Equipped with New Sensors, Morpheus Preps to Tackle Landing on its Own
Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Apr 29, 2014 -
A test flight later this week will challenge a set of sensors to map out a 65-yard square of boulder-sized hazards and pick out a safe place to land.
Mounted to an uncrewed prototype lander called Morpheus that flies autonomously several hundred feet above the ground, the sensor system will have 10 seconds to do its work: six seconds really, as it will take four seconds to map the area bef ...
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Laser-powered farewell to Moon mission
Paris (ESA) Apr 29, 2014 -
Just before NASA's latest Moon mission ended last week, an ESA telescope received laser signals from the spacecraft, achieving data speeds like those used by many to watch movies at home via fibre-optic Internet.
During an intense, three-day effort starting on 1 April, ESA's Optical Ground Station in Spain received data signals via laser from the Moon at the stunning speed of 80 megabits p ...
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Marine Corps' CH-53K in new phase of testing
Stratford, Conn. (UPI) May 1, 2013 -
Full system testing of the CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter being developed for the U.S. Marine Corps has begun, Sikorsky Aircraft said Thursday.
The testing involves a non-flying prototype with all seven main rotor blades and four tail rotor blades attached and spinning, the start of a two-year test program of the rotor blades, transmission, engines, and all sub-systems on the ground test ...
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DISA extends Northrop's work on global command-and-control system
Mclean, Va. (UPI) May 1, 2013 -
The U.S. military's command-and-control system for joint and multi-national operations is to continue to be modernized and sustained by Northrop Grumman.
The Defense Information Systems Agency extended Northrop's work on the Global Command and Control System-Joint contract through a contract option worth $53 million, Northrop Grumman said.
"As part of DISA's modernization plan, w ...
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Russia to Launch Coordination Center for New Space Center by May
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Apr 29, 2014 -
The Russian Cabinet has tasked the country's space agency Roscosmos with creating a coordination center for the Vostochny space center, currently under construction in the Far East, the Cabinet said Friday.
The instruction, available on the Cabinet's website, asks Roscosmos "to report on the creation of a coordination center for Vostochny Cosmodrome, its personnel, regulations and work age ...
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China, Russia plan East China Sea drills: Xinhua
Beijing (AFP) May 01, 2014 -
China and Russia will carry out joint naval exercises in the East China Sea later this month, state media reported Thursday, with China and Japan embroiled in a territorial dispute in the area.
The drills, to take place off Shanghai, are scheduled for late in the month, the official Xinhua news agency said in a brief report, citing China's defence ministry.
The drills were described as " ...
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Images suggest N. Korea testing ICBM engine: US think-tank
Seoul (AFP) May 02, 2014 -
New satellite imagery indicates North Korea has been testing the engine for an inter-continental ballistic missile, a US think-tank said Friday, amid concerns the North is also preparing a nuclear test.
The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said images of the North's main rocket launch site suggested one "and maybe more" tests of what is probably the first stage of a KN-08 road- ...
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