Expedition Space: Space Launch, Events, News

On some nights the sky is the best show in town. On this night, auroras ruled the sky, and the geomagnetic storm that created this colorful sky show originated from an increasingly active Sun. Surprisingly, since the approaching solar CME the day before had missed the Earth, it was not expected that this storm would create auroras. In the foreground, two happily surprised aurora hunters contemplate the amazing and rapidly changing sky. Regardless of forecasts, though, auroras were reported in the night skies of Earth not only in the far north, but as far south as New Mexico, USA. As captured in a wide-angle image above Saariselkä in northern Finnish Lapland, a bright aurora was visible with an unusually high degree of detail, range of colors, and breadth across the sky. The vivid yellow, green, red and purple auroral colors are caused by oxygen and nitrogen atoms high in Earth's atmosphere reacting to incoming electrons. via NASA https://ift.tt/SEOzNQT

The eggs from this gigantic chicken may form into stars. The featured emission nebula, shown in scientifically assigned colors, is cataloged as IC 2944 but known as the Running Chicken Nebula for the shape of its greater appearance. Seen toward the bottom of the image are small, dark molecular clouds rich in obscuring cosmic dust. Called Thackeray's Globules for their discoverer, these "eggs" are potential sites for the gravitational condensation of new stars, although their fates are uncertain as they are also being rapidly eroded away by the intense radiation from nearby young stars. Together with patchy glowing gas and complex regions of reflecting dust, these massive and energetic stars form the open cluster Collinder 249. This gorgeous skyscape spans about 60 light-years at the nebula's estimated 6,500 light-year distance. via NASA https://ift.tt/hVlD5RO

by Jason Rainbow TAMPA, Fla. — Amazon has ordered nine Atlas 5 rockets from United Launch Alliance to help place its 3,236-strong Project Kuiper broadband constellation. The U.S. internet retailing giant declined to disclose a time frame for its deal with ULA, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin known more for its government missions than commercial space. However, Amazon must deploy half the low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation by July 2026 under regulatory conditions tied to its license . All the satellites have to be in place by July 2029. “We’ve designed our satellites and dispenser system to accommodate multiple launch vehicles—this gives us the flexibility to use many different rockets and providers to launch our satellite system,” Project Kuiper vice president of technology Rajeev Badyal said.  “Atlas V is a capable, reliable rocket, and we’re proud to be working with ULA to support these important first launches.”  While SpaceX has been launching...

by SpaceNews Download the digital edition of the April 19 issue of SpaceNews magazine, provided compliments of Blacksky .  Inside the April 19 issue: 1. Business of Climate Change How ESG is transforming the satellite industry 2. NASA and the new urgency of climate change When Biden won, many expected NASA would shift direction, emphasizing climate change over human spaceflight. Three months into Biden’s term, it’s increasingly clear those changes aren’t nearly as radical as some might have thought. 3. U.S. role up in the air While China, Europe and Japan are making major investments in satellites to verify how well countries are fulfilling their Paris Agreement commitments, the U.S. is working on greenhouse gas sensors but currently has no plans for ambitious atmospheric monitoring. 4. Space and the new ESG business climate The E in ESG is getting another boost as the United States rejoins the climate change fight, and space promises to play a central role.   ...

by Jason Rainbow TAMPA, Fla. — Gulf Energy Development, a Thailand-based power producer, offered April 19 to buy out the parent company of Thai satellite operator Thaicom for as much as 169 billion baht ($5.4 billion). But Bangkok-based Gulf Energy said it will only pursue the deal for Intouch Holdings, which also owns Thailand’s largest wireless operator Advanced Info Service (AIS), if it can buy the group without having to acquire the rest of Thaicom. The company is asking Thailand’s securities regulator to waive a requirement to make an offer for all of the satellite operator’s shares. Controlled by billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi, Gulf Energy already owns 18.9% of Intouch, which has a 40.45% stake in AIS. InTouch owned 41.13% of Thaicom as of Feb. 19. Singaporean telecoms giant Singtel, which is InTouch’s largest shareholder with about 21%, also owns 23% of AIS. Singtel said in a stock exchange announcement that it is reviewing its strategic options for InTouch and AIS. “Sin...

by Brian Berger On April 1, MDA, Canada’s leading space technology company, best known for developing the robotic Canadarm used on the International Space Station, raised 400 million Canadian dollars ($320 million) in its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange.  Last November, Telesat Canada announced that it was combining with its major shareholder Loral Space & Communications to form one public company to finance its LEO constellation, wherein the newly formed Telesat Corporation will be a publicly traded Canadian incorporated and controlled company.  This is encouraging and in line with the global space industry which has witnessed a growth trajectory last year despite the overall economic slump due to the pandemic. Investment in the space industry set a record in 2020 with the space infrastructure segment clocking $8.9 billion, while the total 2020 investment of $25.6 billion in the space sector was the third highest in the decade, accordin...

by Jeff Foust WASHINGTON — NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter successfully performed the first powered flight on another planet April 19, briefing hovering above the surface of Mars. The 1.8-kilogram helicopter performed the flight at 3:34 a.m. Eastern, but data from the flight, relayed through the Perseverance rover and another Mars orbiter, arrived at Earth a little more than three hours later. An initial analysis of the data by the project team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory indicates the flight went as expected, with Ingenuity taking off, flying to an altitude of about three meters and hovering before landing 39.1 seconds later. “We can now say that human beings have flown a rotorcraft on another planet,” MiMi Aung, Ingenuity project manager at JPL, said in the control room moments after engineers confirmed the successful flight. “We together flew at Mars and we together now have our Wright Brothers moment.” The telemetry included one image taken from a camera on Ingenuity, looki...

What does the center of our galaxy look like? In visible light, the Milky Way's center is hidden by clouds of obscuring dust and gas. But in this stunning vista, the Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared cameras, penetrate much of the dust revealing the stars of the crowded galactic center region. A mosaic of many smaller snapshots, the detailed, false-color image shows older, cool stars in bluish hues. Red and brown glowing dust clouds are associated with young, hot stars in stellar nurseries. The very center of the Milky Way has recently been found capable of forming newborn stars. The galactic center lies some 26,700 light-years away, toward the constellation Sagittarius. At that distance, this picture spans about 900 light-years. via NASA https://ift.tt/3tvblL5

by Jeff Foust WASHINGTON — Boeing said April 17 that the next test flight of its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle won’t take place until at least August, confirming a lengthy delay widely expected because of the schedule of other launches and International Space Station missions. In a statement, Boeing said that the company and NASA are projecting the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test (OFT) 2 mission will take place in August or September. That date is “supported by a space station docking opportunity and the availability of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and Eastern Range.” Boeing had been working toward a launch of OFT-2 in late March or early April. However, by early March, NASA officials acknowledged that was no longer likely because of delays from the replacement of avionics units on the spacecraft that were damaged by a power surge during ground tests, as well as power outages in the Houston area caused by a winter storm in February that interrupted software ...