Week in images: 07-11 August 2023
Friday, 11 August 2023 12:05
Week in images: 07-11 August 2023
Discover our week through the lens
Space Development Agency shaking up how the military buys satellites
Friday, 11 August 2023 09:00
The Space Development Agency is breaking with tradition by seeking out multiple vendors for its low Earth orbit satellite network.
The post Space Development Agency shaking up how the military buys satellites appeared first on SpaceNews.
After 17 years, NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft makes its first Earth flyby
Friday, 11 August 2023 07:44
On August 12, 2023, NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft passes between the sun and Earth, marking the first Earth flyby of the nearly 17-year-old mission. The visit home brings a special chance for the spacecraft to collaborate with NASA missions near Earth and reveal new insights into our closest star.
A rocket with a lunar landing craft blasts off on Russia's first moon mission in nearly 50 years
Friday, 11 August 2023 06:55
Russia launches first Moon mission in nearly 50 years
Friday, 11 August 2023 04:49
Russia launched its first probe to the Moon in almost 50 years on Friday, a mission designed to give fresh impetus to its space sector, which has been struggling for years and become isolated by the conflict in Ukraine.
The launch of the Luna-25 probe is Moscow's first lunar mission since 1976, when the USSR was a pioneer in the conquest of space.
The rocket with the Luna-25 probe lifted Virgin Galactic rockets its first tourist passengers into space
Friday, 11 August 2023 04:49
Virgin Galactic launched its first tourist passengers into the weightlessness of space Thursday, the culmination of a nearly two-decade commercial pursuit, the company said.
The three passengers - Jon Goodwin, Keisha Schahaff, and her teenage daughter Anastatia Mayers - floated gravity-free through the Virgin spacecraft about 45 minutes after taking off.
"They are officially astronauts Virgin Galactic's first space tourists finally soar, an Olympian and a mother-daughter duo
Thursday, 10 August 2023 19:23
Russia is to launch its first mission to the moon in almost 50 years
Thursday, 10 August 2023 18:50
Watch NASA engineers put a Mars lander's legs to the test
Thursday, 10 August 2023 18:24
Sturdy legs are needed to absorb the impact of the heaviest spacecraft to ever touch down on the Red Planet.
NASA's Perseverance rover continues to rack up tubes filled with rock core samples for the planned Mars Sample Return campaign. The joint effort by NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) seeks to bring scientifically selected samples back from Mars to be studied on Earth with lab equipment far more complex than could be brought to the Red Planet. Engineers are busy designing the Sample Retrieval Lander that would help bring those samples to Earth. As part of that effort, they've been testing prototypes of the lander's legs and footpads at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
NASA to Host Media for Asteroid Capsule Drop Test Briefing in Utah
Thursday, 10 August 2023 17:37
Media are invited to Utah’s western desert on Wednesday, Aug. 30, to learn about NASA preparations and readiness to receive America’s first asteroid sample collected in space. Viasat studying L-band from Inmarsat for direct-to-device services
Thursday, 10 August 2023 17:23
Viasat is in the early stages of exploring how to use L-band spectrum from newly acquired Inmarsat to connect consumer devices directly from space, including potentially from small satellites in low Earth orbit.
SpaceX to offer mid-inclination smallsat rideshare launches
Thursday, 10 August 2023 16:49
SpaceX is offering a second class of rideshare missions on its Falcon 9 rocket to serve customers seeking to go to mid-inclination orbits.
Virgin Galactic conducts first space tourist suborbital flight
Thursday, 10 August 2023 15:15
Virgin Galactic took its first private astronaut customers on a suborbital spaceflight Aug.
Op-ed | SPACs are a double-edged sword for newspace
Thursday, 10 August 2023 14:36
While special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) hold the potential to drive space industry growth, it is crucial to understand their potential risks.
Course correction keeps Parker Solar Probe on track for Venus flyby
Thursday, 10 August 2023 14:10
NASA's Parker Solar Probe executed a short maneuver on Aug. 3, 2023, that kept the spacecraft on track to hit the aim point for the mission's sixth Venus flyby on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023.
Operating on preprogrammed commands from mission control at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, Parker fired its small thrusters for 4.5 seconds, enough to adjust its trajectory by 77 miles and speed up—by 1.4 seconds—its closest approach to Venus. The precise timing and position are critical to that flyby, the sixth of seven approaches in which Parker uses the planet's gravity to tighten its orbit around the sun.
"Parker's velocity is about 8.7 miles per second, so in terms of changing the spacecraft's speed and direction, this trajectory correction maneuver may seem insignificant," said Yanping Guo, mission design and navigation manager at APL.