Space research
Scientific studies carried out using scientific equipment in outer space
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We include updates on SUPARCO, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, and Phooey, Project Excelsior, Project Manhigh, Biosatellite, COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere, Bioregenerative life support system, GeneLab, ESA CAVES, BIOTESC, Project Adam, SROSS-C2, Alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer, Faint Object Spectrograph ... and more.
| March 2025 |
Heliophysics Science Division
The Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) mission is expected to launch, with the aim of studying electric currents in Earth's atmosphere that connect the aurora to the Earth's magnetosphere.
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| January 2025 | Released the southern half photomosaic of the Andromeda Galaxy, mapping the region in near-ultraviolet and visible wavelengths across 195 orbits. |
| January 17 2025 | SUPARCO successfully launched the PRSC-EO1 remote sensing satellite into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) from Jiuquan launch site, demonstrating the agency's capability to manufacture satellites locally. |
| January 14 2025 | SUPARCO was involved in the launch of PAUSAT-1, a 24 kg 16U CubeSat built by Air University Pakistan, launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base via SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the Transporter 12 mission. |
| 2024 |
British space programme
Reaction Engines Limited filed for bankruptcy, ending the Skylon spaceplane development project.
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| 2024 | Pakistan approved the National Space Policy, defining SUPARCO's comprehensive mandate for space activities, including policy development, program management, space infrastructure development, and international cooperation. |
| June 2024 | NASA rejected a private servicing mission proposed by Jared Isaacman due to potential risks of damage to the Hubble Space Telescope. |
| May 30 2024 | Launch of PakSAT-MM1R, a geostationary communication satellite built by CASC (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation) and launched from Xichang, which is currently active. |
| May 3 2024 | SUPARCO collaborated with Institute of Space Technology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University to launch ICUBE-Q, a lunar orbiter CubeSat weighing 9.0 kg, from Wenchang. |
| April 2024 | Extensive cosmic ray dataset discussed at the APS April meeting, challenging existing theoretical models of the cosmos. |
| January 2024 | Completed the southern half mapping of the Andromeda Galaxy as part of the PHAST project. |
| 2023 |
British space programme
Virgin Orbit, associated with Spaceport Cornwall, ceased operations.
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| 2023 | Muhammad Yusuf Khan takes leadership of SUPARCO, serving from 2023 to 2025. With a Master of Science from the University of Peshawar, he represents the latest leadership of Pakistan's national space agency. |
| December 20 2023 |
National Space Facilities Control and Test Center
At 05:00, a missile strike was conducted at the former location of the Deep Space Communications Center near Yevpatoria, resulting in damage to Russian military equipment.
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| October 3 2023 |
PicSat
PicSat cubesat decayed and was removed from orbit after completing its scientific mission.
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| 2022 | Hubble Space Telescope launched the ULLYSES project, a three-year research initiative to observe high- and low-mass young stars, aiming to provide insights into star formation and stellar composition. |
| 2022 | Hubble detected the light of Earendel (WHL0137-LS), the farthest individual star ever observed, which existed within the first billion years after the big bang. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope was planned to follow up and confirm the star's nature. |
| 2022 | The OPAL project was ongoing, focusing on studying the atmospheric evolution and dynamics of outer planets like Jupiter and Uranus through extended baseline observations. |
| September 2022 | NASA and SpaceX signed a Space Act Agreement to investigate a potential Crew Dragon mission to service and boost Hubble to a higher orbit, with the possibility of extending its operational lifespan by 20 years. |
| August 4 2022 |
British space programme
Vanessa O'Brien became the ninth British astronaut and second female British astronaut to reach space during Blue Origin's NS-22 flight, conducting an overview study on the human brain while reaching an apogee of 107 km.
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| June 4 2022 |
British space programme
Hamish Harding became the eighth British astronaut to reach space during Blue Origin's NS-21 flight, achieving an apogee of 107 km.
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| April 2022 | NASA announced that Hubble images helped astronomers determine the size of comet C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli–Bernstein), identifying it as the largest icy comet nucleus ever observed, with an estimated mass of 50 trillion tons. |
| December 2021 | Began the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Southern Treasury (PHAST) project to map the southern half of the Andromeda Galaxy. |
| December 8 2021 | NASA restored full science operations and began developing updates to improve instrument resilience to synchronization message issues. |
| November 2021 | NASA extended the service contract for Hubble Space Telescope until June 2026. |
| October 23 2021 | Hubble Space Telescope instruments reported missing synchronization messages and went into safe mode. |
| July 16 2021 | NASA identified a malfunctioning power control unit (PCU) and successfully brought Hubble back to operational mode. |
| June 23 2021 | NASA engineers attempted to switch Hubble to a backup payload computer, but operations failed. |
| June 13 2021 | Hubble's payload computer halted due to a suspected memory module issue. |
| April 8 2021 |
Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer
NASA reported the first MEDA weather report on Mars, providing temperature and wind data for April 3-4, including temperatures ranging from -7.6 to -117.4 degrees and wind gusts up to 22 mph.
