Today, Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G) announced the establishment of the ZERO-G WEIGHTLESS LAB. The specially designed two-day program provides the only commercial access to Martian, Lunar, zero and hyper gravity environments for scientific research. The program is open to academic, corporate and government agency applicants.

On Thursday, 4 March 2010 at 11:15 CET, the research rocket Rexus 8 (Rocket EXperiment for University Students), a joint project of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), launched from SSC's Esrange Space Center near Kiruna, in Sweden. Students from the Technical Universities of Berlin (Technische Universitaet Berlin; TUB) and Munich (Technische Universitaet Muenchen; TUM) and from the Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan; KTH) in Stockholm used the flight to conduct satellite communication experiments and also tested a newly-developed descent probe. The rocket reached an altitude of 88 kilometres during its flight. Rexus 7 was launched just two days earlier, on 2 March.

The Canadian Space Commerce Association will be holding its annual meeting in Toronto on Tuesday, March 16th with the theme "The Growing Canadian Commercial Space Sector". The meeting will bring together businesses, academics, entrepreneurs, government agencies as well as students to hear and interact with leading experts from the Canadian space sector.

Distant galaxy clusters mysteriously stream at a million miles per hour along a path roughly centered on the southern constellations Centaurus and Hydra. A new study led by Alexander Kashlinsky at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., tracks this collective motion -- dubbed the "dark flow" -- to twice the distance originally reported.

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. and Orbit Technology Group announced today that they have completed integration for Satellite Communications On-The-Move (SOTM) solutions to serve a wide range of industries.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is holding a symposium titled "Expectations for Climate Change Monitoring using Earth Observation Satellites" on April 15, (Thursday) 2010, at the Hotel Pacific Tokyo.

Chesapeake NetCraftsmen, a consultancy focusing on network management and security, high-end routing and design, switching, VoIP, Unified Communications, QoS, MPLS, IP multicast, course and lab development, is pleased to announce Terry Slattery - CCIE # 1026, is among four other network security experts presenting at Satellite 2010. The topic of their discussion is: Securing Your Network: Protecting your Operations, Content and Assets.

NASA today unveiled an interactive computer simulation that allows virtual explorers of all ages to dock the space shuttle at the International Space Station, experience a virtual trip to Mars or a lunar impact, and explore images of star formations taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

For years, ESA has been bringing space technologies down to Earth through its Technology Transfer Programme and Business Incubation initiatives. Now, the Agency will strengthen these initiatives by supporting new businesses using space innovations through a dedicated venture capital fund.

The latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, or GOES-P, lifted off Thursday aboard a Delta IV rocket at 6:57 p.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 37 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite joins four other similar spacecrafts to improve weather forecasting and monitoring of environmental events.

More than 100 student teams from around the globe will drive their specially crafted lunar rovers through a challenging course of rugged, moon-like terrain at NASA's 17th annual Great Moonbuggy Race in Huntsville, Ala., April 9-10.

Not much bigger than a child's toy block, two spacecraft designed and built by university students in Kentucky and California will fly in space for a short period this month to gather information that may be applied to future small Earth orbiting space vehicles.

In general, galaxies can be thought of as "social" — hanging out in groups and frequently interacting. However, this recent NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image highlights how some galaxies appear to be hungry loners. These cosmic oddities have set astronomers on the "case of the missing neighbour galaxies".

The delicate nebula NGC 1788, located in a dark and often neglected corner of the Orion constellation, is revealed in a new and finely nuanced image that ESO is releasing today. Although this ghostly cloud is rather isolated from Orion’s bright stars, the latter’s powerful winds and light have had a strong impact on the nebula, forging its shape and making it home to a multitude of infant suns.

The James Webb Space Telescope reached a mission-readiness landmark today when its first primary mirror segment was cryo-polished to its required prescription as measured at operational cryogenic temperatures. This achievement sets the stage for a successful polishing process for the remaining 18 flight mirror segments.

Using data from a NASA radar that flew aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists have detected ice deposits near the moon's north pole. NASA's Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 1 to 9 miles (2 to 15 km) in diameter. Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater, it's estimated there could be at least 1.3 trillion pounds (600 million metric tons) of water ice.

