Middle East: UAE's Amal spacecraft rockets toward Mars in Arab world 1st

The United Arab Emirates spacecraft rocketed away Monday on a seven-month journey to Mars, kicking off the Arab world's first interplanetary mission.

The liftoff of the Mars orbiter named Amal, or Hope, from Japan marked the start of a rush to fly to Earth's neighbour that includes attempts by China and the United States.

Read more at:
UAE's Amal spacecraft rockets toward Mars in Arab world 1st | CBC News

ESA: European Space Agency Ariane 6 rocket hits key milestone

 Via euronews: Ariane 6 rocket hits key milestone  

Read more at:
https://www.euronews.com/2018/10/24/ariane-6-rocket-hits-key-milestone

China - Space Exploration: China Test Flies Reusable Space Plane Prototype - by Shubham Sharma

China has flown an early prototype of its reusable hypersonic space plane. The test took place last month in the Gobi Desert where the aircraft took to the skies, reached the targeted orbital altitude, and made a safe journey back home.

Despite being a scaled-down version, the new space plane soared five times faster than the speed of sound and landed precisely at the planned location, South China Morning Post reported. The test flight was conducted at the military-run Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on Feb. 23.

China Aerodynamics Research and Development Centre, the developer of the space plane, hailed the test, the first of its kind for the country, as a breakthrough in “speed, altitude, and applications” that would eventually lead to better engineering and technologies for effective space travel.

However, given the classified nature of the project, not many details about the experimental aircraft were revealed. According to a researcher familiar with the recent test, the craft is being developed for military as well as civilian missions where it would soar fast enough to beat missile defense systems or take space passengers toward low-Earth orbit.

Although, it is worth noting that this is not the only Chinese space plane in the works. Defense contractor China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) is also developing a reusable space plane dubbed Tengyun.

The craft will take-off from a runway like a regular passenger aircraft carrying space tourists or cargo toward orbit, Zhang Hongwen, director of CAISC's Third Research Academy, told state-run China Central Television. However, there are some small changes in the take-off mechanism. The vehicle will take to the skies with the help of a much larger supersonic/hypersonic aircraft or mothership.

The mothership would carry the vehicle to the edge of space where it would release the space plane to complete the rest of the journey and return to Earth. From there on, the space plane would use a hybrid engine to take the cargo or passengers to the orbit and return home. The engine will be configured to work in space as well as Earth's environment, without losing control or disintegrating.

Read more: China Test Flies Reusable Space Plane Prototype

French Guiana - ESA: Getting the New European Ariane 6 Space Vehicle launch pad ready by July 2020

The New ESA Ariane 6

When Euronews visited, around 500 people were active on the site from six in the morning until ten at night, with attention focused on two key elements of the pad – firstly the huge flame trench which will take the hot gases away from the rocket on launch, and the new building in which the Ariane 6 will be built.

Every element of the new launcher has been built with efficiency and savings in mind, as Europe’s space sector seeks to halve the cost of launching an Ariane 6 compared to today’s heavyweight Ariane 5.

One of the key innovations is that the Ariane 6 will be built horizontally, like the Americans and Russians already do, rather than vertically. This allows for big economies in terms of air conditioning costs and the need for special safety equipment for staff working on high-level platforms.

Didier Coulon, who manages the site for the European Space Agency, explains the steps a rocket will go through: “Once we’ve assembled the launcher, it will be put on a transporter, and we send it to the launch zone, and there it’s raised up vertically, we then bring along the boosters, and at that moment we carry our a general check of the launcher, and that gives the green light to bring along the upper composite with the satellite inside. Once we’ve done that we pull back the 90 metre high mobile portico and we go ahead with the launch.“

Read more: Race to build Ariane 6 rocket launch pad | Euronews

India Outer Space research: India launches 640 tonne monster rocket

India's GSLV Mk III rocket

The 640-tonne rocket blasted off from a launching site off the Bay of Bengal in Sriharikota.

As one website put it, "it's been a big day for India". The rocket will reduce the Indian Space Research Organisation's (Isro) reliance on European vehicles to launch heavy satellites.

The coverage of the launch has been euphoric, and often colourful, with websites comparing the rocket to the weight of 200 elephants, or five jumbo jets.

For the complete report click here::

Space Research: Russia & US agree to build new space station after ISS, work on joint Mars project

In a landmark decision, Russian space agency Roscosmos and its US counterpart NASA have agreed to build a new space station after the current International Space Station (ISS) expires.

The operation of the ISS was prolonged until 2024.

“We have agreed that Roscosmos and NASA will be working together on the program of a future space station," Roscosmos chief Igor Komarov said during a news conference on Saturday.

 Read more: Russia & US agree to build new space station after ISS, work on joint Mars project — RT News

Space Research: Europe’s first spaceplane IXV set for dramatic re-entry test

Europe’s first spaceplane, IXV, faces its most crucial test on Wednesday (February 11) – and you can follow it live on euronews.com, where we’ll be providing live text updates, multimedia and the best from social media.

