Spacecraft Mission News (English, German) – 02.11.2017

 

Front Page / Titelseite

Die Mission GRACE geht nach 15 erfolgreichen Jahren zu Ende
Gravititationsänderungen messen und den Klimawandel genau dokumentieren Künstlerische Darstellung der GRACE-Satelliten und der Erde Mehr als 15 Jahre lang dokumentierten die…
GRACE mission comes to an end - SpaceNews.com
WASHINGTON – An Earth science mission launched more than 15 years ago has finally come to an end, slightly earlier than previously expected, NASA announced Oct. 27. In a statement, NASA…
GRACE: Erfolgreiche Schwerefeldmission ist beendet
Fünf Jahre lang sollten die beiden Satelliten der Mission GRACE das Schwerefeld der Erde vermessen, nach mehr als 15 Jahren wurde die Mission in der vergangenen Woche für beendet…
Relive New Horizons Probe`s Historic Discoveries with Epic NASA Video
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – NASA is still up to a month away from setting a new target launch date for the first flight of the Space Launch System, but agency officials said they still expected it…
Its Time For The Semiannual SLS Launch Date Slip
„NASA will soon set a new date for the maiden flight of its massive Space Launch System rocket, which will send the Orion spacecraft on a test flight around the Moon. Previously, this…
Foom! NASA Tests Powerful Engine That Will Take Astronauts into Deep Space
Spectacular footage from a rocket engine test at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi shows a larger than life cloud of smoke pouring across a field as spectators look on. The video…

International Spacestation (ISS) /

Internationale Raumstation

Hello to the Heavens: Pope Francis Phones the Space Station
Pope Francis made a phone call to the International Space Station today (Oct. 26) to ask its six occupants deep questions about humanity’s place in the universe. Calling from the Vatican in…
Pope Francis and Expedition 53 Crew Exchange Thoughts About Humanity`s Deepest and Oldest Questions
In the middle of a workday where the Expedition 53 crew performed a routine emergency drill and additional ocular ultrasounds to map any eye changes, there was, most certainly, a higher…
Vatican Calling: Pope Francis Will Speak with Space Station Astronauts on Thursday
Pope Francis is planning to make a call to the International Space Station tomorrow (Oct. 26) to speak with Expedition 53 crewmembers. The video call will begin at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT),…
Expedition 53 Inspires the Next Generation, Learns More About How the Human Body Responds to Space
Mid-week, the crew of Expedition 53 completed tasks to investigate the various ways microgravity affects the human body and shared the benefits of the International Space Station with…
NASA`s Astronaut Twins Study Shows How Spaceflight Changes Gene Expression
The changes spaceflight induces in astronauts are much more than skin deep. Space travel strongly affects the way genes are expressed, or turned on and off, preliminary results from NASA’s…
Station Crew Remains Rooted in Science as the Week Kicks Off
The Expedition 53 crew capped off last week’s investigations with fresh pickings of lettuce, cabbage and mizuna harvested from the Veg-03 investigation. There’s still some left, though, for…
Spacewalk Simulation: Astronaut Dangles Over Space Station Mockup (Photo)
You have to dangle before you can (space)walk. A new photo shows spacesuit-clad Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen hanging over a mockup of part of the International Space…

Earth / Erde

China`s Fall Guy: Tiangong-1 Space Lab to Crash in Early 2018
China’s Tiangong-1 space lab is headed for an uncontrolled and destructive nose-dive into Earth’s atmosphere early next year. Exactly when and where on Earth the multiton discarded craft…
Google using O3b satellites to connect Project Loon over Puerto Rico - SpaceNews.com
WASHINGTON – Google’s experimental high-altitude balloon project is using connectivity from O3b satellites to provide emergency communications in hurricane-ravished Puerto Rico. O3b owner…

