Satellite firm’s funding round caps a year of growing Chinese space industry investment alongside cooperation agreements between space companies and local governments. HELSINKI — Chinese remote sensing company Changguang Satellite has secured $375 million for its constellation of optical Earth observation satellites. Changguang Satellite Co. Ltd., a commercial offshoot of the state-owned Changchun Institute of
Science
Like much of the world, scientists thrive on coffee. It’s not just because of the caffeine though, it turns out that even spilled coffee fuels research. Most people are annoyed by nagging coffee stains, but to physicist Sidney Nagel they were inspiration. If you’re a coffee lover (or you live with one), I guarantee that
WASHINGTON — The latest in a series of delays in a test campaign for the core stage of the Space Launch System now leaves “very little margin” in the schedule for its launch next November, NASA managers said Dec. 10. NASA had planned to conduct a test known as a “wet dress rehearsal” of the
Each December, Physics World selects its Top 10 Breakthroughs of the year. Watch this video to find out which research has made it onto this year’s shortlist. On Thursday 17 December, one of the ten will be crowned Physics World’s Breakthrough of the Year 2020. In addition to having been reported in Physics World in 2020, our
WASHINGTON — Launch integration company TriSept has purchased a launch from Relativity Space that it plans to use for a smallsat rideshare mission as soon as 2022. TriSept announced the contract Dec. 10 for a launch of Relativity’s Terran 1 rocket no earlier than 2022. The launch will take place either from Cape Canaveral Space
WASHINGTON — NASA has selected a team of astronauts who will be eligible for future Artemis missions to the moon even as the prospects of a 2024 crewed landing continue to dim. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced at the Dec. 9 meeting of the National Space Council at the Kennedy Space Center that the agency
Thumbs-up for randomness David Drahi in the quantum optics lab. (Courtesy: David Drahi)”> Thumbs-up for randomness David Drahi in the quantum optics lab. (Courtesy: David Drahi) While world events are often difficult to predict, true randomness is surprisingly hard to find. In recent years, physicists have turned to quantum mechanics for a solution, using the
SAN FRANCISCO – Dawn Aerospace announced Dec. 9 that it received approval from the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to begin flying the Dawn Mk-II Aurora, a 4.8-meter-long test vehicle the company developed as part of its campaign to develop a spaceplane to conduct multiple daily flights from conventional airports. “The challenge of getting
They sniff out drugs, cadavers, missing people, explosives, and even cancer. Dogs are more than man’s best friend, they are some of the best chemical detectors in existence. They are so good that by modifying a commercially available explosives detector to act like a dog’s nose, researchers were able to make the detector much more
“Austin is a trusted, trailblazing leader who brings deep experience serving as a top military commander and in critical Pentagon roles,” Biden said in a statement. WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday will formally introduce his pick to be the next secretary of defense — retired U.S. Army four-star general Lloyd Austin. Biden and
SAN FRANCISCO – Electro Optic Systems (EOS) of Australia formed SpaceLink, a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary to provide data-relay services for satellites in low Earth orbit and named former OneWeb Vice President David Bettinger as its chief executive officer. “We are developing and implementing a commercial, medium Earth orbit data-relay service to provide direct access
Tom Russell, interim CEO of Millennium Space Systems, said the technology is a possible solution to the growing problem of orbital debris congestion. WASHINGTON — Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space Systems announced Dec. 7 that an experiment launched to space last month will show a small satellite can safely deorbit in about 45 days. Two Millennium
Two-level systems: two of NIST’s superconducting thermometers for measuring cryogenic temperatures are glued to the lower left and upper right of this amplifier. (Courtesy: J Wheeler/NIST) A simple miniature thermometer that can quickly and accurately measure the temperature of ultracold microwave-based devices has been built by Joel Ullom and colleagues at the National Institute of
SAN FRANCISCO – Google announced a three-year agreement Dec. 7 to host data on the Google Cloud Platform for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory (formerly known as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope) under construction in Chile. As the Rubin Observatory operations team and the scientific community prepare to work with the enormous dataset expected to
The fastest timescales. The highest pressures. Absolute zero. The nanoscale. These conditions are far from our everyday experience, but studying how things behave in different situations can reveal a more complete picture of their nature—and can lead to revolutionary breakthroughs. Click to enlarge. This false-color map of a random light field includes a large number
WASHINGTON — SpaceX launched the first of a new generation of Dragon cargo spacecraft Dec. 6, carrying experiments and supplies to the International Space Station. The SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex (LC) 39A at 11:17 a.m. Eastern after a one-day delay caused by weather. It deployed the Dragon cargo
Fuel gauges with higher accuracy could help ensure that satellites stay operational for longer and more is made of their time in orbit. Credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory When a spacecraft launches, it uses roughly 75-90% of its propellant getting into orbit. The remaining fraction determines how long it can remain up there, but gauging