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Monday, 09 September 2024 13:37
China is taking a keen interest in lava tubes as possible lunar habitats
Monday, 09 September 2024 12:17
NASA charts path toward commercial services for Mars
Monday, 09 September 2024 12:00
Ensuring military resilience: spacecraft must integrate alternative PNT solutions
Monday, 09 September 2024 12:00
ESA performs targeted reentry of Cluster satellite
Monday, 09 September 2024 10:45
Goodnight, Cluster: brilliant end to trailblazing mission
Monday, 09 September 2024 05:00
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The first satellite in ESA’s Cluster quartet safely came back down to Earth last night in a world-first ‘targeted reentry’, marking a brilliant end to this remarkable mission.
The spacecraft, dubbed ‘Salsa’ (Cluster 2), reentered Earth’s atmosphere at 20:47 CEST on 8 September 2024 over the South Pacific Ocean. In this region, any risk of fragments reaching land are absolutely minimised.
During the last two decades Cluster has spent in space, it has provided invaluable data on how the Sun interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, helping us better understand and forecast space weather. With this first-ever targeted reentry,
FAA to complete orbital debris upper stage regulations in 2025
Sunday, 08 September 2024 23:25
Cluster reentry explained: world's first targeted reentry
Sunday, 08 September 2024 13:15 Write a comment
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The first of four satellites that make up ESA’s Cluster mission is coming safely back down to Earth, marking a brilliant end to this remarkable mission.
The satellite’s orbit was tweaked back in January to target a region as far as possible from populated regions. This ensures that any spacecraft parts that survive the reentry will fall over open ocean.
During 24 years in space, Cluster has sent back precious data on how the Sun interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, helping us better understand and forecast potentially dangerous space weather.
With this first ever targeted reentry, Cluster goes down in history
In the shadow of war, diplomats and experts seek to ban weapons from space
Sunday, 08 September 2024 12:00
Boeing's beleaguered Starliner returns home without astronauts
Saturday, 07 September 2024 17:39 Write a comment
Boeing's beleaguered Starliner made its long-awaited return to Earth on Saturday without the astronauts who rode it up to the International Space Station, after NASA ruled the trip back too risky.
After years of delays, Starliner launched in June for what was meant to be a roughly weeklong test mission - a final shakedown before it could be certified to rotate crew to and from the orbital l Space travel comes with risk—SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission will push the envelope further than ever
Saturday, 07 September 2024 10:10 Write a comment
Space is an unnatural environment for humans. We can't survive unprotected in a pure vacuum for more than two minutes. Getting to space involves being strapped to a barely contained chemical explosion.
Since 1961, fewer than 700 people have been into space. Private space companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin hope to boost that number to many thousands, and SpaceX is already taking bookings for flights to Earth orbit.
I'm an astronomer who has written extensively about space travel, including a book about our future off-Earth. I think a lot about the risks and rewards of exploring space.
As the commercial space industry takes off, there will be accidents and people will die. Polaris Dawn, planned to launch early in September 2024, will be a high-risk mission using only civilian astronauts. So, now is a good time to assess the risks and rewards of leaving the Earth.
Space travel is dangerous
Most Americans vividly recall the disasters that led to the loss of 14 astronauts' lives. Two of the five space shuttles disintegrated, Challenger in 1986 soon after launch and Columbia in 2003 on reentry.
Old satellite to burn up over Pacific in 'targeted' re-entry first
Saturday, 07 September 2024 08:40 Write a comment
After 24 years diligently studying Earth's magnetic field, a satellite will mostly burn up over the Pacific Ocean on Sunday during a "targeted" re-entry into the atmosphere, in a first for the European Space Agency as it seeks to reduce space debris.
Since launching in 2000, the Salsa satellite has helped shed light on the magnetosphere, the powerful magnetic shield that protects Earth from solar winds—and without which the planet would be uninhabitable.
According to the ESA, Salsa's return home will mark the first-ever "targeted" re-entry for a satellite, which means it will fall back to Earth at a specific time and place but will not be controlled as it re-enters the atmosphere.
Teams on the ground have already performed a series of maneuvers with the 550-kilogram (1,200-pound) satellite to ensure it burns up over a remote and uninhabited region of the South Pacific, off the coast of Chile.
Two NASA astronauts stuck in space have flown long missions before
Saturday, 07 September 2024 08:21 Write a comment
The two NASA astronauts left behind at the International Space Station following the return of Boeing's troubled capsule are Navy test pilots who have ridden out long missions before.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are now full-time station crew members along with the seven others on board.
Two astronauts are left behind in space as Boeing's troubled capsule returns to Earth empty
Saturday, 07 September 2024 08:21 Write a comment
Boeing's first astronaut mission ended Friday night with an empty capsule landing and two test pilots still in space, left behind until next year because NASA judged their return too risky.
Six hours after departing the International Space Station, Starliner parachuted into New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range, descending on autopilot through the desert darkness.
It was an uneventful close to a drama that began with the June launch of Boeing's long-delayed crew debut and quickly escalated into a dragged-out cliffhanger of a mission stricken by thruster failures and helium leaks.