Tabula, Inc., a privately held fabless semiconductor company developing 3-D Programmable Logic Devices (3PLD), today introduced Spacetime, a groundbreaking programmable logic architecture that uses time as a third dimension to deliver unmatched capability and affordability. Tabula achieves this breakthrough by combining the Spacetime hardware that dynamically reconfigures logic, memory, and interconnect at multi-GHz rates with the Spacetime compiler that manages this ultra-rapid reconfiguration transparently. Tabula will leverage Spacetime to deliver 3-D devices that have significant density advantages and dramatically shorter interconnects when compared to FPGAs that use 2-D architectures. In addition, Tabula will deliver these benefits while preserving a traditional design methodology. As a result, Spacetime will enable a new class of programmable devices that combines the capability of an ASIC with the ease of use of an FPGA at price points suitable for volume production.

Administrator Charles F. Bolden announced Monday leadership changes involving three of the agency's field centers, including NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The changes are effective immediately.

The Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) instrument, designed and built by Lockheed Martin at its Space Systems Advanced Technology Center (ATC) is ready for flight.

The Lockheed Martin-led team developing the Orion crew exploration vehicle achieved a major technology milestone by completing fabrication of the world's largest heat shield structure. The shield is five meters (16.4 feet) in diameter and is critical to the protection of the spacecraft and its crew from the extreme temperatures experienced during re-entry. The work was completed at Lockheed Martin's composite development facility in Denver, Colo.

Two Florida residents have become the first to complete a new commercial space flight training program at NASA’s John F Kennedy Space Center. Terence Witt, founder of Witt Biomedical, and his wife Virginia trained for space in the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, the same supersonic plane used to prepare Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts for space travel.

EchoStar Satellite Services, L.L.C., a subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation, and Satélites Mexicanos, S.A. de C.V. (Satmex) announced today an agreement pursuant to which EchoStar will acquire an ownership interest in Satmex. Satmex is Mexico's leading satellite operator and delivers video, audio and data services to the Americas. MVS Comunicaciones, one of the largest media and telecommunications companies in Mexico and EchoStar's partner in the fast growing Mexican direct-to-home TV service Dish Mexico, will also participate in the ownership of Satmex through a joint venture with EchoStar. Together, EchoStar and MVS Comunicaciones will acquire all of the outstanding stock of Satmex.

NASA is announcing a new initiative to launch small cube-shaped satellites for education and not-for-profit organizations. CubeSats are a class of research spacecraft called picosatellites, having a size of approximately four inches, a volume of about one quart, and weighing no more than 2.2 pounds.

NASA and the Italian Space Agency announced a new use for an existing Multi Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) known as "Leonardo." It will be transformed into a Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) for the International Space Station.

Science results from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, Chandrayaan-1, and Chang'E-1 lunar missions will highlight the 41st annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference March 1-5 in Houston.

NASA officials broke ground near Canberra, Australia on Wednesday, beginning a new antenna-building campaign to improve Deep Space Network communications.

The NASA World Wind Java computer program developed at the agency's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., is the winner of NASA's 2009 Software of the Year Award.

ESO has released a dramatic new image of NGC 346, the brightest star-forming region in our neighbouring galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud, 210 000 light-years away towards the constellation of Tucana (the Toucan). The light, wind and heat given off by massive stars have dispersed the glowing gas within and around this star cluster, forming a surrounding wispy nebular structure that looks like a cobweb. NGC 346, like other beautiful astronomical scenes, is a work in progress, and changes as the aeons pass. As yet more stars form from loose matter in the area, they will ignite, scattering leftover dust and gas, carving out great ripples and altering the face of this lustrous object.

NASA's Stennis Space Center in Stennis, Miss., unveiled an initiative today to chart the future of the nation's premier rocket engine testing facility.

G Systems, a test and measurement automation company specializing in challenging data acquisition requirements, delivered its first system for a new Orion crew exploration vehicle test station at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana. Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor to NASA for Orion, awarded G Systems three contracts valued at over $1 million as part of a multi-phase delivery plan to design, integrate, and install an automated data acquisition and analysis test station for Orion by June 2010. The test stations will provide critical data to ensure structural endurance and spacecraft safety.

When NASA's satellite operators need accurate, real-time space-weather information, they turn to the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) of the Space Weather Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The CCMC's newest and most advanced space-weather science tool is the Integrated Space Weather Analysis (iSWA) system.

NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., has awarded a contract to ASRC Research and Technology Solutions LLC, or ARTS, a small business in Greenbelt, Md., to provide information and technical services at the center.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has award AT&T of Vienna, Va., a contract to provide Mission Network Services for the agency.

