Copernical Team
SpaceX flies, crashes massive Starship rocket again
SpaceX's test flight of the company's deep-space Starship rocket ended for a second time in a fiery explosion on the landing pad Tuesday in Boca Chica, Texas, after the Federal Aviation Administration modified the company's license to allow the launch.
The rocket, named SN9, ascended to a height of more than 6 miles and performed a flip manuever. But after it descended, its engines appe New rocket company Astra plans Nasdaq listing
California-based small-rocket company Astra plans a listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange to raise up to $500 million as it tries to capture more of the growing launch business, the company announced Tuesday.
Astra is focused on building small rockets rapidly, in assembly-line fashion. The company launched a demonstration rocket into space for the first time from Alaska in December. It f Out-of-this-world wine back in Bordeaux after space station trip
Twelve bottles of Bordeaux wine and dozens of vine shoots are back at home in southwest France after spending months on the International Space Station (ISS) for an unusual astrochemistry experiment.
The red wine and 320 mature shoots known as canes arrived Monday after their return to Earth via a Dragon capsule operated by SpaceX, the private launching company created by Elon Musk.
They Dubai creates 'space court' for out-of-this-world disputes
Dubai announced Monday the creation of a "space court" to settle commercial disputes, as the UAE - which is also sending a probe to Mars - builds its presence in the space sector.
The tribunal will be based at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts, an independent British-inspired arbitration centre based on common law.
Space law is governed by international convention Iran launches new satellite-carrying rocket
Iran's defence ministry on Monday said it has test launched a new satellite carrier with its "most powerful" solid-fuel engine to date, state TV reported.
The test was "the first launch of the Zoljanah hybrid satellite carrier for sub-orbital testing", said Ahmad Hosseini, the spokesman for the ministry's space division.
"This three-stage carrier can compete with the world's current carr Starship conducts successful subsonic reentry tests before fireball ending
A prototype of a SpaceX rocket the company hopes will one day journey to Mars crashed in a fiery explosion as it tried to land upright after a test flight Tuesday.
It was the second such explosion after the last prototype of Starship met a similar fate in December.
"We had again another great flight," said a SpaceX announcer on live footage that was broadcast online.
"We've just got NASA's Psyche mission moves forward, passing key milestone
Now just a year and a half from launch, the mission to explore a metal-rich asteroid will soon begin assembling and testing the spacecraft.
NASA's Psyche mission has passed a critical milestone that moves it a step closer to launch. After an intense review of the mission's progress in building its science instruments and engineering systems, Psyche won clearance to progress into what NASA calls Phase D of its life cycle—the final phase of operations prior to its scheduled launch in August 2022.
Until now, the mission has focused on planning, designing, and building the body of the spacecraft, its solar-electric propulsion system, the three science instruments, electronics, the power subsystem, and the like. The successful review of those elements means the mission can now begin delivering components to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the mission and will test, assemble, and integrate each piece.
SpaceX Starship prototype rocket crashes in fireball ... again
A prototype of a SpaceX rocket the company hopes will one day journey to Mars crashed in a fiery explosion as it tried to land upright after a test flight Tuesday.
It was the second such explosion after the last prototype of Starship met a similar fate in December.
"We had again another great flight," said a SpaceX announcer on live footage that was broadcast online.
"We've just got to work on that landing a little bit," he added.
The company's founder Elon Musk was uncharacteristically quiet on social media, having announced the night before he was "Off Twitter for a while.
Satellite observations prove crucial in new climate science report
With impacts from climate change threatening major disruption to society in the coming years, leading scientists have released a compilation of the 10 most important insights on climate to help inform collective action on the ongoing climate crisis, in which satellites have played a crucial role in aiding scientific understanding.
Spacewalkers complete 4 years of power upgrades for station (Update)
A pair of spacewalking astronauts completed a four-year effort to modernize the International Space Station's power grid on Monday, installing one last battery.