An Atlas V 401 rocket from ULA (United Launch Alliance) has launched a Lockheed Martin-built, NASA Discovery-class spacecraft into orbit. Lift-off took place at 0934 GMT on 16 October from Cape Canaveral, USA, and utilised the “401” Atlas V configuration with no...
Rocket Lab has been selected to launch a NASA technology test satellite, scheduled for “mid-2022”. The ACS3 (Advanced Composite Solar Sail System) satellite will test composite materials in the deployable booms which support the solar sail. The project is...
The United Kingdom’s space conference held every two years was a more muted affair this year – pun intended – as it has been forced online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless there were some significant announcements to be had. While the...
Some years ago this column started its annual analysis called “The Great Space Race”. The idea was that while the original “Moon race” ended in 1969 when the USA beat the Soviet Union onto the lunar surface with its Apollo 11 human landing, a new one has...
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is back online after a month of downtime due to a malfunctioning payload computer. The veteran telescope, launched to low Earth orbit in 1990, was brought back into service on 17 July when controllers switched over to a backup...
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...