Solar System / Sonnensystem

Catalog Page for PIA22083
Dawn’s mission is managed by JPL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate’s Discovery Program, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight…
Sinuous Gullies Snake Down Sand Dune on Mars (Photo)
These Martian gullies may be linear, but they’re far from straight. A striking new photo by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows dozens of parallel gullies snaking their way down…
Bizarre Saturn Hexagon, Vortex Star in Cassini Photo
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has given us another great look at the odd hexagon and vortex that swirl around Saturn’s north pole. The hexagon is a jet stream composed of air traveling at about…
Jupiter`s Northern, Southern Lights Beat Out of Sync
Astronomers have finally detected X-rays blazing from Jupiter’s mysterious southern lights, a new study finds. Unexpectedly, the giant planet’s northern and southern lights do not pulse in…
A Special Comet Makes Grand Return to NASA Spacecraft`s Field of View
A special comet just made its grand return to the view of one of NASA’s sun-gazing spacecraft. Comet 96P/Machholz was caught on camera by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO),…
The end of an era came long before the end of Cassini
I have now been writing about science for nearly a dozen years, which means my career more or less overlaps with that of the Cassini probe. Unlike that spacecraft, fortunately, nobody has…

Beyond Solar System / Milchstraße & Kosmos

Spitzer Reveals Ancient Galaxies` Frenzied Starmaking - NASA Spitzer Space Telescope
A deep look back to the early universe by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed a surprisingly rowdy bunch of galaxies. Within a large galaxy sample observed 1.5 billion years after…
ESA Science & Technology: Galactic David and Goliath [heic1712]
ESA’s Gaia mission, in orbit since December 2013, is surveying more than a thousand million stars in our Galaxy, monitoring each target star about 70 times over a five-year period and…
ESA Science & Technology: Hubble discovers `wobbling galaxies` - Observations may hint at nature of dark matter [heic1718]
Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered that the brightest galaxies within galaxy clusters

Politics / Politik

Bridenstine Survives His Confirmation Hearing
Duckworth dumps on Bridenstine for not reading Rogers commission report. He says he has „You’re truly not ready to be Administrator of NASA“- NASA Watch (@NASAWatch)
Senator opposes Bridenstine nomination to lead NASA - SpaceNews.com
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – A day after the Senate Commerce Committee announced a confirmation hearing for Rep. Jim Bridenstine’s (R-Okla.) nomination to be the next NASA administrator, one senator…
Confirmation Hearing Set For Bridenstine
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Nomination Hearing (Bridenstine et al) Sen. Patty Murray Calls On colleagues To Oppose Trump Nominee To Lead NASA „In a letter…

Technology / Technologie

Low-cost clocks for landing on the Moon
A European clock accurate to a trillionth of a second is set to be used on satellites and missions to the Moon. The ultra-precise time-keeper was conceived by a small company in Latvia, and…
Falcon 9 Static Fire Test Clears Way for Monday Liftoff with KoreaSat 5A
SpaceX successfully completed the Static Fire Test of a Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday atop the company’s Kennedy Space Center launch pad in preparation for the rocket’s 16th launch of the…
What is a Satellite?
A satellite is an object in space that orbits or circles around a bigger object. There are two kinds of satellites: natural (such as the moon orbiting the Earth) or artificial (such as the…
NASA trims reserves and shifts schedules to find astrophysics cost savings - SpaceNews.com
WASHINGTON – Forced to find nearly $30 million in cost savings, NASA’s astrophysics program has trimmed budget reserves on one mission approaching launch and delayed the schedule of…
Photos: Falcon 9 Soars Off From Florida with Korean Communications Satellite
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday, October 30, 2017 at 19:34:00 UTC with the KoreaSat-5A communications satellite. The…
Video: SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches KoreaSat 5A; Fiery Stage 1 Landing
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday, October 30, 2017 at 19:34:00 UTC with the KoreaSat-5A communications satellite. The…
SpaceX Will Launch Another Used Dragon Capsule to Space Station Soon
SpaceX’s march toward full reusability continues. The company’s next cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which is scheduled to launch no earlier than December, will…
Soyuz Rocket Soars to Orbit with Progress Cargo Ship, set for Revised Two-Day Mission Profile
Coming back from a rare ignition abort two days ago, Russia’s Soyuz rocket shot into clear skies over the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Saturday with the Progress MS-07 cargo spacecraft headed to…
Minotaur-C Rocket Launches Ten Commercial Earth Observation Satellites
An all-solid-fueled rocket with familiar feel but new name lifted off from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base on Tuesday to carry a group of ten Earth-observation satellites into orbit…
Next Mars Rover Will Have 23 `Eyes`
When NASA’s Mars Pathfinder touched down in 1997, it had five cameras: two on a mast that popped up from the lander, and three on NASA’s first rover, Sojourner. Since then, camera…
Vector to perform first orbital launches from Virginia - SpaceNews.com
ATLANTA – Vector, an Arizona-based company that has done test flights from California and Georgia, announced Oct. 19 it plans to make its first orbital launch from a Virginia site as soon…
Classified NRO Satellite Spotted in Orbit within Hours of Launch
Within hours of its arrival in a classified orbit on Sunday, satellite trackers spotted the clandestine NROL-52 satellite – confirming its expected orbital trajectory and adding further…

