Tag: Batteries
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NASA’s Watts on the Moon Challenge Concludes with Final Innovations for Lunar Power Solutions
NASA’s Watts on the Moon Challenge, designed to advance the nation’s lunar exploration goals under the Artemis campaign by challenging United States innovators to develop breakthrough power transmission and energy storage technologies that could enable long-duration Moon missions, concludes on Friday, Sept. 20, at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. “For astronauts to maintain…
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NASA’s Europa Clipper Receives Record-Breaking Solar Arrays for Mission to Jupiter’s Moon
NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft recently got outfitted with a set of enormous solar arrays at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The largest spacecraft NASA has ever built for planetary exploration receives massive solar arrays to power it on the journey to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Each measuring about 46½ feet (14.2 meters) long…
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Mitsubishi Electric to Supply Lithium-Ion Batteries for Gateway Lunar Orbital Platform
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced that it has been awarded a contract by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to supply space-use lithium-ion batteries for the Gateway, a lunar orbiting space station. Under the “Joint Exploration Declaration of Intent for Lunar Cooperation (JEDI)” signed on July 10, 2020, by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science,…
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Thales Alenia Space Signs Contract with ESA for Development of ExoMars Mission Rover
Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has signed a framework contract divided into different tranches with the European Space Agency (ESA), worth a total of €522m, to continue essential activities for the completion of the ExoMars 2028 mission. The contract includes the development of the Mars Entry, Descent and…
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ESA’s Second European Remote Sensing Satellite Returns to Earth
ESA’s second European Remote Sensing (ERS-2) satellite has reentered Earth’s atmosphere over the North Pacific Ocean. The satellite returned at 18:17 CET (17:17 UTC) on 21 February 2024 between Alaska and Hawaii. ERS-2 was launched almost 30 years ago, on 21 April 1995. Together with ERS-1, it provided invaluable long-term data on Earth’s land surfaces,…
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NASA Space Tech Spinoffs Benefit Tools for Moon to Mars Missions and Earth Medicine
As NASA innovates for the benefit of all, what the agency develops for exploration has the potential to evolve into other technologies with broader use here on Earth. Many of those examples are highlighted in NASA’s annual Spinoff book including dozens of NASA-enabled medical innovations, as well as other advancements. This year’s publication, NASA’s 2024…
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ISRO Successfully Flight Tests Fuel Cell in PSLV C58
ISRO has successfully tested a 100 W class Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell based Power System (FCPS) in its orbital platform, POEM3, launched onboard PSLV-C58 on January 1, 2024. The objective of the experiment was to assess Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel cell operation in space and to collect data to facilitate the design of systems…
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Viasat Unveils GX LITE Terminal for Ground and Airborne Applications
Viasat, Inc., a global company in satellite communications, announced the availability of the GX LITE terminal. Built with land expeditionary users’ requirements in mind, GX LITE readily translates to any “grab and go” situation and enables secure, flexible, high-throughput communications worldwide. GX LITE was developed with Viasat’s value-added manufacturer partner, Get SAT, an innovator in…
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Amazon’s Project Kuiper Protoflight Mission Achieves 100% Success Rate
Amazon started Project Kuiper with the goal of providing fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world. Within 30 days of sending two prototype satellites into space, Project Kuiper has achieved a 100% success rate for its Protoflight mission, validating key technologies that underpin the network and moving the program another step…
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Firefly Successfully Completes Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Structure Ahead of NASA Moon Mission
Firefly Aerospace, an end-to-end space transportation company, announced it completed the development and assembly of its Blue Ghost lander structure and fluid systems, a critical milestone for Firefly’s first lunar mission slated to land on the Moon in 2024 as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. This mission is one of three…