December 2 – December 8, 2019

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx In The Midst Of Site Selection

This flat projection mosaic of asteroid Bennu shows the relative locations of the four candidate sample collection sites on the asteroid: Nightingale, Kingfisher, Osprey and Sandpiper. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is scheduled to touch down on one of these four sites to collect a sample in summer 2020. Image Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

December 4, 2019 – NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is just days away from selecting the site where the spacecraft will snag a sample from asteroid Bennu. After a lengthy and challenging process, the team is finally ready to down-select from the four candidate sites to a primary and backup site. Read More

Ball Aerospace’s Dr. Makenzie Lystrup Named AAAS Fellow

Dr. Makenzie Lystrup
Dr. Makenzie Lystrup. Image Credit: Ball Aerospace

December 3, 2019 – Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, vice president and general manager, Civil Space, Ball Aerospace, has been elected to the rank of Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Read More

Blue Canyon Technologies Acquires Antenna Company To Expand Technological Base

December 2, 2019 – Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) has purchased leading RF antenna manufacturer, Antenna Development Corporation (AntDevCO). As a vertically integrated company, the acquisition plays a key role in BCT incorporating antennas into their design and manufacturing capabilities portfolio. Read More

SwRI-Built Instrument Confirms Solar Wind Slows Farther Away From The Sun

The SWAP instrument aboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has confirmed that the solar wind slows as it travels farther from the Sun. This schematic of the heliosphere shows the solar wind begins slowing at approximately 4 AU radial distance from the Sun and continues to slow as it moves toward the outer solar system and picks up interstellar material. Current extrapolations reveal the termination shock may currently be closer than found by the Voyager spacecraft. However, increasing solar activity will soon expand the heliosphere and push the termination shock farther out, possibly to the 84-94 AU range encountered by the Voyager spacecraft. Image Credit: Southwest Research Institute; background artist rendering by NASA and Adler Planetarium

December 2, 2019 – Measurements taken by the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument aboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft are providing important new insights from some of the farthest reaches of space ever explored. In a paper recently published in The Astrophysical Journal, a team led by Southwest Research Institute shows how the solar wind — the supersonic stream of charged particles blown out by the Sun — evolves at increasing distances from the Sun. Read More

More News

NRL, NASA Combine To Produce Sun Imagery With Unprecedented Clarity
Source: Naval Research Laboratory

First NASA Parker Solar Probe Results Reveal Surprising Details Of Sun
Source: NASA

Falcon 9 Scrubs Launch Of CRS-19 Dragon To The ISS
Source: NASASpaceFlight.com

New Satellite Designed To Fix Other Satellites While In Orbit
Source: In Compliance Magazine

NASA Says We Will Start Harvesting Precious Resources Like Platinum From The Moon ‘This Century’
Source: Stock Daily Dish

An Investor’s Perspective On The Current State Of The Global Space Startup Industry
Source: TechCrunch

New NASA Human Spaceflight Leader Calls SLS “Mandatory” For Return To The Moon
Source: SpaceNews

Scolese: NRO Advancing Space Technology, Developing Tactics To Defend Satellites
Source: SpaceNews

Northrop Grumman Touts Financial Strength In Marketing Pitch For OmegA Rocket
Source: SpaceNews

Orion Spacecraft Prepared For Thermal Test At NASA Plum Brook
Source: NASA

SpaceX Cargo Mission Combines Mighty Mice, Fires And Beer Research
Source: Spaceflight Now

SpaceX Expediting Mk3 Construction In Texas, Pausing Florida-Based Starship Builds
Source: NASASpaceFlight.com

China To Continue World-Leading Launch Rate In 2020
Source: SpaceNews

OrbitsEdge Announces OEM Agreement With Hewlett Packard Enterprises To Deliver Datacenter-Grade Computing Power In Orbit
Source: OrbitsEdge Inc.

Rocket Lab Moves Headquarters To Long Beach
Source: Parabolic Arc

UMD Astronomers Catch A Natural Comet Outburst In Unprecedented Detail
Source: University of Maryland

Scientists Crack 60-Year-Old Mystery Of Sun’s Magnetic Waves
Source: University of Exeter

Vikram Lander Found
Source: NASA

Air Force Weapons School Graduates First Cadre Of Space Warfighters
Source: Schriever Air Force Base

NASA/ESA Continue Challenging Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Repair Spacewalks
Source: NASASpaceFlight.com

NASA To Present First Findings Of Solar Mission In Media Telecon
Source: NASA

Astronomers Propose A Novel Method Of Finding Atmospheres On Rocky Worlds
Source: NASA/James Webb Space Telescope

Peculiar Role Of Io In The Magnetic Environment Of Jupiter
Source: University of Colorado Boulder/LASP