Comparison of the two spectra of Gaia18aen obtained on January 20 and March 22, 2018 together with the identification of the major emission lines observed. Credit: Merc et al., 2020.
An international team of astronomers reports that the transient Gaia18aen discovered by ESA’s Gaia spacecraft turns out to be a symbiotic star. This makes it the first symbiotic star identified by this astrometric satellite. The finding is detailed in a paper published September 30 on arXiv.org.
Astronomers assume that symbiotic stars, which are among the widest interacting binaries, showcase dramatic, episodic changes in the spectra of their light because one of the pair is a very hot, small star, while the other is a cool giant. In general, such systems are essential for researchers studying aspects of stellar evolution.
WRAY 15-136, also known as AT 2018id, was detected and classified as an emission line star in 1966. In January 2018,
SAN FRANCISCO – Tracking and avoiding the growing debris field in low Earth orbit was clearly on the minds of speakers on the first day of the Satellite Innovation 2020 conference.
“Today, unfortunately, there is a lot of debris up there,” said Tony Gingiss, OneWeb Satellites CEO. “We have to be able to track it and avoid it. But fundamentally, we also have to change the landscape in terms of … the responsibilities of the parties operating up there to actually make sure that we’re not creating more debris.”
As OneWeb, SpaceX and Amazon begin as a group to send tens of thousands of satellites into broadband constellations, industry and government officials acknowledge the growing risk of collisions.
The Federal Communications Commission is considering changing its rules for orbital debris mitigation, which have been in force since 2004.
“It’s pretty clear that the large constellation operators recognize that they’re going
World Space Week 2020 kicks off today (Oct. 4) and will celebrate how satellites have changed humanity with a variety of online events to appeal to space enthusiasts and young students alike.
The international celebration commemorates how space improves “the human condition”, according to the World Space Week website. The events stretch from Oct. 4 – the anniversary of first satellite Sputnik’s launch in 1957 – to Oct. 10, the anniversary of the signing of the Outer Space Treaty in 1967 that underlies space law.
Here is a rundown of the some events for World Space Week as part of Space Unites, a program by the Space Foundation. Please check the links for exact times of the live presentations closer to the date of your event. You can also find more events from around the world here.
SpaceX aborted a scheduled launch of a US military GPS satellite on Friday night with just about two seconds left in the countdown. The launch was scheduled for a 15-minute window that opened at 6:43 p.m. PT. All appeared to be proceeding smoothly, until two seconds before launch. SpaceX was just starting the engine ignition sequence when it stopped the clock.
“Standing down from tonight’s launch attempt of GPS III-4,” SpaceX tweeted a few minutes before 7 p.m. PT, though it didn’t say whether a ground or flight vehicle issue was to blame. The next launch window opens at 6:39 p.m. PT Saturday, SpaceX said.
SpaceX and the US Space Force are getting along famously. Friday’s attempted launch in Florida follows a Space Force Falcon 9 launch in
SpaceX shared this scenic view of the Falcon 9 that will carry Space Force’s GPS satellite into orbit.
SpaceX
SpaceX aborted a scheduled launch of a US military GPS satellite from Florida on Friday night with just about two seconds left in the countdown. The launch was scheduled for a 15-minute window that opened at 6:43 p.m. PT, with the weather forecast at 70% favorable for liftoff. All appeared to be proceeding smoothly, until two seconds before launch. SpaceX was just starting the engine ignition sequence when it stopped the clock.
“Standing down from tonight’s launch attempt of GPS III-4,” SpaceX tweeted a few minutes before 7 p.m. PT, though it did not say whether a ground or flight vehicle issue was to blame. The next launch window opens at 6:39 p.m. PT Saturday, SpaceX said.
Standing down from tonight’s launch attempt of GPS III-4
The contract is for the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications program, known as Evolved Strategic Satcom
WASHINGTON — Boeing received a $298 million contract to build a satellite payload prototype and develop a secure communications architecture for the U.S. Space Force’s Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) program, the company announced Oct. 1.
The ESS will replace the existing Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites made by Lockheed Martin.
Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin will be developing competing designs for the ESS program.
Each company is building prototypes to be completed by 2025. Like AEHF, the new ESS program is intended to provide secure, jam-resistant communications for high-priority military operations and national command authorities.
Boeing is a longtime supplier of military communications satellites. It is the prime contractor for the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) constellation, and is also working on the Protected Tactical Enterprise Service and Protected Tactical Satcom programs. These programs
Researchers at the University of California San Diego report in a new study a way to improve groundwater monitoring by using a remote sensing technology (known as InSAR), in conjunction with climate and land cover data, to bridge gaps in the understanding of sustainable groundwater in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
Their work could be revolutionary for managing groundwater use in agricultural regions around the world, as groundwater monitoring and management have been notoriously difficult to carry out due to lack of reliable data.
The satellite-based InSAR (interferometric synthetic aperture radar) is used to make high-resolution maps of land surface motion in space and time, including measurement of subsidence (or sinking). Subsidence can occur when large amounts of groundwater are removed from underground stores, called aquifers.
The study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, took advantage of the incredibly fine-scale resolution of InSAR to evaluate subsidence patterns according to crop
A Delta Heavy IV rocket launches NASA’s Parker Solar Probe from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral in August 2018.Photo: Bill Ingalls/NASA (Getty Images)
A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office will take off from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex-37 in Florida shortly before midnight on Wednesday. Assuming, that is, there isn’t another one of the last-minute delays that have hounded the mission for months.
The rocket and its semi-mysterious payload, dubbed NROL-44, were originally slated to take off in June. But NROL-44 was delayed until Aug. 29 with no explanation ever offered to the public, according to Ars Technica. It then malfunctioned on that date, with a faulty part causing a hotfire abort after its three RS-68 engines had already begun firing. Repairs took weeks.
After many weeks of delays due to faulty equipment and bad weather, the United Launch Alliance is set to launch its most powerful rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, lofting a classified spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. The mission is finally ready to fly a full month after the rocket’s first launch attempt, which was aborted just three seconds before liftoff.
The rocket going up on ULA’s mission is the Delta IV Heavy, a giant vehicle that consists of three rocket cores strapped together to provide extra thrust. It’s one of the most powerful rockets in the world, though it falls short of the power packed into SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. ULA doesn’t fly the Delta IV Heavy very often, as it’s an expensive vehicle to make, but the company uses the rocket for large, heavy satellites headed to super-high orbits.
Just before midnight on Tuesday, the United Launch Alliance is set to launch its most powerful rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, lofting a classified spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. The mission is finally ready to fly a full month after the rocket’s first launch attempt, which was aborted just three seconds before liftoff.
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The rocket going up on ULA’s mission is the Delta IV Heavy, a giant vehicle that consists of three rocket cores strapped together to provide extra thrust. It’s one of the most powerful rockets in the world, though it falls short of the power packed into SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. ULA doesn’t fly the Delta IV Heavy very often, as it’s an expensive vehicle to make, but the company uses the rocket for large, heavy satellites headed to super-high orbits.
The rocket’s payload is NROL-44, and like all NRO missions, its purpose is cloaked
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