Lifeboat Foundation

Using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new giant exoplanet transiting a nearby M-dwarf star. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-4860 b, is comparable in size and mass to Saturn. The finding is reported in a paper published August 2 on the pre-print server arXiv.

TESS is conducting a survey of about 200,000 of the brightest stars near the sun with the aim of searching for transiting exoplanets. So far, it has identified over 6,700 candidate exoplanets (TESS Objects of Interest, or TOI), of which 373 have been confirmed so far.

Now, a group of astronomers led by Jose Manuel Almenara of the Grenoble Alpes University in France, reports the confirmation of another TOI monitored by TESS. They identified a transit signal in the light curve of an M-dwarf star known as TOI-4860. The planetary nature of this signal was confirmed by ground-based follow-up photometric observations.

Jeff Bezos’ e-commerce giant is set to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink service with its 3,200-internet satellite mega-constellation.

Amazon has announced it will now deploy its two Project Kuiper prototype satellites aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket this fall.

Continue reading “Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites will fly on the new Vulcan Centaur rocket in early 2023” »

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Today I have an update on the reproduction efforts for the supposed room temperature superconductor, LK 99, the first images from the Euclid mission, more trouble with Starlink satellites, first results from a new simulation for cosmological structure formation, how to steer drops with ultrasound, bacteria that make plastic, an improvement for wireless power transfer, better earthquake warnings, an attempt to predict war, and of course the telephone will ring.

Continue reading “Superconductor LK99 Update” »

A number of military leaders around the world have expressed concerns to US officials over the dominance and control of SpaceX founder Elon Musk over satellite internet, according to a new report.

Over the past decade Musk’s SpaceX has changed the launch industry with its reusable Falcon 9 rocket. The company has pressed this advantage to establish itself as the leading player in satellite internet through Starlink.

Update: The story has been updated to include comments from Capella Space CEO Payam Banazadeh and Phase Four. Paragraph five and six have been updated with additional context on solar flair activity and premature satellite reentry, and paragraph eleven contains additional information on Phase Four technology.

Capella Space’s synthetic aperture radar satellites are falling back to Earth much sooner than the three years they were anticipated to operate, according to publicly available satellite data.

The startup has launched a total of ten small satellites to low Earth orbit since 2018, including eight in its family of “Whitney”-class spacecraft. Five of these satellites have reentered the atmosphere since the end of January of this year, including three of the Whitneys. Those Whitney sats were in orbit for less than two-and-a-half years; one, Capella-5, was in orbit for less than two years.

Euclid, a space mission led by the European Space Agency.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the exploration and study of space. ESA was established in 1975 and has 22 member states, with its headquarters located in Paris, France. ESA is responsible for the development and coordination of Europe’s space activities, including the design, construction, and launch of spacecraft and satellites for scientific research and Earth observation. Some of ESA’s flagship missions have included the Rosetta mission to study a comet, the Gaia mission to create a 3D map of the Milky Way, and the ExoMars mission to search for evidence of past or present life on Mars.

A new space weather sensor is heading to the International Space Station to help scientists understand how the sun’s outbursts alter Earth’s upper atmosphere.

The sensor’s data will help space weather forecasters predict how sudden eruptions of radiation and plasma from the star at the center of our solar system disrupt satellite communication links and affect signals from navigational satellites such as Europe’s Galileo.

Breaking into the 31st week of 2023, from July 31 to Aug. 6, not much is held in store in terms of launches. Up first this week — following an aborted launch attempt last week — Rocket Lab will launch Capella Space’s Acadia satellite to a mid-inclination low-earth orbit. Later, a momentous flight will take place, when the last Antares 230+ will fly to low-Earth orbit (LEO) during the NG-19 resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Following slightly more than a day later, a Chang Zheng 4C carrying the Fengyun-3F meteorological satellite will take to the skies from Jiuquan, China. Shortly after that, it will be the turn of a Falcon 9 transporting Maxar-built Galaxy 37 inside its fairing. It will be deployed into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), with the satellite reaching a geostationary orbit (GEO) by itself.

Continue reading “Launch Roundup: SpaceX to launch Galaxy 37; China to launch FY-3F” »

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket has successfully placed the commercial communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit, adding 500 gigabits per second capacity to the network’s services.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket has successfully placed in geosynchronous orbit the world’s heaviest commercial communications satellite, Jupiter-3, Space News.

SpaceX

Continue reading “Jupiter-3: World’s heaviest communication satellite is now in orbit” »