Space

COLORADO SPRINGS – Phase Four plans to fuel its Maxwell engine with a green propellant developed by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, under a contract the Southern California startup won Aug. 18 at the U.S. Space Force’s first SpaceWERX Pitch Day. By fueling Maxwell engines with the green propellant, called Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic

Kendall: “I wanted to get an update from them on where they are, where they see things”  COLORADO SPRINGS — Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on Aug. 24 met with the chief executives of United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin and was briefed on the Vulcan Centaur, a new launch vehicle developed by ULA that

COLORADO SPRINGS — Efforts to digitize spacecraft manufacturing processes to support remote workers during the pandemic are also creating operational advantages for deep space missions, according to a Lockheed Martin executive. Lisa Callahan, Lockheed Martin Space’s vice president and general manager of commercial civil space, said during an Aug. 24 Space Symposium session that COVID-19

It’s tricky to study the particles of our Sun because Earth’s magnetic field deflects them, but scientists have found ways to do it! They’re helping us understand things like the Sun’s origin, what it’s made of, and how it might affect future colonization of the Solar System. Hosted by: Reid Reimers SciShow has a spinoff

COLORADO SPRINGS — Space data provider Numerica is upgrading its network of ground-based telescopes so they can track objects both in low Earth orbit and beyond. “Our telescopes traditionally have been used to track satellites in geostationary orbit but until now they have not been used for tracking objects in LEO,” said Jeff Aristoff, vice

COLORADO SPRINGS – In addition to testing a unique orbit for NASA’s lunar Gateway, Colorado small business Advanced Space is preparing to demonstrate a new approach for cislunar navigation. As part of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission, scheduled to launch later this year on a Rocket Lab Electron

COLORADO SPRINGS – The Aerospace Corp., an early adopter of the cubesat standard, is proposing a new shape for small satellites, a thin plate called DiskSat that is designed to maximize volume and surface area. A DiskSat that is one meter in diameter and 2.5-centimeters thick could accommodate enough solar cells to produce 200 watts.

The welding process usually involves pretty extreme levels of heat. But it turns out that in the cold vacuum of space, metals can weld together… automatically. Hosted By: Hank Green SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It’s called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at http://www.scishowtangents.org ———- Support SciShow Space by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SciShowSpace

COLORADO SPRINGS — Small launch vehicle developer Virgin Orbit will go public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in a deal that includes an investment by Boeing, the company announced Aug. 23. Virgin Orbit will merge with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC that holds $383 million in capital. A concurrent private

RI&S to develop cloud-enabled, collaborative NOAA system NASA Goddard’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System, or EOSDIS, developed and maintained by Raytheon Technologies, shows a map of the U.S. on June 27, 2021. RI&S is working with NOAA to improve weather modeling and provide further accuracy in forecasting. (Credit: NASA) Severe weather is dangerous

TAMPA, Fla. — Arianespace launched its ninth mission for broadband startup OneWeb Aug. 21, expanding its low Earth orbit constellation to 288 satellites. A total of 34 satellites for OneWeb launched on a Soyuz rocket at 6:13 p.m. Eastern from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. They separated from the launcher during nine successful sequences, according to Arianespace,

Celebrate Asteroid Day by learning about the 3 biggest collisions that Earth has experienced with celestial objects. ———- Dooblydoo thanks to the following Patreon supporters — we couldn’t make SciShow without them! Shout outs go to Justin Ove, Justin Lentz, David Campos, John Szymakowski, Peso255, Jeremy Peng, Avi Yaschin, and Fatima Iqbal. ———- Like SciShow?

In early August, Russian media reported that the country’s space agency, Roscosmos, had yet to order new spacesuits for its cosmonauts to replace the aging suits required for space station spacewalks. Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, turned to Twitter to refute the claims, saying that cosmonauts “will not have to perform spacewalks in their underwear.”

