New rocket, Firefly's Alpha, may be ready to launch by April
Monday, 01 March 2021 05:58
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Texas-based Firefly Aerospace plans to launch its new Alpha rocket from California in April and send a lunar lander to the moon by 2023.
The 95-foot-high launch vehicle is designed to lift satellite payloads that weigh just over a ton into low-Earth orbit, or slightly lighter loads to a higher orbit.
Firefly has existed for only four years, and would join a small, but growing, group Engine shutdown led to failed Falcon 9 booster landing
Monday, 01 March 2021 02:24 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — A Falcon 9 first stage failed to land after a launch last month because one of its engines shut down during flight after hot gas breached a worn-out cover.
During a NASA press conference March 1 about the upcoming Crew-2 commercial crew flight, Benji Reed, senior director for human spaceflight programs at SpaceX, said that while the booster used on that Feb.
Op-ed | DoD weather capabilities have lagged; Space Force can turn that around
Sunday, 28 February 2021 22:45 Write a comment
Just before dawn on August 30, 1776, a bank of fog crawled over New York’s East River, concealing George Washington’s beleaguered Continentals as they slipped away to safety and out of reach of the surrounding British forces.
Spire Global joins rush to public markets with $1.6 billion SPAC deal
Sunday, 28 February 2021 22:21 Write a comment
TAMPA, Florida — Satellite operator Spire Global has unveiled the space-powered Big Data market’s second SPAC deal in just over a week, as the rush to public markets accelerates across commercial space sectors.
Spire’s merger with special-purpose acquisition company NavSight values the company at $1.6 billion.
SpaceX wins Air Force manufacturing research contract for hypersonic vehicle thermal shields
Sunday, 28 February 2021 20:37 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The Air Force Research Laboratory awarded SpaceX an $8.5 million contract to investigate advanced materials and manufacturing techniques for heat shields that protect hypersonic vehicles in flight.
Heat protection is a critical technology to shield hypersonic vehicles from the intense heat experienced when flying at more than five times the speed of sound.
Space Development Agency experiment to fly on Northrop Grumman’s capsule to space station
Sunday, 28 February 2021 18:45 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman’s next cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station will carry a Space Development Agency payload to collect data for the development of missile-tracking sensors.
The experiment known as Persistent Infrared Payload is scheduled to launch in July on the NG-16 Cygnus cargo mission on a Northrop Grumman Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia.
Op-ed | Representing the private astronaut is a new step for human spaceflight — and for space lawyers
Sunday, 28 February 2021 17:00 Write a comment
A new era of human spaceflight was launched with Axiom Space’s Jan. 26 announcement of the four private astronauts it will send to the International Space Station early next year aboard a chartered SpaceX Crew Dragon flight.
Astra’s 100-year plan: Q&A with CEO Chris Kemp
Sunday, 28 February 2021 16:40 Write a comment
In February 2020, Astra was just starting to open up to the public. The small launch vehicle developer, which had kept a profile so low that it called itself “Stealth Space Company” in job listings, began talking to the media about its plans as it was preparing its first orbital launch attempt from Kodiak, Alaska, as part of the DARPA Launch Challenge.
New brine processor increases water recycling on International Space Station
Sunday, 28 February 2021 15:59 Write a comment
NASA's newest technology demonstration, which launched on Northrop Grumman's 15th commercial resupply services mission, is designed to improve water recycling on the International Space Station and boost the efficiency of water recycling for the Artemis generation.
The space station's regenerative life support hardware, called the Environmental Control and Life Support System, provides clean air and water for station crews. A new Brine Processor Assembly (BPA) will be tied into the system and allow more water to be recovered from crew urine. This new piece of technology ultimately will help scientists build better systems that can be used on future Moon and Mars missions and habitats.
ECLSS has enabled more crew members to live aboard the station for longer expeditions with fewer resource shipments. The key components of the regenerative ECLSS are the Water Recovery System and the Air Revitalization System.
Veteran journalist Jason Rainbow joins SpaceNews
Sunday, 28 February 2021 13:38 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — SpaceNews has hired veteran satellite industry reporter Jason Rainbow to anchor the organization’s satellite telecommunications coverage and expand its reporting on existing and emerging commercial space markets.
Rainbow has spent more than a decade covering the global space industry as a business journalist.
ESA is working on a mission to explore caves on the moon
Sunday, 28 February 2021 13:00 Write a comment
Infrastructure is going to be one of the biggest components of any permanent human settlement on the moon. NASA Artemis missions are focused directly on building up the facilities and processes necessary to support a moon base. ESA is also contributing both material and knowledge. Most recently, they made another step in their path to explore lava tubes and caves in the subterranean lunar world.
ESA recently started the third round of a series of studies that focus on exploring lunar caves. The current round, called a concurrent design facility (CDF) study, builds on the work done in two previous rounds of Sysnova studies. Originally encompassing five studies ranging from how to lower a probe into a cave to how to communicate with and power any probes that make that descent, ideas were elicited from the public as part of the CAVES and PANGAEA programs.
This is what rolling blackouts look like from space
Sunday, 28 February 2021 13:00 Write a comment
Extreme winter weather hit Texas hard this February. An air mass from the arctic extended deep into the United States from Canada, with disastrous results for the ordinarily warm state. Along with snow and unusually low temperatures, the state's capacity for power generation was significantly reduced by weather-related equipment failures. Images hosted by NASA's Earth Observatory show the effect of controlled, rolling blackouts across the Greater Houston Area.
One image, taken on February 7, shows Houston before the arctic weather system, and another picture taken on the February 16 shows large swaths of the city in darkness. Earth Observatory has conveniently layered the two images with a vertical slider allowing users to slide back and forth, highlighting (or low-lighting as it were) the blackouts' impact.
Hanwha Aerospace bets big on space business
Sunday, 28 February 2021 12:43 Write a comment
SEOUL, South Korea — Hanwha Aerospace, the leading aircraft engine producer in South Korea, is stepping up efforts to expand its space business.
In the latest move, Hanwha struck a 109 billion won ($96.8 million) deal in January to win a controlling 30 percent stake in a domestic satellite maker, Satrec Initiative (SI), by the end of April.
Rocket Lab to go public through SPAC merger and develop medium-lift rocket
Sunday, 28 February 2021 12:27 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab, a developer of launch vehicles and smallsats, will merge with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to support development of a larger launch vehicle, part of the latest wave of deals to take space companies public.
Ariane 5 bulkhead design assessed for Airbus airliners
Sunday, 28 February 2021 10:07 Write a comment
An adapted version of a composite bulkhead that safeguards satellites during their ascent on the ESA-developed Ariane 5 launch vehicle has been tested for service aboard single aisle Airbus aircraft. Fitted in the rear tail cone, it would serve as a firewall to protect passengers in the event of the rear auxiliary power unit engine catching fire or the main cabin pressure bulkhead rupturing.