The European Space Agency (ESA) craft will blast into space for the first time and then re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

The flight is important because Europe currently has no atmospheric re-entry system of its own.
Lift-off is due between 13h-15h GMT.

The launch, flight and splashdown will be covered live by Euronews’ space expert Jeremy Wilks from the Thales Alenia Space mission control room in Turin, Italy.

The IXV blasts off from the Kourou Spaceport in French Guiana in the nose of a Vega rocket, and will fly up to an altitude of over 400 kilometres, about the same as the International Space Station, before coming back down to a targeted spot in the Pacific Ocean. The flight will last about 100 minutes.

Read more: Europe’s first spaceplane IXV set for dramatic re-entry test | euronews, space

ESA - Space Exploration: Rosetta discovers water on comet 67p like nothing on Earth

The Rosetta spacecraft has detected water coming off comet 67P, the rubber duck-shaped lump of ice and dust that it placed the Philae robotic lander on last month.

The presence of water is not a surprise, but what has wrong-footed researchers is the makeup of the water, which is nothing like that seen on Earth.

Measurements from Rosetta’s Rosina instrument found that water on comet 67P /Churyumov-Gerasimenko contains about three times more deuterium – a heavy form of hydrogen – than water on Earth.

The discovery seems to overturn the theory that Earth got its water, and so its ability to harbour life, from water-bearing comets that slammed into the planet during its early history.

Comet 67P is thought to have come from what is called the Kuiper belt, a broad band of frozen bodies that begins beyond the orbit of Neptune. The main asteroid belt contains more rocky objects that circle the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Read more: Rosetta discovers water on comet 67p like nothing on Earth | Science | The Guardian

Outer Space Research: Europe will provide service module for NASA Orion spacecraft

The European Service Module For Orion

Plans for Europe to provide a key component for NASA's 2017 test flight of a new spacecraft represent the start of the international collaboration needed to send humans on deep space destinations, officials said recently. “As we push humans out into the solar system, we’re doing it internationally, and this is that first step,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA’s human spaceflight programs.

Under a deal signed last month, the European Space Agency will contribute the service module supporting an unmanned Orion capsule during its first launch from Kennedy Space Center atop the heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket.

The service module provides power, propulsion and life support for Orion, which is being designed to carry up to four astronauts on trips to the moon, an asteroid or Mars. Europe’s service module will be based on its ATV cargo resupply vehicle, which is scheduled to make a fourth flight to the International Space Station in April.

Europe’s contribution to the late 2017 mission will be worth about $200 million.

Read more: Europe will provide service module for Orion | FLORIDA TODAY | floridatoday.com

Asteroid which holds potential danger for Earth: Chinese space probe flies by asteroid Toutatis

Travelling in deep space, Chang'e-2 made the flyby on Dec. 13 at 16:30:09 Beijing Time (08:30"09 GMT), the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) announced on Saturday.

The flyby was the first time an unmanned spacecraft launched from Earth has taken such a close viewing of the asteroid, named after a Celtic god.

It also made China the fourth country after the United States, the European Union and Japan to be able to examine an asteroid by spacecraft.

Chang'e-2 came as close as 3.2 km from Toutatis and took pictures of the asteroid at a relative velocity of 10.73 km per second, the SASTIND said in a statement.

Sources with the administration told Xinhua that Chang'e-2 is continuing its deep space travel and will reach a distance of more than 10 million km away from Earth in January next year.

Note EU-Digest: The Toutatis asteroid presently not pose a threat to Earth says NASA, and researchers say that there is no chance it will hit our planet over the next four centuries or so.

However, the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts lists the Toutatis asteroid as a potential threat. They listed it as a potential threat, meaning that it could pose a risk to Earth at some point in the future.

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/439020/is-the-toutatis-asteroid-a-potential-threat-to-earth-in-the-future/#28BG03Pio3xheZ7S.99

Read more: Chinese space probe flies by asteroid Toutatis- China.org.cn

Europe sets modest goals for space - by Edwin Cartlidge

Europe’s space chiefs are hailing the two-day meeting at which research ministers hammered out Europe’s priorities in space as a success, despite them getting less money than they had hoped. At the 20–21 November meeting in Naples, Italy, the ministers agreed to give the European Space Agency (ESA) €10.1 billion (US$13 billion) over the next several years, somewhat less than the total €12 billion cost of the project proposals considered at the meeting.

The level of funding is a significant achievement given current economic difficulties, says Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s director-general. He adds that he is pleased that ministers managed to strike deals on a number of thorny issues, including how to replace the Ariane 5 satellite-launching rocket and how to fund Europe’s contribution to the International Space Station (ISS).
“It was a very difficult meeting,” he says. “There was a lot of stress, a lot of discussions. But we can say it was a big success. Space is no longer about expenses, it is an investment.”