The recent report by NASA’s Office of Inspector General on the agency’s efforts to develop a viable Extravehicular Activity (EVA) spacesuit to support a lunar landing in 2024 focused on the cost and schedule implications of a government led design and development program. That scope excluded any consideration of the substantial privately led work that

There’s no such thing as a free launch — especially when it comes to suborbital joy rides Whether or not you agree with Elon Musk that we need higher volume and lower cost access to space so that a small portion of humanity can flee our imperiled planet and become planetary refugees, at least he

Did you know Einstein never thought we’d find actual black holes in space? It took decades of research to show black holes are physically possible, and some of the scientists behind that research were honored this year with the Nobel Prize in Physics. Hosted by: Reid Reimers SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It’s called SciShow

The world watched with excitement as former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and three others lifted off July 20 toward the farthest edge of Earth’s atmosphere aboard the Blue Origin New Shepard. This mission took place only nine days after Virgin Group founder Richard Branson boarded the Virgin Galactic VSS Unity, embarking on the first fully

SANTA FE, N.M. — Shareholders of a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) voted Aug. 20 to merge with Rocket Lab, giving the small launch vehicle and spacecraft developer an infusion of cash. Vector Acquisition Corporation announced that its shareholders approved a series of motions at its annual general meeting to merge the SPAC with Rocket Lab.

STARCOM is the third and final field command being stood up by the Space Force WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force on Aug. 23 will establish the Space Training and Readiness Command at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A ceremony is scheduled on Monday at Peterson to be presided by the chief

The Pioneer 10 and 11 probes were launched to explore outer space, but in the 80s scientists discovered they were veering off-course, and we had no idea why! Host: Hank Green ———- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ———- Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters — we couldn’t make SciShow

HELSINKI — Chinese astronauts Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming embarked on a second Shenzhou-12 spacewalk late Thursday to carry out work on a space station robotic arm. Shenzhou-12 mission commander Nie opened the hatch of the Tianhe module at 8:38 p.m. Eastern Aug. 19 to begin a planned near seven-hour extravehicular activity, the China Manned

SANTA FE, N.M. — NASA will stop work on a Human Landing System award to SpaceX through the end of October as a federal court takes up a suit filed by Blue Origin protesting the contract. The Court of Federal Claims issued a schedule Aug. 19 for a suit filed by Blue Origin protesting NASA’s

Geost provides hardware for the Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance system used by the U.S. Space Force to track deep space objects. WASHINGTON — Geost, a company that supplies space surveillance sensors to the U.S. military and intelligence agencies, has been acquired by ATL Partners, a private equity firm. The value of the acquisition, announced

“NASA spend lots of money and time to create a pen that could use in space, on the other hand, their rival Soviet just used a pencil” You’ve probably heard this story, but is it true? Here is the truth about the space pen! Hosted by Hank Green Learn more about Apollo 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jI8Uqip60w ———-

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea will invest 16 trillion won ($13.6 billion) over the next 10 years in bolstering its defense capabilities in outer space. This includes 1.6 trillion won to be used to develop “core technologies” for military satellites. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the national arms procurement agency, unveiled the roadmap

SAN FRANCISCO – TransAstronautica, a startup founded by Joel Sercel, the former Momentus chief technology officer, is raising money for a competing space logistics venture. TransAstra’s business plan starts with transportation for satellites in orbit and extends to refueling rockets with resources harvested from asteroids. “We’re going to build the transcontinental railroad of space,” Sercel,

SEOUL, South Korea — Satrec Initiative, a satellite maker under South Korea’s Hanwha Group, will send a high-resolution imaging satellite called SpaceEye-T into low Earth orbit by the first quarter of 2024, in the first step toward building its own constellation of Earth observation satellites. The company unveiled the plan Aug. 18, saying SpaceEye-T will

Two scientists have proposed that Planet Nine could actually be a black hole, and a handful of telescopes observed a distant black hole absolutely destroying a star! SciShow Pin of the Month: https://store.dftba.com/collections/scishow SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It’s called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at http://www.scishowtangents.org ———- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on

WASHINGTON — Firefly Aerospace has hired a former SpaceX and Blue Origin engineer as its new chief operating officer to guide the company’s shift from development to production, although exactly when the company’s first launch will take place remains unclear. Firefly announced Aug. 17 that Lauren Lyons will become chief operating officer of the company,

TAMPA, Fla. — Shares in Spire Global, the small satellite constellation operator, closed down 5.2% to $9.41 at the end of its first day as a public company Aug. 17. The operator is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the “SPIR” ticker, after shareholders of special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) NavSight approved

