Science

SEOUL, South Korea — Satrec Initiative, a satellite maker under South Korea’s Hanwha Group, will send a high-resolution imaging satellite called SpaceEye-T into low Earth orbit by the first quarter of 2024, in the first step toward building its own constellation of Earth observation satellites. The company unveiled the plan Aug. 18, saying SpaceEye-T will

Taken from the August 2021 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. During their physics degree at the University of Birmingham, Marion Cromb did four internships across industry and academia. They speak to Laura Hiscott about what they learnt from these varied

WASHINGTON — Firefly Aerospace has hired a former SpaceX and Blue Origin engineer as its new chief operating officer to guide the company’s shift from development to production, although exactly when the company’s first launch will take place remains unclear. Firefly announced Aug. 17 that Lauren Lyons will become chief operating officer of the company,

TAMPA, Fla. — Shares in Spire Global, the small satellite constellation operator, closed down 5.2% to $9.41 at the end of its first day as a public company Aug. 17. The operator is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the “SPIR” ticker, after shareholders of special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) NavSight approved

Electrons exhibiting maximal dissipation in the normal state before passing into a state of minimal dissipation in the superconducting state. Courtesy: Erik van Heumen (Amsterdam) Nobody really understands why cuprates – highly-doped copper oxides – are high-temperature superconductors, and researchers in the UK and the Netherlands have now discovered that the materials don’t conform to

WASHINGTON — A Finnish cubesat designed to test satellite deorbiting technologies will launch on a Rocket Lab Electron after delays with its original launch on a Momentus tug. Rocket Lab announced Aug. 16 that it signed a contract with Aurora Propulsion Technologies to launch its AuroraSat-1 spacecraft on an Electron in the fourth quarter of

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin has filed suit against NASA in federal court, arguing that the agency failed to properly evaluate its proposal for the agency’s Human Landing System program, a procurement won by SpaceX. Blue Origin filed suit Aug. 13 in the Court of Federal Claims, which has jurisdiction over bid protests after reviews by

WASHINGTON — The Government Accountability Office offered more details about its decision to reject protests filed by two companies of NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) award to SpaceX. The GAO released Aug. 10 a 76-page decision denying protests filed in April by Blue Origin and Dynetics of NASA’s decision to make a single HLS award,

Taken from the 2021 issue of Physics World Instrumentation and Vacuum Briefing. You can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Vacuum specialists are working closely with production engineers to make lithium-ion battery manufacturing more efficient – reducing costs and cutting carbon emissions, as Susan Curtis reports

Taken from the August 2021 issue of Physics World where it first appeared under the headline “Infinitesimal to infinite”. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. David Appell reviews Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings by Alan Lightman

WASHINGTON — Astra will introduce an upgraded version of its small launch vehicle on its next flight later this month intended to increase the vehicle’s payload capacity. In an Aug. 12 earning call, Chris Kemp, chief executive of Astra, said the launch, scheduled for a window that opens Aug. 27 from Pacific Spaceport Complex –

Space Systems Command’s first commander is Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, who previously was deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force on Aug. 13 official renamed the Space and Missile Systems Center as the Space Systems Command. The new command will be based at SMC’s campus at Los Angeles Air

Tortured writing: bizarre phrases in research papers could point to plagiarized work. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/PolyPloiid) If you happen to come across the phrase “counterfeit consciousness” in a research paper, it just might be a fake – according to an amusing news article in Nature. In it, Holly Else explains why Guillaume Cabanac at France’s University of

HELSINKI — A Chinese startup is aiming to developing spacecraft capable of supplying China’s space station, with a first small demonstration launch set for 2022. Beijing-based InterSpace Explore signed a deal Aug. 4 with Chinese private launch firm Galactic Energy for launch of the Zengzhang-1 demonstration returnable satellite on a Ceres-1 solid rocket in 2022.

WASHINGTON — The use of cubesats has grown dramatically in recent years, but some are wondering if the form factor has reached the limits of its usefulness. In a presentation at the 35th Annual Small Satellite Conference Aug. 10, Siegfried Janson, a retired Aerospace Corporation engineer who is now a consultant, reviewed the history of

If you built a very expensive telescope, would you hitch it to a balloon and fly it 40 km above the surface of the Earth? That is what Mohamed Shaaban at the University of Toronto and an international team will do next year when they launch their SuperBIT telescope on NASA’s superpressure balloon.  Shabaan explains

TAMPA, Fla. — Satellite broadband startup OneWeb has secured $300 million of strategic investment from Hanwha, the South Korean conglomerate with plans for its own megaconstellation. Hanwha bought an 8.8% stake in OneWeb through its defense division Hanwha Systems, which acquired British antenna startup Phasor Solutions last year as part of its growing space ambitions.

Any decision on whether to restart a rocket development will be driven by market opportunities HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A year after discontinuing the development of its OmegA rocket, Northrop Grumman is not completely ruling out a future attempt to get back in the national security launch market, company executives said Aug. 11. “We do continue