NASA test of mega Moon rocket engines cut short

Washington (AFP) Jan 17, 2021 NASA conducted a test firing of the engines for its giant Space Launch System (SLS) lunar rocket on Saturday but they shut down earlier than planned, the space agency said. The "hot-fire" test at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi was supposed to last a little over eight minutes - the time the engines would...

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Astronauts to boost European connectivity

Paris (ESA) Jan 20, 2021 Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are planning a spacewalk to install a high-speed satellite link that will improve their connections with Europe. The system will enable astronauts to connect at home broadband internet speeds - delivering a whole family's worth of video streaming for communications...

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NanoAvionics' built satellite for Aurora Insight to fly on SpaceX's Transporter 1 mission

Columbia SC (SPX) Jan 20, 2021 NanoAvionics, a leading nanosatellite bus manufacturer and mission integrator, has announced that the first of two nanosatellites, built and integrated for US radio frequency spectrum and wireless data provider Aurora Insight, will be part of SpaceX's "Transporter 1" rideshare launch onboard a Falcon 9. The...

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China's space station core module, cargo craft pass factory review

Beijing (XNA) Jan 18, 2021 The core module of China's planned space station has passed a factory review, along with the project's Tianzhou-2 cargo craft and the core module mission products of the space application systems, the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) said Thursday. The completion of the factory review, conducted by...

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Solar activity reconstructed over a millennium

Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Jan 20, 2021 What goes on in the sun can only be observed indirectly. Sunspots, for instance, reveal the degree of solar activity - the more sunspots are visible on the surface of the sun, the more active is our central star deep inside. Even though sunspots have been known since antiquity, they have only been documented...

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Florida's Space Coast the Number 1 Launch Site in the World in 2020

Cocoa Beach FL (SPX) Jan 20, 2021 Historical launches like the return to crewed space flight and Mars2020 helped propel Florida's Space Coast to their busiest launch year in decades, putting the region on the top of the list for launch activity in the world. In 2020, 31 successful attempts flew from Florida's Space Coast surpassing the record...

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New Year, New Record for Australia's Gilmour Space

Gold Coast, Australia (SPX) Jan 20, 2021 Australia's leading rocket company, Gilmour Space Technologies, has ushered in the New Year with a successful hotfire of the world's largest single-port hybrid rocket engine. [See video] "We achieved a record 91 kilonewtons (or 9 tonnes-force) of thrust in this initial verification test of our main engine,"...

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Astronomers dissect the anatomy of planetary nebulae using Hubble images

Rochester NY (SPX) Jan 20, 2021 Images of two iconic planetary nebulae taken by the Hubble Space Telescope are revealing new information about how they develop their dramatic features. Researchers from Rochester Institute of Technology and Green Bank Observatory presented new findings about the Butterfly Nebula (NGC 6302) and the Jewel Bug Nebula...

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Analyzing different solid states of water on other planets and moons

Okayama, Japan (SPX) Jan 20, 2021 Just like on Earth, water on other planets, satellites, and even comets comes in a variety of forms depending on multiple factors such as pressure and temperature. Aside from the gaseous, liquid, and solid states we are accustomed to, water can form a different type of crystalline solid called clathrate hydrate....

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Mystery of Martian glaciers revealed

Hamilton NY (SPX) Jan 20, 2021 In a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of ScienceS (PNAS), planetary geologist Joe Levy, assistant professor of geology at Colgate University, reveals a groundbreaking new analysis of the mysterious glaciers of Mars. On Earth, glaciers covered wide swaths of the planet during the...

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