The ministers from ESA's member countries, which currently number 20, meet every few years to set funding levels for all of the agency's activities. All member states have to contribute towards the mandatory activities, centred on the scientific programme, which develops space-based telescopes and other scientific instruments, and they can then choose which of the other areas, such as telecommunications, navigation, Earth observation or launcher development, they participate in. With flat funding of about €500 million per year for 2013–17, the scientific programme takes a cut in real terms, although it is not yet clear which missions will be affected as a result.

Read more: Europe sets modest goals for space : Nature News & Comment

Outer Space: NASA rover Curiosity makes historic Mars landing, beams back photos

Curiosity landing on Mars

Mission controllers burst into applause and cheers as they received signals confirming that the car-sized rover had survived a perilous seven-minute descent NASA called the most elaborate and difficult feat in the annals of robotic spaceflight.

Engineers said the tricky landing sequence, combining a giant parachute with a rocket-pack that lowered the rover to the Martian surface on a tether, allowed for zero margin for error.

"I can't believe this. This is unbelievable," enthused Allen Chen, the deputy head of the rover's descent and landing team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles.

Curiosity

Moments later, Curiosity beamed back its first three images from the Martian surface, one of them showing a wheel of the vehicle and the rover's shadow cast on the rocky terrain.


The $2.5 billion Curiosity project, formally called the Mars Science Laboratory, is NASA's first astrobiology mission since the 1970s-era Viking probes.
"It's an enormous step forward in planetary exploration. Nobody has ever done anything like this," said John Holdren, the top science advisor to President Barack Obama, who was visiting JPL for the event. "It was an incredible performance."




Read more: NASA rover Curiosity makes historic Mars landing, beams back photos | Reuters

Britain: Virgin Galactic's latest 'space jet' unveiled at Farnborough Airshow

Visitors to the Farnborough International Airshow 2012 were yesterday given a glimpse of Sir Richard Branson’s space travel dream courtesy of Virgin Galactic, the world's first commercial spaceline.

In typical bold Branson style, the multi-millionaire boss of Virgin Atlantic and founder of Virgin Galactic unveiled LauncherOne, a new new air-launched rocket specifically designed to deliver small satellites into orbit.

With substantial funding already raised from Virgin Galactic's partner aabar Investments PJS, commercial flights of this new orbital launch vehicle are expected to begin by 2016.

Read more: Virgin Galactic's latest 'space jet' unveiled at Farnborough Airshow

Soyuz Lands Safely in Space Research: Kazakhstan - 'Bulls-eye' landing for trio that oversaw first private spaceflight

A Russian Soyuz space capsule carrying a three-man multinational crew touched down safely today on the southern steppes of Kazakhstan, bringing an end to their 193-day mission to the International Space Station. Around a dozen recovery helicopters zeroed into the vast uncultivated land mass, where NASA astronaut Donald Pettit, Russia's Oleg Kononenko and Dutchman Andre Kuipers landed in the Russian-made capsule.

Russian space officials quickly surrounded the craft, which performed a perfect upright textbook landing, and erected ladders to begin the process of pulling out the astronauts. Commenting on the landing, NASA TV reporter Rob Navias called it "a bullseye." Kononenko was the first to be extracted from the descent module. He looked pale and tired, but medical staff announced him healthy. Pettit, second out of the module, was heard to say: "It's good to be home." Petit and his colleagues were part of the team that handled the arrival to the space station last month of the privately owned SpaceX Dragon capsule.

Read more: Soyuz Lands Safely in Kazakhstan - 'Bulls-eye' landing for trio that oversaw first private spaceflight

Commercial Space flight: SpaceX grows up: ISS test on April 30 key to next step

SpaceX ready for April 30 launch

Less than four years ago, SpaceX had yet to launch a rocket successfully, and founder Elon Musk doubted the company could survive a fourth consecutive failure.

Today, SpaceX is on the verge of an historic attempt to send the first private spacecraft to the International Space Station, after a planned April 30 launch from Cape Canaveral, and has become the face of commercial spaceflight.

Many believe a successful docking to the ISS would represent a paradigm shift in spaceflight operations and validate Musk’s conviction that a small, entrepreneurial company could upset the status quo.“They’re coming in and saying we can do this better, we can do this cheaper, and we’re going to make a go of it,” said Jim Muncy, a space-policy analyst whose clients include SpaceX. “It is absolutely the quintessential American business story.”

For more: SpaceX grows up: ISS test key to next step | FLORIDA TODAY | floridatoday.com

Space exploration: Chinese pull off space docking

CHINA took a crucial step towards fulfilling its ambition to set up a manned space station today by completing its first successful docking high above Earth, state media reported. The Shenzhou VIII spacecraft joined onto the Tiangong-1 experimental module at 0437 AEDT, silently coupling more than 343km above the Earth's surface, the Xinhua news agency said.

The spacecraft, whose name translates as "divine vessel", is a modified version of the capsules that took the first Chinese astronauts into space as part of the rising power's ambitious exploration programme.

The two vessels will stay linked together for around 12 days before separating and uniting again at a later date, said Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space programme.

For more: Chinese pull off space docking | The Australian