Space News
Kymeta acquires specialty satellite services firm Lepton Global Solutions
Space News - 18 Aug 2020 15:00
Kymeta Corp. announced the acquisition Aug. 18 of Lepton Global Solutions LLC, a Virginia-based satellite services specialist. Under the terms of the deal, Lepton Global Solutions will become a wholly owned Kymeta subsid...
Remembering Don Arabian, the 'Mad Genius' Behind NASA's Apollo Engineering Team
Universe Today - 18 Aug 2020 18:50
One of the truly unsung heroes of the Apollo program has passed away at age 95. Donald D. Arabian, Chief of the Apollo Test Division, headed the Mission Evaluation Room (MER), which was responsible for solving in-flight ...
Indian astronomers investigate open cluster Czernik 3
Phys.org - 18 Aug 2020 15:00
A team of astronomers from India has performed deep near-infrared photometric observations of an open cluster known as Czernik 3. The study provides important information about the properties of Czernik 3, suggesting tha...
Armagno becomes the U.S. Space Force's first female general officer
Space News - 18 Aug 2020 00:13
Armagno was commissioned into the Space Force and promoted to three-star general Aug. 17 in a ceremony at the Pentagon. SpaceNews
What is an equinox?
SPACE.com - 18 Aug 2020 23:18
Equinoxes occur twice a year when the sun is directly above the equator, and signal herald the beginning of spring and autumn.
NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 17 August, 2020 - Japan's HTV Spacecraft Ready for Departure
SpaceRef - 18 Aug 2020 23:13
Canada's robotic arm is poised to remove Japan's ninth and final H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-9) from the International Space Station on Tuesday....
UAE's Hope Mars orbiter nails first big maneuver in deep space
SPACE.com - 18 Aug 2020 23:01
The United Arab Emirates' first-ever interplanetary spacecraft, Hope, has nailed its initial post-launch course correction, pointing the mission toward Mars for its February arrival.
This Distorted Circle is Actually a Galaxy That Looked Very Similar to the Milky Way, Shortly After the Big Bang
Universe Today - 18 Aug 2020 22:46
Using ALMA, a European team of astronomers was able to observe a galaxy as it looked 12 billion years ago and were surprised to see that it looks a lot like how the Milky Way appears today. The post This Distorted Circle...
Japan's final HTV cargo spacecraft leaves space station for fiery end
SPACE.com - 18 Aug 2020 22:44
Japan's "white stork" has taken flight from the International Space Station for the last time.
Arabsat orders all-electric Airbus satellite
Space News - 18 Aug 2020 20:49
Commercial fleet operator Arabsat of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia announced Aug. 18 it ordered a geostationary communications satellite from Airbus Defence and Space. SpaceNews
NASA watches as weird 'dent' in Earth's magnetic field splits in two
SPACE.com - 18 Aug 2020 20:44
There's something very strange happening high above South America and the nearby Atlantic Ocean, and NASA is on the case.
Citizen Scientists Discover Dozens of New Cosmic Neighbors in NASA Data
PTTU - 18 Aug 2020 20:22
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope:
A car-sized asteroid made the closest Earth flyby a space rock has ever survived
SPACE.com - 18 Aug 2020 18:01
An asteroid flew by Earth at just 1,830 miles (2,950 kilometers) away.
SpaceX launches 58 Starlink satellites and 3 SkySats, sticks rocket landing
SPACE.com - 18 Aug 2020 17:16
SpaceX successfully launched 58 Starlink internet satellites and with three small Planet SkySats today (AUg. 18), then nailed a rocket landing at sea.
100 cool worlds found near the Sun
Phys.org - 18 Aug 2020 17:00
How complete is our census of the Sun's closest neighbors? Astronomers and a team of data-sleuthing volunteers participating in Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, a citizen science project, have discovered roughly 100 cool world...
Commentary | A critical mission for human spaceflight: a quest for value
Space News - 18 Aug 2020 16:14
The next goals for human spaceflight should be industrialization and settlement, writes aerospace engineer Gary Oleson. SpaceNews
Machine Learning Just Classified Over Half a Million Galaxies
Universe Today - 18 Aug 2020 15:47
Humanity is still a long way away from a fully artificial intelligence system. For now at least, AI is particularly good at some specialized tasks, such as classifying cats in videos. Now it has a new skill set: identi...
The sun may have started its life with a binary companion
Phys.org - 18 Aug 2020 15:44
A new theory published today in the Astrophysical Journal Letters by scientists from Harvard University suggests that the sun may once have had a binary companion of similar mass. If confirmed, the presence of an early s...
Magnetized gas flows feed a young star cluster
Phys.org - 18 Aug 2020 15:42
Observations of magnetic fields in interstellar clouds made of gas and dust indicate that these clouds are strongly magnetized, and that magnetic fields influence the formation of stars within them. A key observation is ...
Skylo forms partnership with Sony Semiconductor Israel
Space News - 18 Aug 2020 14:30
Skylo, a Silicon Valley satellite communications startup, announced a partnership Aug. 18 with Sony Semiconductor Israel, a company formerly known as Altair. SpaceNews
How the COVID-19 Pandemic is Preparing Humanity for First Contact
Discover - 18 Aug 2020 14:00
When the first message from an alien intelligence arrives, our experience with COVID-19 could help us plan a suitable response, says researchers.
Entire cities could fit inside the moon's monstrous lava tubes
SPACE.com - 18 Aug 2020 13:58
Vast lava tubes pock the surface of the moon and Mars, and could protect explorers from the elements. But first someone needs to explore them.