Observations of "Jellyfish galaxies" with ESO's Very Large Telescope have revealed a previously unknown way to fuel supermassive black holes. It seems the mechanism that produces the tentacles of gas and newborn stars that give these galaxies their nickname also makes it possible for the gas to reach the central regions of the galaxies, feeding the black hole that lurks in each of them and causing it to shine brilliantly. The results appeared today in the journal Nature. An Italian-led team o...

DigitalGlobe, Inc. (NYSE: DGI), the global leader in Earth imagery and information about our changing planet, today announced that it signed a Direct Access Program (DAP) contract with the Australian Department of Defence. This multi-year agreement will allow the Australian government to access DigitalGlobe's industry-leading commercial satellite imaging constellation to support defense and intelligence missions. The contract is expected to deliver $83.0 million USD in incremental revenue to Dig...

Ten spacecraft, from ESA's Venus Express to NASA's Voyager-2, felt the effect of a solar eruption as it washed through the Solar System while three other satellites watched, providing a unique perspective on this space weather event. Scientists working on ESA's Mars Express were looking forward to investigating the effects of the close encounter of Comet Siding Spring on the Red Planet's atmosphere on 19 October 2014, but instead they found what turned out to be the imprint of a solar event. ...

Friedrichshafen, Germany -  ND SATCOM announces full interoperability with General Dynamics Mission Systems Fortress® LTE solutions. Validation testing confirmed excellent interoperability between the Fortress decentralized network architecture for autonomous LTE deployables and SKYWAN satellite mesh capabilities for a resilient and bandwidth efficient distributed network of sites with full end-to-end network communications and mobility The combined platform provides an ideal suite for transportable and fixed LTE ...

Experiments seeking a better understanding of Parkinson's disease and the origin of cosmic rays are on their way to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft following today's 12:31 p.m. EDT launch. Carrying more than 6,400 pounds of research equipment, cargo and supplies, the spacecraft lifted off on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the company's 12th commercial resupply mission. It will arrive at the space station...

Orbit Communications Systems Ltd. (TASE: ORBI) announced today that it intends to expand the development of its new Multi-Purpose Terminal (MPT) for airborne satcom to include helicopters. The company received an order for approximately US$3 million from a global provider of defense products and services for the delivery of helicopter systems to a leading air force between 2018 and 2022. Built to military standard (MIL-STD), the 30-cm antenna (MPT30) will deliver data communications via satel...

Cosmic radiation is considered the main health hazard to human spaceflight and space exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond, which is why ESA has made cosmic radiation a focus of its research programme. Radiation poses a risk to the human body in the form of cancer, central nervous system disorders, cardiovascular problems and tissue degeneration. Beyond Earth's magnetic field, its full force is a barrier to human exploration of the Solar System. "Crewmembers may be exposed to different ...

The payload module of MetOp-C, developed and built by Airbus in Germany, was delivered to Toulouse after it completed a series of tests at ESTEC, the technical centre of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. The satellite, weighing in at four tonnes, is now almost complete after successful coupling of its payload and service module. In preparation for the launch scheduled for October 2018 from Kourou, French Guiana, MetOp-C will undergo a further series of radio-electr...

A team of engineers and technicians at Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has completed the integration of the company's first modernized A2100 satellite. The spacecraft, known as Hellas-Sat-4/SaudiGeoSat-1, now moves into final assembly and testing, on track for launch in the second quarter of 2018. Built for Arabsat and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia , the satellite will provide advanced telecommunications capabilities, including television, internet, telephone and se...

The Amazonas 5 satellite for HISPASAT of Madrid, Spain, arrived at the Baikonur Cosmdrome in Kazakhstan aboard an Antonov cargo jet on August 8 in preparation for mission integration and launch aboard an ILS Proton Breeze M launch vehicle in September. The satellite will be used for both video content delivery and internet connectivity, among other services, in Latin America. The launch of Amazonas 5 will be the 95th ILS Proton mission and the 30th with a Space Systems Loral (SSL) satellite. ...

