southwest research institute
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US Space Force Purchases $25 Million ‘Fuel Truck’ for Satellites
Zipping far above Earth, it’s not exactly easy for satellites to find a corner gas station when the fuel gauge gets low. To tackle this cosmic conundrum, a Space Force-funded initiative is working on an innovative solution to refuel distant satellites on-the-fly. On Wednesday, Space Force awarded Astroscale a $US25.5 million contract to design and…
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Seeing Double: Lucy’s First Target Asteroid Has a Tiny Moon
As NASA’s Lucy spacecraft zoomed past its first asteroid on Wednesday, its mission scientists made a surprising discovery of a bonus space rock. The first images sent over by the Lucy mission of its brief rendezvous with the main asteroid belt revealed a binary pair, with a tiny satellite closely orbiting Dinkinesh, NASA announced on…
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Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io Looks Ominous in New Juno Image
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been orbiting Jupiter for more than seven years, capturing some of the most iconic images of the planet’s swirling winds and tumultuous storms. In the most recent image from the mission, however, the gas giant poses alongside another familiar object that’s also got a lot going on. During its 53rd close…
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The Coolest Images Taken by NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has seen amazing things since it launched over sixteen years ago.