Space Exploration

Luxembourg, 4 December 2020. – Googling the Universe: The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), a large telescope operated by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, mapped approximately three million galaxies in just 300 hours. The ASKAP survey is “like a Google map of the Universe where most of the millions …

Luxembourg, 4 December 2020. – China’s spectacular Moon mission continues: The Chang’e-5 probe left Moon’s surface yesterday with samples of dust and regolith on board, the BBC reported. “Right on cue, at 15:10 GMT, an ascent vehicle lit its engine to head up to a service module that will shepherd …

Luxembourg, 4 December 2020. – Airbus will deliver the “largest planar space radar ever built” to Copernicus, the company announced. Airbus has been selected by Thales Alenia Space to build the advanced radar instrument for the Radar Observatory System for Europe in L-band (ROSE-L), Airbus said. Airbus Defence and Space in Germany …

As a new White House Administration begins preparing its agenda for many crucial issues, Secure World Foundation prepared a brief for the Biden transition team. Below is an executive summary of that brief. Outer space activities are more important to the United States now than at almost any time in …

Luxembourg, 2 December 2020. – China successfully landed an uncrewed spacecraft on the Moon while Elon Musk accelerates his timetable to send humans to Mars. China landed its Chang’e-5 probe, which it launched end of November, on the Moon’s surface, Chinese CCTV and international media reported. The mission, named after …

Luxembourg, 2 December 2020. – The giant radio-telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, collapsed last night, with the heavy instrument platform falling into the metal structure. “The instrument platform of the 305m telescope at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico fell overnight,” the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the operator of the …

Luxembourg, 1 December 2020. – Propelling innovation: the Israeli startup NewRocket develops a new gel-fueled space engine that is “powerful, controllable and environmentally friendly”, the company said. The “groundbreaking PowerGel-propellant offers green propulsion, without compromising on high performance and full active thrust control,” NewRocket claims. “(T)he gel propellant is safe …

Luxembourg, 1 December 2020. – Ready for the next “Catch of the Day”: the launch firm Rocket Lab published details of its recent “Return to Sender” mission where it recovered the first stage of its Electron rocket after a successful launch. During Electron’s final few kilometers of descent, the large …

by Blaine Curcio and Jean Deville As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Orbital Gateway Consulting we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “Dongfang China Aerospace News Roundup 22 Nov – 29 Nov 2020”. Hello and welcome to another episode …

Paris, 30 November 2020. – High on the agenda this week: SpaceX is planning to launch a Starship prototype into 50,000 feet altitude, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said last week. “Aiming for first 15km / ~50k ft altitude flight next week. Goals are to test 3 engine ascent, body flaps, …