launch Vehicle
Moscow (Sputnik) Jul 27, 2020
Russian space industry giant Energia is involved in the production of everything from rockets and satellites to space stations and ballistic missiles, and is the prime mover behind the current Russian manned spaceflight programs. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia has created and patented a means to fly cosmonauts to the Moon and back without an expensive new heavy-launch rocket. ... more
+ Study reveals composition of gel-like lunar substance
+ Aerojet Rocketdyne completes its propulsion for NASA's Artemis II mission
+ Russia's Trailblazing Lunar Lander Mission to be Launch-Tested With US Equipment
+ Solar power investigation to launch on lunar lander
+ China's Chang'e 4 probe resumes work for 20th lunar day
+ Who's ready to serve the lunar missions
+ A slightly younger Moon
Fragments of asteroids may have jumped the "Jupiter Gap"
Tempe AZ (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Using some cosmic detective work, a team of researchers has found evidence that tiny pieces of asteroids from the inner solar system may have crossed a gap to the outer solar system, a feat once thought to be unlikely. About 1 million years after the start of the solar system, it is thought that while Jupiter's core formed, it created a gap in the protoplanetary disk (the disk of dense gas ... more
+ OSIRIS-REx is one rehearsal away from touching Asteroid Bennu
+ NASA's Lucy mission passes critical mission milestone
+ Iron-rich meteorites show record of core crystallization in system's oldest planetesimals
+ Scientists Find Two Meteorites in Two Weeks
+ New technique enables mineral ID of precious Antarctic micrometeorites
+ How stony-iron meteorites form
+ An origin story for a family of oddball meteorites


China launches new optical remote-sensing satellite
Jiuquan, China (XNA) Aug 07, 2020
China successfully launched a new optical remote-sensing satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 12:01 p.m. Thursday (Beijing Time). The satellite, Gaofen-9 04, was sent into orbit by a Long March-2D carrier rocket. It has a resolution up to the sub-meter level. The satellite will be mainly used for land surveys, city planning, land right confirmation ... more
+ Researchers take the ultimate Earth selfie
+ Rocket sees curling waves above Alaskan sky
+ Satellite survey shows California's sinking coastal hotspots
+ Contract signed to build Europe's carbon dioxide monitoring mission
+ New Space satellite pinpoints industrial methane emissions
+ China's newly-launched satellite to boost surveying, mapping capabilities
+ China launches new Earth-observation remote-sensing satellite
Uncovering the shape of the Solar System
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Scientists have developed a new prediction of the shape of the bubble surrounding our solar system using a model developed with data from NASA missions. All the planets of our solar system are encased in a magnetic bubble, carved out in space by the Sun's constantly outflowing material, the solar wind. Outside this bubble is the interstellar medium - the ionized gas and magnetic field that ... more
+ The quiet Sun is much more active than we thought
+ Breakthrough method for predicting solar storms
+ Alaskan seismometers record the northern lights
+ New studies reveal inside of central energy release region in solar eruption
+ Unprecedented look into the 'central engine' powering a solar flare
+ Contract awarded to develop solar wind plasma sensor
+ Closest ever pictures of the sun reveal 'campfires' near surface


Astronomers find young galaxy with record-low oxygen levels
Washington DC (UPI) Aug 03, 2020
Astronomers have discovered a tiny, young, metal-poor galaxy with the lowest oxygen abundance ever recorded. To find the tiny galaxy, researchers used machine learning algorithms to parse data collected by a pair of telescopes in Hawaii, the Subaru Telescope and W. M. Keck Observatory. Most galaxies in the modern universe are fairly large and mature, but models suggest there are ... more
+ Stars rich in phosphorus: Seeds of life in the universe
+ Miniature telescope demonstration focuses on sharpening view of distant objects in space
+ Astrophysicists Observe Long-Theorized Quantum Phenomena
+ Beyond the Brim, Sombrero galaxy's halo suggests turbulent past
+ Machine learning finds a surprising early galaxy
+ Astronomers pinpoint the best place on Earth for a telescope: High on a frigid Antarctic plateau
+ Remnant of ancient globular cluster that's 'the last of its kind'
Universe Is More Homogeneous Than Expected
Amsterdam, Netherlands (SPX) Aug 03, 2020
New results from the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) show that the universe is nearly 10 percent more homogeneous than the standard model of cosmology (Lambda-cold dark matter) predicts. The latest KiDS map was made with the OmegaCAM on ESO's VLT Survey Telescope at Cerro Paranal in Northern Chile. A group of astronomers led from institutes in the Netherlands, Scotland, England and Germany have descri ... more
+ Simulating quantum 'time travel' disproves butterfly effect in quantum realm
+ Cosmic tango between the very small and the very large
+ New approach refines the Hubble's constant and age of universe
+ Atomtronic device could probe boundary between quantum, everyday worlds
+ Filling in 11B years of the Universe's expansion history
+ In a first, astronomers watch a black hole's corona disappear, then reappear
+ Astrophysicists unveil biggest-ever 3D map of Universe
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