Entertainment / Unterhaltung

Halloween Treat: NASA Releases a Playlist of the Universe`s Spooky Sounds
In honor of Halloween, NASA released a playlist of eerie space sounds picked up by various satellites traveling through the universe. The playlist includes sounds from several missions to…
Tour a `Universe of Monsters` & `Galaxy of Horrors` with NASA This Halloween!
The scientists over at NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP) must really love Halloween. Today (Oct. 31), the ExEP website has two fantastically frightening interactive features to…

World / Welt

GAP Report On Solid Rocket Motor Industrial Base
Solid Rocket Motors: DOD and Industry Are Addressing Challenges to Minimize Supply Concerns, GAO „The consolidation in the SRM industrial base has also been accompanied by a decrease of…
Where Are All The Women In These New Space Companies?
Keith’s note: I just got this advertising email from Axiom Space titled „The Promise of Human Spaceflight for Investors“ bragging about Axiom being featured in lots of high visibility…
Virgin signs agreement with Saudi Arabia for billion-dollar investment - SpaceNews.com
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The Virgin Group announced Oct. 26 an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund for an investment of $1 billion into Virgin’s suborbital and orbital space…
SpaceX, OneWeb detail constellation plans to Congress - SpaceNews.com
WASHINGTON – SpaceX and OneWeb say they are within months of launching the first satellites in their competing megaconstellations of broadband smallsats designed to bring internet to every…
European space officials outline desired contribution to Deep Space Gateway - SpaceNews.com
BREMEN, Germany – Europe’s aerospace industry is getting ready for NASA’s proposed Deep Space Gateway, hoping Europe will have its own module at the lunar-orbit space station resupplied by…
Ask an Astronaut`: Q & A with British Spacewalker Tim Peake
Tim Peake was the first British European Space Agency astronaut to visit the International Space Station, and might also be the first to call the wrong number on Christmas in space. When he…
NASA trims reserves and shifts schedules to find astrophysics cost savings - SpaceNews.com
WASHINGTON – Forced to find nearly $30 million in cost savings, NASA’s astrophysics program has trimmed budget reserves on one mission approaching launch and delayed the schedule of…
Air Force adds more than $40 million to SpaceX engine contract - SpaceNews.com
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Air Force has provided SpaceX with an additional $40.7 million to support continued development of the company’s Raptor engine. A Defense Department contract…

Science / Wissenschaft

ESA Science & Technology: Rosetta finds comet plume powered from deep below
Last year, a fountain of dust was spotted streaming from Rosetta’s comet, prompting the question: how was it powered? Scientists now suggest the outburst was driven from inside the comet,…
Frozen Comet Fart (Actually a Jet) Caught on Camera
It looks like Rosetta’s comet was a bit of a tooter. A fart from the comet – which scientists called „a bright plume of dust blowing away … like a fountain“ – likely originated from the…
How Cassini Mission`s Twists and Turns Led to Discovery of Enceladus` Plumes
If life exists somewhere in the solar system beyond Earth, there’s a good chance it will live underground. Or in the case of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, under a thick layer of ice, in a salty…
Candidate Passengers Picked for First Interstellar Mission
Experts in interstellar travel have picked future candidates to make the first extrasolar trek. Their names: Caenorhabditis elegans and Tardigrades, otherwise known as water bears. „These…
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