The international Cassini-Huygens mission has made a surprising detection of a molecule that is instrumental in the production of complex organics within the hazy atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. Titan boasts a thick nitrogen and methane atmosphere with some of the most complex chemistry seen in the Solar System. It is even thought to mimic the atmosphere of early Earth, before the build-up of oxygen. As such, Titan can be seen as a planet-scale laboratory that can be studied to understand ...

Build-up of the lightweight Vega for Arianespace’s upcoming mission to orbit twin Earth observation satellites is complete in French Guiana, with the OPTSAT-3000 and Venµs spacecraft now integrated with their launch vehicle. During activity on the Spaceport’s SLV launch site, the two passengers – which are integrated in their payload fairing – were installed on Vega, topping off the vehicle composed of three solid-propellant stages and a liquid bipropellant upp...

ViaSat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global broadband services and technology company, today announced it was selected by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) as a key partner in the delivery of a next-generation satellite communications (SATCOM) network to the Australian Defence Force (ADF). Under a program known as Joint Project 2008 Phase 5B2, a large multiphase project to deploy an integrated wideband SATCOM system for the ADF, ViaSat will provide its proven ground stations and dual-band Wideba...

As NASA's Cassini spacecraft makes its unprecedented series of weekly dives between Saturn and its rings, scientists are finding -- so far -- that the planet's magnetic field has no discernible tilt. This surprising observation, which means the true length of Saturn's day is still unknown, is just one of several early insights from the final phase of Cassini's mission, known as the Grand Finale. Other recent science highlights include promising hints about the structure and ...

Astrobotic and United Launch Alliance (ULA) proudly announce today that Astrobotic's Peregrine Lunar Lander will be onboard a ULA launch vehicle in 2019, during the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. "Astrobotic is thrilled to select a ULA launch vehicle as the means to get Peregrine to the Moon," said John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic. "By launching with ULA, Astrobotic can rest assured our payload customers will ride on a proven launch vehicle with a solid track record of success. Together, o...

If one's good, two are better, and this is especially true when it comes to developing new applications for navsat systems like Galileo and GPS. That's why an experiment on the International Space Station will start receiving signals from both simultaneously. Satellites of America's GPS provide signals for navigation and timing services in an enormous variety of applications worldwide - on smartphones, in automobile navigation systems and in economically vital services like aviation, maritime...

Rocket Crafters, Inc. (RCI) announced today it has been awarded a $542,600 research contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Under the terms of the agreement, RCI is tasked to build and test a large-scale hybrid rocket engine using RCI's patented Direct-Digital Advanced Rocket Technology (D-DART(tm)). During the eight-month period of performance, RCI aims to design, build, and test a 5,000 lbf peak thrust, throttle-capable hybrid rocket engine based on the company's pot...

Dassault Systemes and Boeing have extended their partnership. Boeing will expand its deployment of Dassault Systemes' products across its commercial aviation, space and defense programs to include the Dassault Systemes 3DEXPERIENCE platform. This decision follows a competitive process that included the rigorous analysis of technical and functional capabilities, cost and business benefits across the value chain. Boeing will deploy the 3DEXPERIENCE platform in phases and rely on Winning Program...

Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite networks and services, today announced it has been awarded a Wideband Communications Architecture Study (WCAS) contract to support the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) plan for resilient, cost-effective satellite communications (SATCOM) capabilities. Under the contract, Hughes will investigate a wide-ranging commercial perspective on how different satellite transports can interoperate for wideband government applicati...

It was midafternoon, but it was dark in an area in Boulder, Colorado on Aug. 3, 1998. A thick cloud appeared overhead and dimmed the land below for  more than 30 minutes. Well-calibrated radiometers showed that there were very low levels of light reaching the ground, sufficiently low that researchers decided to simulate this interesting event with computer models. Now in 2017, inspired by the event in Boulder, NASA scientists will explore the moon’s eclipse of the sun to learn more ...

International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) and Moon Express have announced a collaboration for the delivery of the first International Lunar Observatory to the South Pole of the Moon in 2019 (ILO-1). Moon Express has been contracted by ILOA to develop advanced landing technologies supporting the mission. The ILO-1 astrophysical observatory and research station will be the world's first instrument to image the Milky Way Galaxy and to conduct international astrophysical observations and...

LONDON - July 20, 2017 - Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) highlighted NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) programme to audiences around the U.K. in a series of special screenings of the documentary film Into the Unknown as part of the company's science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education outreach efforts. This is the first time Into the Unknown has been screened in the U.K. The film, developed by the Northrop Grumman Foundation as a resource for teachers, s...

Refurbishing a shuttle-era cargo container used to transfer cargo to the International Space Station, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is prototyping a deep space habitat for NASA at Kennedy Space Center. This prototype will integrate evolving technologies to keep astronauts safe while onboard and operate the spacecraft autonomously when unoccupied. Under a public-private partnership, NASA recently awarded Lockheed Martin a Phase II contract for the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partners...

KBR, Inc. (NYSE: KBR) announced today its global Government Services business, KBRwyle, is one of the winning bidders on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Professional and Technical (ProTech) Satellite Domain contract in support of NOAA's satellite activities worldwide. The contract has a two-year base period and three one-year options, and belongs to the ProTech program's suite of contracts that shares a maximum ceiling value of $3 billion. Under the ProTech contr...

One night three months ago, Rosa Castro finished her dinner, opened her laptop, and uncovered a novel object that was neither planet nor star. Therapist by day and amateur astronomer by night, Castro joined the NASA-funded Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 citizen science project when it began in February — not knowing she would become one of four volunteers to help identify the project's first brown dwarf, formally known as WISEA J110125.95+540052.8. After devoting hours to skimming onli...

Working well after midnight on this day in 1977, a Rockwell Collins engineer named David Van Dusseldorp sat on the rooftop of a company building in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, adjusting an antenna every five minutes to receive a signal from the world's first Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite known as NTS-2. Within a small window of time, the satellite was turned on and the message was successfully received and decoded by the team working the GPS receiver below. Since then the technology has g...

The MASCARA (Multi-site All-Sky CAmeRA) station at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile has achieved first light. This new facility will seek out transiting exoplanets as they pass in front of their bright parent stars and create a catalogue of targets for future exoplanet characterisation observations. In June 2016, ESO reached an agreement with Leiden University to site a station of MASCARA at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile, taking advantage of the excellent observing conditions of the ...

The lightweight Vega launcher for Arianespace’s upcoming mission is undergoing final checkout in French Guiana, readying it to receive a dual payload of Earth observation satellites – consisting of OPTSAT-3000 (as the upper passenger) and Venµs (in the lower passenger position). Vega was integrated at the Spaceport’s SLV launch site, bringing together the solid propellant P80 first stage, Zefiro 23 second stage and Zefiro 9 third stage; followed by the liquid biprope...

In the search for planets similar to our own, an important point of comparison is the planet's density. A low density tells scientists a planet is more likely to be gaseous like Jupiter, and a high density is associated with rocky planets like Earth. But a new study suggests some are less dense than previously thought because of a second, hidden star in their systems. As telescopes stare at particular patches of sky, they can't always differentiate between one star and two. A system...

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announced that it selected United Launch Alliance's (ULA's) commercially developed Atlas V rocket to launch the first two missions of its Dream Chaser cargo system in support of NASA's Cargo Resupply Services 2 (CRS2) contract. "ULA is pleased to partner with Sierra Nevada Corporation to launch its Dream Chaser cargo system to the International Space Station in less than three years," said Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Human and Commercial Systems. "We reco...