A private company will give a powerful NASA space telescope a new lease on life next year, if all goes according to plan. Arizona-based Katalyst Space Technologies has scored a contract to raise the altitude of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which has been hunting for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) from low Earth orbit (LEO) for more than two decades. Sparse …
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Astronomers have launched a new program known as ATREIDES to study a mysterious “desert” in space. But unlike the deserts of the planet Arrakis conquered by Paul Atreides in the “Dune” novels by Frank Hebert, this desert describes an absence of planets with masses up to around 20 times the mass of Earth that orbit close to their stars, planets …
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One of SpaceX’s broadband-beaming Starlink satellites has been captured overflying a top-secret airbase in China that was photographed by a private American Earth-observation satellite. The unexpected satellite alignment above the Dingxin Airbase in the Gobi Desert of western China took place on Aug. 21 and created a range of unusual effects in the high-resolution image. The visible-light photo, taken by …
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“Scientists Warn Of Danger”: New Detector Tested To Help Spacecraft Evade Orbital Debris As Global Powers Clash Over Crowded Skies Rude Baguette Source link
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NASA has selected six companies to produce studies focused on lower-cost ways to launch and deliver spacecraft of various sizes and forms to multiple, difficult-to-reach orbits. The firm-fixed-price awards comprise nine studies with a maximum total value of approximately $1.4 million. The awardees are: Arrow Science and Technology LLC, Webster, Texas Blue Origin LLC, Merritt Island, Florida Firefly Aerospace Inc., …
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