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| 2020 | John Grunsfeld suggested that SpaceX Crew Dragon or Orion could potentially perform a repair mission to Hubble Space Telescope within ten years, with the goal of keeping the telescope operational for additional decades by replacing gyros and instruments. |
| 2020 | The Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey receives the final planning report for the Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR), suggesting a potential launch date of 2039. |
| 2020 |
Mars Plant Experiment
The Mars Plant Experiment (MPX) was proposed as a potential experiment for the Mars 2020 rover mission, aiming to demonstrate plant germination in Martian conditions, but was ultimately not selected for inclusion in the mission payload.
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| 2020 |
Mars Plant Experiment
The Mars Plant Experiment concluded with the launch of a Mars rocket, marking the end of the long-running research project.
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| December 18 2020 |
British space programme
OneWeb's post-bankruptcy leadership launched an additional 36 satellites to continue building out their satellite constellation.
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| September 25 2020 |
British space programme
The United Kingdom Global Navigation Satellite System project is officially scrapped, deemed unnecessary and too expensive, with plans to explore alternative satellite navigation service approaches.
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| August 2020 |
Tanpopo mission
Scientists reported findings that Deinococcus radiodurans bacteria can survive for three years in outer space, based on studies conducted on the International Space Station, supporting the panspermia hypothesis.
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| July 2020 |
British space programme
The United Kingdom government and India's Bharti Enterprises jointly purchased the bankrupt OneWeb satellite company, with the UK paying £400 million for a 45% stake and a golden share to gain control over future ownership.
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| March 2020 |
British space programme
By this point, OneWeb had launched 74 of the planned 648 satellites in its initial constellation.
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| January 25 2020 | Fourth spacewalk conducted to repair the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). Astronauts performed leak checks on the cooling system, identified and fixed a leak in one of the cooling lines. The mission lasted 6 hours and 16 minutes. Preliminary testing showed the AMS was responding as expected, and the tracker detector began collecting science data shortly after. |
| 2019 | A study using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope discovered a halo around the nearby pulsar Geminga, suggesting it could be responsible for up to 20% of high-energy positrons seen by AMS-02. |
| 2019 |
Write Once Read Forever
The HELIOS mission returned to Earth and was confirmed successful, with stored data showing no significant decay after six months of exposure to space conditions and solar radiation.
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| 2019 |
Write Once Read Forever
NASA renamed the original WORF experiment to HELIOS (Hardened Extremely Long Life Information Optical Storage).
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| 2019 | Pioneer 10 probe determined to be roughly at the outer edge of the heliosphere. |
| 2019 |
ESA CAVES
ESA CAVES training course relocated to the 'Classical Karst' region between Italy and Slovenia, using facilities from Škocjanske Caves Regional Park and exploring caves along the underground course of the river Timavo.
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| 2019 |
ESA CAVES
ESA CAVES training course took place with a diverse international crew including astronauts from NASA, CSA, ESA, JAXA, and Roscosmos: Joe Acaba, Jeanette Epps, Joshua Kutryk, Alexander Gerst, Takuya Onishi, and Nikolay Chub participated in the training program.
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| 2019 | SUPARCO participated in the Global Space Congress held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, showcasing an exhibition of their satellite-related projects for the first time. |
| December 2 2019 | Third spacewalk conducted to upgrade the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer's cooling system. Astronauts installed the upgraded tracker thermal pump system (UTTPS), completed power and data cable connections, and connected eight cooling lines. They also installed an insulating blanket on the nadir side of the AMS. The spacewalk lasted 6 hours and 2 minutes, with the flight control team on Earth confirming power and data reception. |
| November 2019 | After four years of planning, special tools and equipment were sent to the International Space Station to conduct in-situ repairs of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, requiring four spacewalks and including the replenishment of liquid carbon dioxide coolant. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles British space programme, SUPARCO, Space research, Heliophysics Science Division, National Space Facilities Control and Test Center, ESA CAVES, Mars Plant Experiment, PicSat, Hubble Space Telescope, Write Once Read Forever, Tanpopo mission, Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer & Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.