Canada soars into space with new moon and ISS astronaut missions
MONTREAL, CANADA — Freezing rain and foggy air couldn’t dampen the Canadian space spirit.
Over the past six years, governments proposed launching over one million satellites, but where will they all go?
In September 2021, Rwanda announced that it was planning to launch over 300,000 satellites. Three months later, a Canadian company, having previously launched two dozen CubeSats, said it would launch an additional 100,000. Then, a French company did likewise. And SpaceX, which has already launched around 5,000 satellites, now has plans for over 60,000 more.
This Antarctic glacier dramatically retreated. Then, its ice shelf totally collapsed (satellite image)
Another day, another retreating glacier. Today’s casualty is Antarctica’s Cadman Glacier, located on the western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Scientists just found a planet-forming disk beyond our Milky Way for the 1st time — yes, they’re thrilled
Astronomers have discovered the first example of a swirling disk of material feeding a young star located in a galaxy outside the Milky Way. The disk is near-identical to those found around infant stars in the Milky Way and suggests that stars and planets form in other galaxies just as they do in our own.
China makes progress on Raptor-like engines for super heavy rocket
HELSINKI — China is progressing with a program to develop full-flow staged-combustion-cycle methane engines to power its reusable Long March 9 super heavy-lift launcher.
Firefly conducts first Miranda engine test
WASHINGTON — Firefly Aerospace has conducted the first hot-fire test of a new engine that will power the company’s future launch vehicles.
Arctic broadband satellites complete key tests ahead of mid-2024 launch
WASHINGTON — Two satellites designed to bring mobile broadband coverage to the Arctic region for civilian and military users have completed key tests ahead of their planned launch next summer.
China launches new-gen Haiyang ocean monitoring satellite
BREMEN, Germany — China launched the first of a new series of Haiyang ocean observation satellites late Wednesday.
Starliner “on track” for April crewed test flight
WASHINGTON — NASA says the first crewed launch of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner vehicle remains on schedule for the middle of April as the company completes work to resolve the latest technical problems with the vehicle.
ArianeGroup begins testing prototype of multirole Susie upper stage
BREMEN, Germany — ArianeGroup has started testing what it considers to be a versatile answer to numerous challenges facing European spaceflight.
NASA Mars smallsat mission to be on first New Glenn launch
WASHINGTON — NASA expects that a Mars smallsat mission will be on the first launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch vehicle within a year, although with some risk about whether the rocket will be ready in time.
ESA to start commercial cargo program
WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency announced Nov. 6 it will start a competition to develop commercial vehicles to transport cargo to and from the International Space Station by 2028, a step towards developing a crewed vehicle.
EU finalizing contract with SpaceX for Galileo launches
WASHINGTON — The European Union is in the final stages of completing a deal with SpaceX to launch four Galileo navigation satellites in 2024.
Artemis moon astronauts will need oxygen. NASA wants to extract it from lunar dust
Even though the day when humans live and work on the moon is still in the unidentified future, NASA is actively planning for how to get us there.