The Stratolaunch is dubbed the world’s largest plane sporting a 385-ft wingspan and tipping the scales at more than 500,000 lb. After firing up its six engines in September 2017, it now nears the speed needed for takeoff, reaching 136 mph in its latest string of runway tests. According to New Atlas, the company hasn’t…
China Probe Snaps First Panorama of Moon’s Dark Side
China’s unmanned Chang’e-4 lunar probe is currently roaming about the far side of the moon after making its historic touchdown Thursday, January 3, 2019. Now, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) has released pictures from the mission, which show a 360-degree panoramic image made by the lunar probe, the Huffington Post reports. The panorama (Figure 1)…
There’s Trouble with Hubble: Ailing Camera Suspends Operations
Right now, things aren’t looking good for the Hubble Space Telescope. One of the telescope’s cameras, Wide Field Camera 3, automatically suspended operations January 8 due to a hardware issue. NASA is calling the problem “an anomaly,” and says the camera “is equipped with redundant electronics should they be needed to recover the instrument.” While…
IBM System Looks to Improve Weather Forecasts Around the World
A new global weather system is set to improve local forecasts around the globe, created by IBM and its subsidiary The Weather Company. Announced at CES 2019, the system is called the IBM Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecasting System (GRAF), and “will be the first hourly-updating commercial weather system that is able to predict something as small…
ESA Says Earth’s Storm Hunter Is Operating Well
Drifting above us right now is the storm-hunting Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM). An ESA-led project, ASIM launched in April 2018, and after months of regular operations, the team reports “ASIM is performing well.” ASIM observes severe terrestrial thunderstorms and upper-atmospheric lightning ( transient luminous events). These occurrences also carry the names of red sprites, blue…
Bell’s Full-Scale Air Taxi Design Aims to Shape Future of Flight
Bell Helicopter made its way over to Las Vegas’ Consumer Electronics Show (CES), revealing the configuration and full-scale vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) air taxi vehicle dubbed Bell Nexus. The air taxi incorporates six safety-conscious tilting duct fans and a hybrid-electric propulsion system. “As space at the ground level becomes limited, we must solve transportation challenges in the…
Rolls-Royce Seeks to Build World’s Fastest All-Electric Aircraft
A specialized team recruited by Rolls-Royce is hard at work building an all-electric aircraft set to make history. Although it currently sits in a hangar at Gloucestershire airport in South West England, its destiny is to take to the sky, reaching more than 300 mph. At this speed, it will become the fastest all-electric plane,…
A World’s First: China Lands Rover on Far Side of the Moon
After launching December 7, 2018, China’s unmanned Chang’e-4 lunar probe made a historic touchdown Thursday, January 3, 2019, becoming the first spacecraft to perform a successful soft landing on the far side of the moon. The mission incorporates an orbiter, robotic lander, and rover. The recent success resides under a series of robotic lunar missions…
InSight Lander Places Its First Instrument on the Surface of Mars
Get ready for the latest news from NASA’s InSight lander. After the powerful HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spotted the lander from space, NASA reports InSight has placed its first instrument down on Mars. As seen in new images from InSight (Figure 1), the seismometer has made it onto the Martian terrain.…
Powerful Space Camera Spots Mars InSight Lander
NASA’s InSight lander launched May 5 from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, and finished its 300-million-mile journey November 26, becoming Mars’ newest robotic tourist. Since then, InSight has taken its first selfie, flexed its robotic arm, and captured the sound of Martian winds. According to NASA, the team knew the November 26 touchdown was within…
The Brains of Future Space Mission
Etched together onto single silicon pieces are numerous integrated circuits (ICs) that are “destined to serve as the brains of Europe’s future space missions,” according to the European Space Agency (ESA). Space-based data handling, communications processing, and attitude control are just a few examples where these designs play a pivotal role. The wafers are 20 cm…
SpaceX Just Launched 64 Satellites into Space — At the Same Time
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California December 3, carrying a whopping 64 satellites. A payload of that size marked a new U.S. record for the largest number of satellite deployments in a single mission. The world record sits at 104 satellites set in February 2017 by the Indian…
LinkSure Aims to Build a Free Global Satellite Network by 2026
At Beijing’s strategic conference, Chinese company LinkSure Network announced an ambitious goal—its “LinkSure Swarm Constellation System” satellite network program. Developed independently by LinkSure, the program aims “to solve internet access in areas not covered by terrestrial networks through satellite communication services and solutions,” according to the company, with the ultimate goal of a “free satellite network…
