SAN FRANCISCO – U.S. and U.K. defense agencies plan to award $1 million to startups at the first International Space Pitch Day in November during the Defence Space Conference in London. The event, backed by the U.K. Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Royal Air Force, U.S. Space Force and NATO, is designed to identify commercial
Science
As part of our special coverage of the 34th Annual Small Satellite Conference, SpaceNews is doing daily webinars Aug. 3-6 to bring you live newsmaker interviews, panel discussions and reporter roundtables in order to help bring you the full SmallSat experience (minus the Aggie’s ice cream, unfortunately). All “SN @ SmallSat” webinars start at 11
The first quantum phase battery. (Courtesy: Andrea Iorio) Researchers in Spain and Italy have constructed the first-ever quantum phase battery – a device that maintains a phase difference between two points in a superconducting circuit. The battery, which consists of an indium arsenide (InAs) nanowire in contact with aluminium (Al) superconducting leads, could be used
WASHINGTON — A U.K. parliamentary committee said it will review the steps that led to the government’s bid for struggling megaconstellation startup OneWeb, arguing that the $500-million investment decision was rushed and jeopardizes British taxpayer dollars. Darren Jones, chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee in Parliament, said Wednesday that the decision to
Differences between the House and Senate versions of the NDAA will be negotiated in a conference some time this fall. WASHINGTON — The Senate on July 23 passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 by a vote of 86 to 14. The NDAA authorizes $740.5 billion for national defense
Cancelled: the December banquet for this year’s Nobel laureates will not go ahead due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Courtesy: Nobel Media AB 2016/Alexander Mahmoud) This year’s Nobel laureates will have to forego the lavish Nobel banquet that is held in December. The Nobel Foundation, which manages the Nobel prizes that are announced in early October,
WASHINGTON — The British government expects to soon release a comprehensive set of regulations that will enable companies to perform commercial launches from spaceports in the country. During a July 22 webinar by the U.K. Space Agency, part of series of virtual events held in place of the Farnborough International Airshow, government officials said they
HELSINKI — China launched three satellites on a Long March 4B late Friday for remote sensing, novel lobster eye x-ray astronomy and commercial data acquisition. The Long March 4B rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 11:13 p.m. Eastern Friday. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., the country’s main space contractor,
The big picture: scientists have spotted large-scale resonant waves travelling in both directions around the globe. (Courtesy: NASA) The Earth’s entire atmosphere vibrates like a giant bell, with various large-scale resonant waves travelling in both directions around the globe. That is the conclusion of scientists in Japan and the US, who have confirmed a nearly
The 21st Space Wing at Peterson Air Force Base; the 50th Space Wing at Schriever Air Force Base; and the 460th Space Wing at Buckley Air Force Base have been deactivated and new units have been stood up in their place. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force announced on July 24 that three former U.S.
WASHINGTON — A draft of the Democratic Party’s 2020 platform suggests that an administration led by Joe Biden would make few major changes in NASA programs but does not explicitly endorse a 2024 human return to the moon. An 80-page draft of the party’s 2020 platform, distributed to party officials this week for review, includes
Caught on camera: This first-ever image of a multi-planet system around a Sun-like star shows the two planets (centre and bottom right) orbiting TYC 8998-760-1 (Courtesy: ESO/Bohn et al.) The first ever direct image of a young Sun-like star accompanied by two giant exoplanets has been captured by astronomers using the Very Large Telescope (VLT)
WASHINGTON — Members of a NASA safety panel expressed continued concern about quality issues with Boeing’s commercial crew spacecraft while cautiously supporting SpaceX’s plans to fly reused spacecraft on future crewed missions. During a July 23 teleconference by the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, members discussed several reviews of issues with the uncrewed flight of Boeing’s
Hyvinkää, FINLAND — China’s Tianwen-1 Mars mission launched successfully Thursday, initiating a phase of deep space and interplanetary exploration. A Long March 5 rocket launched the Tianwen-1 orbiter and rover from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 12:41 a.m. Eastern. Successful Trans-Mars injection was confirmed around 40 minutes later by the China Aerospace Science and Technology
Quantum clock: rotating atomic spins have been used to measure the time it takes for quantum tunnelling to occur. (Courtesy: iStock/agsandrew) The time it takes for an atom to quantum-mechanically tunnel through an energy barrier has been measured by Aephraim Steinberg of the University of Toronto and colleagues. The team observed ultracold atoms tunnelling through
SmallSat Alliance Chairman Chuck Beames said DoD’s decision to award contracts to six companies without a competition was a mistake. WASHINGTON — The Defense Department caused an uproar when it announced on June 18 it had selected six small launch companies to receive contracts funded under the Defense Production Act, the head of a space
The Air Force will use BlackSky’s monitoring service to track the spread of COVID-19 and secure its supply chain. WASHINGTON — Earth-observation company BlackSky announced July 21 it received a U.S. Air Force contract to monitor overseas U.S. military bases, detect outbreaks and analyze the spread of COVID-19. The contract was awarded by the Air
Microfluidics maestro: Cellular Highways chief executive Samson Rogers poses with a prototype of the company’s first commercial sell-sorting instrument. (Courtesy: Cellular Highways) Companies that use physics to unlock next-generation drugs for respiratory disorders and enable advanced cancer treatments are the first recipients of a new award for early-stage companies in healthcare and medicine. Nebu~Flow, a