Download the digital edition of the August 16 issue of SpaceNews magazine, provided compliments of Boeing. Inside the August 16 issue: 1. Is suborbital space tourism on a suborbital trajectory?The era of commercial suborbital human spaceflight may finally be here, but whether it lasts isn’t certain. 2. The proof is in the thrustMore than a

Scientists can’t directly observe dark matter, and they still don’t know what it is… so why are they so confident it exists? Hosted by: Reid Reimers For special, curated artifacts of this universe, check out https://scishowfinds.com/ ———- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ———- Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters:

WASHINGTON — A Finnish cubesat designed to test satellite deorbiting technologies will launch on a Rocket Lab Electron after delays with its original launch on a Momentus tug. Rocket Lab announced Aug. 16 that it signed a contract with Aurora Propulsion Technologies to launch its AuroraSat-1 spacecraft on an Electron in the fourth quarter of

TAMPA, Fla. — Arianespace launched a second satellite for the Pléiades Neo imaging constellation Aug. 16 on a Vega rocket. The Pléiades Neo 4 satellite lifted off from French Guiana 9:47 p.m. Eastern, successfully separating from the rocket about an hour later. The satellite will join Pléiades Neo 3, which launched on a Vega April

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin has filed suit against NASA in federal court, arguing that the agency failed to properly evaluate its proposal for the agency’s Human Landing System program, a procurement won by SpaceX. Blue Origin filed suit Aug. 13 in the Court of Federal Claims, which has jurisdiction over bid protests after reviews by

We’ve done a surprising amount of exploration on Mars, from its atmosphere, to its surface, and miles deep into its canyons. But mapping its insides has been a quandary that we hadn’t been able to solve until last week! Hosted by: Hank Green SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It’s called SciShow Tangents. Check it out

Advances in commercial drone technology are opening up new growth opportunities for the space industry, which has an often underappreciated synergistic relationship with uncrewed aerial vehicles. The fast-evolving market for drones attracted $1.4 billion in venture capital investment in 2020, according to data from early-stage space technology investor Seraphim Capital. That’s roughly double the amount

The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice are responsible for reviewing mergers in the defense industry WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin’s proposed $4.4 billion acquisition of rocket engine manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne is under a cloud of uncertainty after Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan expressed concerns about vertical mergers where a large corporation seeks

In an era where technology is advancing at an extraordinary rate, satellite operations in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) continue to experience rapid change like never before. In the first half of 2021, over 1,000 primarily LEO satellites have launched. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filings and market research indicates that thousands of LEO satellites could be

Supply mission will be fourth of 11 launches needed to construct the Chinese space station. HELSINKI — China is preparing to launch its second space station cargo supply mission in mid to late September following delivery of a Long March 7 rocket to Wenchang spaceport. The fourth new-generation Long March 7 arrived at Wenchang Satellite

You may have heard of the first interstellar object observed in our solar system, but did you know there’s more than one? And speaking of icy rocks, new research suggests the ocean under the icy crust of Enceladus could be more dynamic than we first thought! This video was sponsored by Skillshare. The first 1000

Last week, it was announced that we’ve detected gravitational waves on Earth. Now, Hank explains what that means for the future and why it’s such a huge deal. —- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters — we couldn’t make SciShow without them! Shout out

WASHINGTON — A test flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle will be delayed for likely several months to fix a problem with valves on the spacecraft. Boeing announced Aug. 13 that the Starliner spacecraft that was to launch this month on the Orbital Flight Test (OFT) 2 mission will be removed from its

Space Systems Command’s first commander is Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, who previously was deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force on Aug. 13 official renamed the Space and Missile Systems Center as the Space Systems Command. The new command will be based at SMC’s campus at Los Angeles Air

WASHINGTON — Astra will introduce an upgraded version of its small launch vehicle on its next flight later this month intended to increase the vehicle’s payload capacity. In an Aug. 12 earning call, Chris Kemp, chief executive of Astra, said the launch, scheduled for a window that opens Aug. 27 from Pacific Spaceport Complex –

On a cosmic scale, Mercury isn’t very far away, but it’s incredibly hard to get there. Getting into orbit around it takes years of flybys in the solar system, but we’re going to do it again! Hosted by: Reid Reimers SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It’s called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at https://www.scishowtangents.org ———-