Sentinel-2C Satellite Prepared for September 4 Launch
Tuesday, 20 August 2024 20:52
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The Copernicus Sentinel-2C satellite is now fully fueled and pressurized, ready for its upcoming launch on 4 September from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. The satellite has been loaded with 133 kg of hydrazine, and its tanks have been pressurized with helium to 21 bars.
Sentinel-2C arrived at the Spaceport on 22 July, where it has undergone final preparations for its journey aboard a SpaceX rolls out new booster for Cape Canaveral launch
Tuesday, 20 August 2024 20:13 Write a comment
SpaceX launches lately have been pushing the record envelope for booster reflight, but a Starlink launch Tuesday morning rolled out a brand new first stage.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 of the company's internet satellites lifted off at 9:20 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40.
Shiny and white, the booster was missing the telltale signs of having been flown before, as boosters are normally covered with black carbon scoring. This was the first launch of the booster, which is targeted to be used to support the Crew-9 human spaceflight next month for launch No. 2.
It made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.
The company has four boosters that have completed at least 20 launches and landings, and is in the midst of a certification process to get them up to 40 each.
This was the 59th launch from the Space Coast from all providers in 2024. SpaceX has been responsible for all but four, with 39 coming from SpaceX from Canaveral and the other 16 from SpaceX from neighboring KSC.
NASA CubeSats launch as commercial rideshares
Tuesday, 20 August 2024 15:47 Write a comment
A pair of CubeSats from NASA's Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator, or PTD, series lifted off on SpaceX's Transporter-11 rideshare mission at 11:56 a.m. PDT Friday, August 16, from Vandenburg Space Force Base in California.
The two small satellites, PTD-4 and PTD-R, will help advance NASA's efforts to validate novel technologies and increase small spacecraft capabilities in order to shape the future of space exploration and technology.
PTD-4 will demonstrate a high-power, low-volume deployable solar array with an integrated antenna, while PTD-R will focus on testing simultaneous ultraviolet and short-wave infrared optical sensing from space for the first time via two 85-mm aperture monolithic telescopes mounted side-by-side.
New startup seeks to tackle space weather challenges
Tuesday, 20 August 2024 15:00
A European lander could return an ice core for a fraction of the cost of Europa Clipper
Tuesday, 20 August 2024 13:50 Write a comment
Cost is a major driving factor in the development of space exploration missions. Any new technology or trick that could lower the cost of a mission makes it much more appealing for mission planners. Therefore, much of NASA's research goes into those technologies that enable cheaper missions.
For example, a few years ago, NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) supported a project by Michael VanWoerkom of ExoTerra Resource to develop a lander mission that could support a sample return from Europa. Let's examine what made that mission different from other Europa mission architectures.
The Nano Icy Moons Propellant Harvester (NIMPH) mission relies on three main advancements for one significant result: a 10x reduction in the overall mission cost. That reduced cost comes mainly from a single fact—the mission's weight has dropped below the threshold where it can be launched by an Atlas V rather than the SLS, as similar missions would require.
Chinese spacecraft appear to reach lunar orbit despite launch setback
Tuesday, 20 August 2024 08:10
Juice snaps Moon en route to Earth
Tuesday, 20 August 2024 07:00 Write a comment
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Juice snaps Moon en route to Earth SpaceX a week away from first private spacewalk
Tuesday, 20 August 2024 05:10 Write a comment
Four members of a SpaceX mission that will carry out the first ever private spacewalk arrived in Florida on Monday ahead of their takeoff next week.
The five-day expedition, named Polaris Dawn, will be led by US billionaire Jared Isaacman, who already chartered the first all-civilian orbital spaceflight in 2021, called Inspiration4.
"It's been two and a half years since we announced the Polaris program. It's been a really exciting journey of development and training," Isaacman told a press conference Monday.
He did not reveal how much he has spent on the program, which includes a total of three missions and which he jointly funds with SpaceX.
For the trip, the company has developed its first generation of space suits, which are white and futuristic.
August's supermoon is the first of four lunar spectacles
Tuesday, 20 August 2024 05:08 Write a comment
Monday's supermoon is the first of four this year.
During a supermoon, the full moon inches a little closer than usual to Earth. A supermoon isn't bigger, but it can appear that way in the night sky, although scientists say the difference can be barely perceptible.
September's supermoon will coincide with a partial lunar eclipse. October's will be the year's closest approach, and November's will round out the year.
More a popular term than a scientific one, a supermoon occurs when a full lunar phase syncs up with an especially close swing around Earth. This usually happens only three or four times a year and consecutively, given the moon's constantly shifting, oval-shaped orbit.
Globalstar gets conditional approval to replenish constellation
Monday, 19 August 2024 23:02
RFA first stage destroyed in static-fire test
Monday, 19 August 2024 22:37
German cubesat to test quantum key distribution
Monday, 19 August 2024 20:26
Polaris Dawn private astronaut mission ready for launch
Monday, 19 August 2024 20:08
Specialized materials could passively control the internal temperature of space habitats
Monday, 19 August 2024 17:16 Write a comment
Areas of space have wildly different temperatures depending on whether they are directly in sunlight or not. For example, temperatures on the moon can range from 121 °C during the lunar "day" (which lasts for two weeks), then drop down to -133 °C at night, encompassing a 250 °C swing.
Stabilizing the temperature inside a habitat in those environments would require heating and cooling on a scale never before conducted on Earth. But what if there was a way to ease the burden of those temperature swings? Phase change materials (PCMs) might be the answer, according to a paper, appearing in Thermo, by researchers at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid.
PCMs have been known for some time and are currently used in several industries, including batteries, solar power plants, heat pumps, and even spacecraft. Perhaps most interestingly, they've been used to cool and heat the interiors of buildings on Earth.
Project Helianthus—a solar-sail-driven geomagnetic storm tracker
Monday, 19 August 2024 17:14 Write a comment
Solar storms captured the imagination of much of the American public earlier this year when auroras were visible well south of their typical northern areas. As the sun ramps into another solar cycle, those storms will become more and more common, and the dangers they present to Earth's infrastructure will continue to increase.
Currently, most of our early warning systems only give us a few minutes warning about a potentially destructive impending geomagnetic storm event. So a team of researchers from Sapienza University in Rome and the Italian Space Agency proposed a plan to sail a series of detectors to a point out in space where they could give us an early warning. And they want those detectors to stay on station without rockets.
The mission, known as Helianthus, the official name for a sunflower, was initially described at the 6th International Symposium on Space Sailing in June 2023.