Watch U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier Flight Deck Crews Train in VR
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) describes the deck of an aircraft carrier as “one of the most dangerous environments” within the United States Navy. The chaotic environment brings high winds, dangerous equipment, engines, and propellers, all while the crew tries to guide aircraft pilots toward a safe landing. In the past, the crew would…
ESA Puts AI Chip in Direct Path of Energetic Radiation Beam
Intel’s Myriad 2—an artificial intelligence (AI) chip defined as an “industry-defining, always-on vision processor”—stands “at the intersection of low power and high performance,” according to Intel. The chip is run using the latest additions to the LEON family of integrated circuits (ICs), a pair of twin LEON4 controllers, which were developed by the European Space…
Company Profile: BAE Systems’ Center of Excellence for GaN and GaAs Technology
At the heart of global defense, aerospace, and security is BAE Systems, boasting a worldwide work force more than 83,000 strong. The third largest defense contractor in the world supports air, land, and naval forces via a host of innovative solutions and services, including advanced electronics, information technologies, cyber operations, and intelligence analysis. Although known…
Space Suit Keeps Wearers Safe and Steady
Draper engineers are developing a system that can stop high altitude spinning via a network of sensors and control moment gyroscopes (CMGs). Built as a potential life-saving safety feature, the system can help astronauts, skydivers, and space tourists, among others. For example, when skydivers are stuck in an uncontrollable spin while plummeting to Earth, they…
ABB Robots Will Work at Shanghai’s “Factory of the Future” in 2020
ABB announced they’re building a $150 million, automated, flexible robotics factory in Shanghai, China. The project will combine the company’s connected digital technologies, collaborative robots, and artificial intelligence (AI) research to build an advanced and sophisticated “factory of the future.” To help further ABB’s AI developments, the project will also create an onsite R&D center.…
Mars Rover Begins Desert Trials Controlled from 1,000 Miles Away
To better prepare the ESA ExoMars 2020 rover that’ll search for life on Mars in 2021, the ExoFiT Mars rover testing team is working with the latest model, dubbed Charlie. The prototype rover will help evaluate hardware and software, as well as practice science operations. During the trial series in Spain’s Tabernas Desert, the team…
Instrument-Bearing Drones Investigate Ice Crystals in Clouds
Bringing together more than 60 researchers from 20 institutions from a dozen countries, the EU-funded BACCHUS project looked to investigate how aerosols were effecting ice crystals in clouds by using instrument-bearing drones. Aerosols, which occur from human activities or naturally, were analyzed in key regions that regulate the Earth’s climate. According to CORDIS, “ice clouds…
European Service Module Ready for U.S. Shipment
According to NASA, Orion is “a human spacecraft for deep-space missions that will usher in a new era of space exploration.” The spacecraft will “carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain astronauts during their missions, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.” The European service module, which will provide power,…
Gigantic Stratolaunch Aircraft Reaches 90 mph in Latest Runway Test
After firing up its six Boeing 747 engines in September 2017, and its low-speed taxi test traveling down a runway at 46 mph (74 km/h, 40 knots) in March of this year, the Stratolaunch recently showcased its latest feat. The aircraft underwent medium-speed taxi tests, reaching 80 mph (128 km/h), and hitting “a maximum of…
Next-Generation Anti-Drone Technology in Development
MyDefence is set to develop anti-drone technology with a project funded by the Innovation Fund Denmark with a $425,000 investment. This contribution falls into to the Innobooster-project granted to MyDefence, which has a budget of $1.29 million spanning a 15-month period. Although it has a “positive impact on society,” the commercial drone market can pose…
BAE Systems Develops “Wearable Cockpit” to Aid Future Pilots
BAE Systems is aiming to shape future intuitive technologies for pilots with a “wearable cockpit” design. “In terms of future concepts, we are looking at what we are calling a ‘wearable cockpit’. Here, you remove many of the physical elements of the cockpit, and replace it with a virtual display, projected through the helmet. Essentially,…
Two Tiny Hopping Rovers Race Toward Near-Earth Asteroid
The Japanese “Hayabusa2″ space probe released two rovers Friday, September 21, ready to explore the near-Earth Ryugu asteroid. According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) via Phys.org, “If the mission is successful, the rovers will conduct the world’s first moving, robotic observation of an asteroid surface.” The two MINERVA-II1 rovers, dubbed ROVER-1A and ROVER-1B, will collect…