Satellite

Following the recently success of Mission Extension Vehicle-1, DARPA has tapped Northrop Grumman subsidiary Space Logistics LLC to develop technology for servicing and extending the life of satellites in orbit.

The introduction of 26 thousand new megaconstellation satellites could have a significant effect on ground-based astronomy, according to a new study commissioned by the European Southern Observatory.

ESA has released a series of maps that let viewers track the amount of permafrost present around the Arctic. Melting of permafrost could add massive amounts of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere, worsening the effects of climate change.

In a significant first for commercial satellites, Northrop Grumman's Mission Extension Vehicle-1 has docked with an aging communication satellite in order to extend its service life after almost two decades in orbit.

SpaceX has successfully deployed 60 communication satellites to bolster the population of its Starlink megaconstellation. The launch saw the third landing of a Falcon 9 core stage, and the impressive catch of a fairing half as it fell to Earth.

DirecTV has been granted permission by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to send a damaged communications satellite in danger of exploding due to its severely damaged batteries into an emergency disposal trajectory.

The Guinness Book of World Records has awarded JAXA the record for the lowest altitude by an Earth observation satellite. During its mission from 2017 to 2019, the Super Low Altitude Test Satellite reached a suitably super-low altitude of 167.4 km.

ESA has successfully launched its Cheops telescope on a mission to make detailed follow-up studies of distant exoplanets discovered by earlier space-faring telescopes, such as Kepler and TESS.

A comprehensive new study has tracked long-term ice loss in Greenland, and found that the Ice Sheet has lost 3.8 trillion tonnes of ice since 1992 – and the annual rate is rising faster than previously expected.

ESA has commissioned the world's first mission to recover a piece of space debris in orbit. At the end of November, the Ministerial Council consortium awarded a service contract to a consortium for the ClearSpace-1 mission to launch in 2025.

Astronomers go to great lengths to find the quietest, darkest corners of the night sky, but a new breed of satellites like those of SpaceX's Starlink project threaten to ruin the views in very damaging ways. And the problems don't end there.

Central to SpaceX's mission of making rocket launches as cheap as possible is recovering and recycling as many components as possible, and it today took another significant step toward this aim, flying a recovered payload fairing for the first time.