NASA has selected six astrophysics Explorers Program proposals for concept studies. The proposed missions would study gamma-ray and X-ray emissions from clusters of galaxies and neutron star systems, as well as infrared emissions from galaxies in the early universe and atmospheres of exoplanets, which are planets outside of our solar system. The selected proposals, three Medium-Class Explorers missions and three Explorers Missions of Opportunity, call for focused scientific investigations an...

Astro Aerospace, a Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) business, completed a successful Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of the nine meter L-band reflectors for two Airbus Inmarsat-6 series satellites. The success of the PDR is a significant milestone for the Inmarsat-6 program. With the preliminary design of the L-band reflectors now set, Astro Aerospace will continue maturing the design in preparation for the Critical Design Review (CDR) later this year. "We are proud to support Airb...

NASA's Cassini spacecraft will enter new territory in its final mission phase, the Grand Finale, as it prepares to embark on a set of ultra-close passes through Saturn's upper atmosphere with its final five orbits around the planet. Cassini will make the first of these five passes over Saturn at 12:22 a.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 14. The spacecraft's point of closest approach to Saturn during these passes will be between about 1,010 and 1,060 miles (1,630 and 1,710 kilometers) above Saturn's cloud t...

Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) has delivered the third of 10 advanced navigation payloads to Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), which will increase accuracy, signal power and jamming resistance for U.S. Air Force GPS III satellites. The advanced navigation payloads feature a Mission Data Unit (MDU) with a unique 70-percent digital design that links atomic clocks, radiation-hardened computers and powerful transmitters - enabling signals three times more accurate than those on current GPS satellites. ...

SMi Group’s 19th Global MilSatCom Conference will showcase exclusive presentations from the UK Ministry of Defence and Airbus. This comes at a relevant time with the UK MoD recently granting Airbus a contract to oversee the manufacture, assembly, integration and launch of Skynet 6. This acquisition will fill the capacity gap as the Skynet 5 constellation approaches its end-of-life, and will deliver sovereign and secure satcom capability for the UK. In an exclusive host nation addre...

Scientists will get a better understanding of our planet's carbon cycle and vegetation health through a first-of-a-kind NASA instrument built by Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT). The Geostationary Carbon Cycle Observatory (GeoCARB) mission will use an advanced infrared spectrograph hosted on a commercial geosynchronous satellite. The project is led by Principal Investigator Dr. Berrien Moore at the University of Oklahoma. "Lockheed Martin has the right skills to make GeoCARB a success, bringing to...

The International Space Station is a unique scientific platform enabling researchers from around the world to develop experiments that could not be performed on Earth. A line of unpiloted resupply spacecraft keeps this work going, supporting efforts to enable future human and robotic exploration of destinations well beyond low-Earth orbit. The next mission to the space station will be the 12th commercial resupply services flight for SpaceX. Liftoff is targeted for Aug. 13 at approximately 12:...

SolAero Technologies Corp. (SolAero), a leading provider of high efficiency solar cells, solar panels, and composite structural products for satellite and aerospace applications, announced today that it has been awarded a contract by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/JPL) for the design, manufacture and testing of solar array panels for the proposed Europa Clipper Mission. NASA's planned Europa mission will conduct detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter's moon Europa and investigate whether the...

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS), a leading National Security Solutions provider, announced today that it has received $8 million in orders for specialized products in support of a satellite global position (GPS) anti-jamming, interference and protection system. Kratos is an industry leader in microwave electronic products, satellite communication, command, control, RF interference identification and geolocation. The specialized products to be delivered under these contra...

Scientists have discovered the strongest evidence to date for a stratosphere on a planet outside our solar system, or exoplanet. A stratosphere is a layer of atmosphere in which temperature increases with higher altitudes. "This result is exciting because it shows that a common trait of most of the atmospheres in our solar system -- a warm stratosphere -- also can be found in exoplanet atmospheres," said Mark Marley, study co-author based at NASA's Ames Research Center in Cali...