by Matt Wilson | Jun 10, 2021 | ESA, exploration, Satellites, Science, Seradata News
ESA decided the winner of its fifth “Medium-class” Cosmic Vision competition on 10 June. Out of the two finalists the Venus-oriented “EnVision” orbiter won out over the gamma-ray burst studying “THESEUS”. The initial call for...
by Matt Wilson | Jun 3, 2021 | exploration, NASA, Satellites, Science, Seradata News
NASA selected two new missions to form part of its Discovery programme on 2 June. These missions lie on the smaller end of the scale where NASA is concerned but, will still now each be funded to the tune of US$500 million. The winning candidates have been in...
by Derek Goddard | Apr 20, 2021 | exploration, History, NASA, Science, Seradata News, Technology
Ingenuity – part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission – made the first powered, controlled flight on another planet at 0730 GMT on 19 April. The 2 kg solar-powered drone helicopter, which had been deployed on the Martian surface by the Mars rover Perseverence, managed to...
by David Todd | Mar 30, 2021 | ESA, Satellites, Science
ESA has selected SSTL to build and operate a 40 kg spacecraft for its HydroGNSS mission under its Scout programme. The €30 million HydroGNSS mission uses GNSS Reflectometry for hydrological measurements. In effect it uses signals from GPS and Galileo, as radar...
by David Todd | Mar 19, 2021 | Satellites, Science
At 0711 GMT on 10 March 2021, the retired NOAA 17 weather satellite broke up in orbit. So far 16 pieces of debris have been tracked. There is no indication that this break up was caused by a collision. Scientists are concerned that the debris may present a hazard to...
by David Todd | Mar 1, 2021 | commercial launch services, Launches, NASA, Satellites, Science
NASA has selected Astra Space Inc. to provide a launch service via its Astra Rocket 3 for the agency’s Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of SmallSats (TROPICS) mission. According to NASA the launch service...
