Latest news on "Space"

According to some Russian publications, this year Roscosmos will launch five GLONASS satellites. The first device is scheduled to be sent in the spring, the Izvestia TV channel reports. Two models of new-generation satellites will be launched into orbit. "Glonass-K" and "Glonass-K2" emit a larger number of signals. The service life of these devices is about 10 years. At the moment, the group consists of 28 devices.

NASA is undergoing personnel and administrative changes – the former head, Jim Bridenstine, has left his post, but a successor has not yet been appointed. This is one of the duties of the newly elected President Biden, but he still has too many other, more urgent things to do. Therefore, the space agency was temporarily headed by Steve Yurchik, who said that he would manage it, in fact, from the basement of his own house.

According to journalists, a subsidiary of SpaceX has acquired two drilling platforms: after the conversion, the complexes can be used for launching Starship spacecraft.

NASA may reduce its staff working in Russia. Some of the employees who work in the office in Moscow will be dismissed. Also, the division in Star City is waiting for the reduction. Perhaps the agency will refuse to rent the houses where the astronauts and their families lived, the Izvestia TV channel reports. The work of the department at the Institute of Medical Problems will change.

Rocket engines produced by NPO Energomash provided 23 of the 114 space launches conducted in 2020, Roscosmos reported.

According to an informed source, the promising Russian module "Science" for the ISS found new technical problems. Experts do not consider them fatal and do not plan a new postponement of the launch.

The Falcon 9 heavy launch vehicle successfully launched a new batch of 60 mini-satellites into low-Earth orbit on Wednesday, designed to continue the deployment of the Starlink system's global Internet coverage network, developer SpaceX said.

On the Russian segment of the ISS, the SLE-2 air conditioning system failed. The second-SLE-1-continues to work in normal mode.

The Americans decided to develop the military direction of nuclear energy. So far, the current President, Donald Trump, has signed a decree on the development of low-power nuclear reactors for the armed forces and space exploration. For the first time in half a century, the United States will use nuclear energy not only in the Navy. About why Washington needs new compact reactors-in the material of RIA Novosti.

At the end of 2020, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research at the Air Force Research Laboratory awarded 17 grants for quantum information research, two of which focused on the use of quantum computing to overcome problems in navigation without the use of GPS, according to the publication Inside GNSS. Quantum computing and quantum sensors use quantum bits (qubits) to speed up computing processes while performing multiple operations simultaneously, which is beyond the capabilities of modern computers. 

The operators of the insight mission came to the conclusion that it is pointless to continue trying to drill the Martian surface. A drill with tools to measure the heat flow from the interior of the red planet could not dive deep enough due to lack of friction with the soil — it was too lumpy.

In total, in order to improve the ground-based complex, about three dozen development works are currently being carried out [/b]

The level of modern ground stations in parts of the Main Test Space Center named after G. S. Titov will grow to 90% in the coming years. This was announced by the head of the center, Major General Sergei Marchuk.

Billionaire Branson launched 10 satellites from an airplane]

Billionaire Richard Branson finally managed to launch a rocket with 10 satellites from a Boeing 747. His company expects to occupy a niche of such launches and reduce the cost of putting small satellites into orbit.

Engineers from Switzerland and the Netherlands have developed a new algorithm for quadrocopters that allows them to stay in the air after turning off one propeller. Unlike similar algorithms developed earlier, the new one allows the drone to move controllably, not just hover in place, and also works only with the drone's own sensors, without requiring an external tracking system or GPS. The paper is published in the journal IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, and its preprint is available on the website of the University of Zurich.

Soyuz-2.1 v quarrels with the creators of space engines

Despite the successful completion of the Soyuz-2.1 v flight and design tests, this light-class launch vehicle did not perform a single launch last year. The situation is aggravated by the struggle between UEC-Kuznetsov and PNO Energomash for orders of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the main engine of the first stage.

OneWeb has raised $ 400 million from SoftBank and Hughes Network Systems: this will allow the company to continue deploying the satellite constellation.

The State Duma of Russia is considering the issue of fines against individuals and legal entities that intend to use the services of the Western satellite Internet. The future law should, first of all, limit access to the Internet using the Starlink services of SpaceX, OneWeb and other foreign satellite systems.

Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Victoria Abramchenko approved a "road map" to improve the system of forest protection from fires, which provides for the use of space and unmanned vehicles, the press service of Abramchenko reports.

NASA will install additional solar panels on top of the existing ones on the ISS. They will partially replace the old ones, which have degraded over time, but due to high efficiency, they will increase the available electric power from 160 to 215 kilowatts. The new batteries are made of a flexible film that is rolled into a scroll for easy transport.

Russian scientists have proposed a qualitatively new type of engine for working in outer space. It is based on the principle of plasma excitation using a microwave spark discharge. This unit can be installed on small-format satellites.