The newly restructured NASA Advisory Council recently concluded its second meeting, held Feb. 18-19, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. This was the first council meeting including all of the committee chairs and other appointed members, completing the restructuring process NASA Administrator Charles Bolden began in fall 2009.

Will 2010 be the warmest year on record? How do the recent U.S. "Snowmageddon" winter storms and record low temperatures in Europe fit into the bigger picture of long-term global warming? NASA has launched a new web page to help people better understand the causes and effects of Earth's changing climate.

NASA has increased the support contract to the Virginia Space Flight Authority/Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va., to provide launch services for expendable launch vehicles.

Earth Space Agency asks to report physics anomalies from our world and the rest of the observable universe which are in conflict with the current scientific theories. The goal is to gather freely accessible information in one place to help scientists and engineers to create better method for getting into orbit.

NASA's Stardust-NExT (New Exploration of Tempel) spacecraft fired its engines for 22 minutes 53 seconds on Feb. 17 to purposely delay its arrival at comet Tempel 1 by 8 hours 21 minutes. In one year, the Lockheed Martin built spacecraft will still fly by the comet on Feb. 14, 2011, Valentines' Day, but the encounter time will now be 8:42 p.m. PT.

New findings from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have provided a major advance in understanding a type of supernova critical for studying the dark energy that astronomers think pervades the universe. The results show mergers of two dense stellar remnants are the likely cause of many of the supernovae that have been used to measure the accelerated expansion of the universe.

A diverse cast of cosmic characters is showcased in the first survey images NASA released Wednesday from its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

After years of successful concealment, the most primitive stars outside our Milky Way galaxy have finally been unmasked. New observations using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have been used to solve an important astrophysical puzzle concerning the oldest stars in our galactic neighbourhood — which is crucial for our understanding of the earliest stars in the Universe.

Aerojet, a GenCorp company, announced its key role in the positioning of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite which was launched aboard the Atlas V on Feb. 11 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. SDO is the first mission to be launched for NASA's Living With a Star (LWS) Program and will help scientists understand the Sun's influence on Earth and Near-Earth space by studying the solar atmosphere in detail.

Alliant Techsystems' composite technology supported today's successful launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The launch placed NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory into orbit.

Two state-of-the art solar instruments built at the Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory of the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center (ATC) in Palo Alto, were launched this morning at 10:23 a.m. EST aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), a suite of four telescopes, will provide an unprecedented view of the solar corona, taking images that span at least 1.3 solar diameters in multiple wavelengths nearly simultaneously, at a resolution of about one arc-second and at a cadence of ten seconds or better. The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI), designed in collaboration with Professor Philip Scherrer, HMI Principal Investigator, and other scientists at Stanford University, will study the origin of solar variability and attempt to characterize and understand the Sun's interior and magnetic activity.

United Launch Alliance successfully launched NASA's latest scientific exploration mission, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), aboard an Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at 10:23 a.m. EST today. This was ULA's first launch of 2010 and marked the 100th use of the commercial Atlas Centaur launch vehicle since its first launch on July 29, 1990. The first commercial launch was NASA's Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) spacecraft.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne today helped boost into orbit the first mission in NASA's "Living With a Star" program to explore more about how the sun affects life on Earth. The Solar Dynamics Observatory mission was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The Atlas V is powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 booster engine and a Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RL10 upper-stage engine. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a unit of United Technologies Corp. RD AMROSS LLC is a joint venture of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and NPO Energomash.

Researchers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope recently took advantage of a rare opportunity to record Saturn when its rings are edge-on, resulting in a unique movie featuring both of the giant planet's poles. Saturn is only in this position every 15 years and this favourable orientation has allowed a sustained study of Saturn’s almost symmetric northern and southern lights.

Beginning Thursday, 11 February 2010, our Sun is being monitored round the clock - the space-based Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was launched successfully from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas V. The continuous stream of data supplied by this observatory will substantially improve our ability to forecast space weather. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is supporting this NASA-led mission with the SDO Data Center at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Katlenburg-Lindau.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, lifted off Thursday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41 on a first-of-a-kind mission to reveal the sun's inner workings in unprecedented detail. The launch aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:23 a.m. EST.

NASA presented its highest honor for quality and performance, the George M. Low Award, to two companies that share a commitment to teamwork, safety, customer service, technical and managerial excellence.