NOORDWIJK, The Netherlands (Netherlands Space Office PR) — ESA’s new space probe JUICE – which stands for Jupiter Icy moons Explorer – will be tested this month at the ESTEC testing centre in Noordwijk. The Netherlands is responsible for powering JUICE with solar panels developed by Airbus in Leiden. Our country is also involved in the mission on a scientific level. Scientists and engineers from Delft University of Technology are preparing for their work on this mission together with their colleagues from JIVE in Dwingeloo. They will use radio telescopes located all over the planet, including in Westerbork in the Dutch province of Drenthe, to closely monitor the planetary explorer’s progress. In this manner, they are paving the way for ground-breaking scientific research of the icy moons of Jupiter.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. May 22, 2021 (Virgin Galactic PR) — Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“The Company or Virgin Galactic”) today completed its third spaceflight and the first ever spaceflight from Spaceport America, New Mexico. Today’s flight sees New Mexico become the third US state to launch humans into space.

VSS Unity achieved a speed of Mach 3 after being released from the mothership, VMS Eve, and reached space, at an altitude of 55.45 miles before gliding smoothly to a runway landing at Spaceport America.

BEIJING (CNSA PR) — Judging from the telemetry data, at 10:40 on May 22, the Zhurong rover had safely left the landing platform, reached the surface of Mars, and began to patrol and explore. The scientific goal of the Tianwen-1 mission is to study the morphology and geological structure characteristics of Mars, the characteristics of the soil on the surface of Mars and the distribution of water ice, the composition […]

Findings from the latest ‘Size and Health of the UK Space Industry’ report reveal a growth in jobs and income

SWINDON, UK (UK Space Agency PR) — The UK’s space sector has seen growth in jobs and income while investing more in research and development, leaving it well-placed to grow strongly as we recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, Science Minister Amanda Solloway announced today.

Findings from the latest ‘Size and Health of the UK Space Industry’ report, commissioned by the UK Space Agency and delivered by know.space, show the sector supports a highly skilled and productive workforce that’s growing across the country.

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — Plans are underway for NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to make its sixth flight on the Red Planet in the next week. The flight is the first to be executed during the helicopter’s operations demonstration phase and includes scouting multiple surface features from the air and landing at a different airfield. In this new phase, data and images from the flight will be returned to Earth in the […]

SWINDON, UK (UK Space Agency PR) — UK companies are developing new communication and navigation services needed for future missions to the Moon, thanks to funding from the UK Space Agency

In what will be the world’s first commercial servicing of its kind, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), Inmarsat and MDA UK are among those who won contracts with the European Space Agency (ESA), worth just over £2 million in total, to shape the infrastructure for future lunar exploration.

REDDING, UK (University of Redding PR) — Planned missions to return humans to the Moon need to hurry up to avoid hitting one of the busiest periods for extreme space weather, according to scientists conducting the most in-depth ever look at solar storm timing.

Scientists at the University of Reading studied 150 years of space weather data to investigate patterns in the timing of the most extreme events, which can be extremely dangerous to astronauts and satellites, and even disrupt power grids if they arrive at Earth.

PARIS (CNES PR) — What will the launcher look like the day after tomorrow? It is far too early to tell, but CNES is already working to imagine the disruptive technologies that will make it fly.

In the field of launchers, you have to know how to look far ahead. While the qualification of Ariane 6 has entered its final phases, its successor Ariane Next is envisaged for the 2030s, and reflections for the post-2040 are well underway with the Ariane Ultimate project . At this stage, it is still only a concept, that is to say a pool of new technologies which are in an embryonic state but which we want to make mature by this time, in order to develop a launcher that must be carbon neutral, fully reusable and at almost zero marginal launch cost. It is also a question of projecting on the new uses of space in the coming decades as we can imagine them on this horizon: for example the need for high speeds to reach the low orbits which could serve as hubs of exchange towards the Moon or towards Mars. 

PARIS (ESA PR) — Aspiring astronauts now have until 18 June 2021 to submit an application for ESA’s astronaut selection. The three-week extension comes as ESA welcomes Lithuania as a new Associate Member state. 

Lithuania’s new status as an ESA Associate Member means Lithuanian citizens are now eligible to apply for all ESA vacancies. As a result, ESA is encouraging all those who meet the criteria for the ESA Astronaut or ESA Astronaut (with a physical disability) vacancies, and dream of flying to space, to put themselves forward.

Extending the deadline provides these applicants with the opportunity to submit a complete application.

GUILDFORD, UK (Surrey Satellite PR) — Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to lead a Phase A/B1 Study under ESA’s Moonlight initiative that will shape the service provision and infrastructure to provide sustainable commercial Lunar data-relay services for communication and navigation around the Moon.

The Moonlight Phase A/B1 Study will define the service infrastructure and clearly lay out the development path for a constellation of Lunar communication and navigation satellites. The Study will characterise the complete end to end system, including the Lunar Space Segment, the Moon Surface Segment, the Lunar User Segment and the Earth Ground Segment.

GLASGOW, Scotland (Alba Orbital PR) — Alba Orbital is pleased to announce we have closed our Seed round to accelerate our mission to image everywhere on earth every 15 minutes.

The round was led by Metaplanet Holdings and included Y Combinator, Liquid2, Soma, Uncommon Denominator, Zillionize and a number of angel investors

To date Alba Orbital has launched 6 satellites, more than all the other Y Combinator companies combined, with another 9 integrated and ready to launch in a few months.

‘We are thrilled to have closed our first external investment round, which was so popular we could have filled two or three times over. We are excited to kick on and start building out our fleet at scale, starting with our 11 satellite constellation for night time imagery’.

PARIS (ESA PR) — A bold proposal to create a commercially viable constellation of lunar satellites has taken a step closer.

Two consortia of companies will be supported by ESA to devise detailed definitions of how to provide telecommunications and navigation services for missions to the Moon, under the agency’s Moonlight initiative.

Such a lasting lunar link will enable sustainable space exploration.

ESA is going to the Moon together with its international partners including NASA.

Dozens of international, institutional and commercial teams are sending missions to the Moon that envisage a permanent lunar presence. These will become regular trips to Earth’s natural satellite rather than one-off expeditions