China Advances on Reusable Rocket Technology with Launches Planned for 2025 and 2026
Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:23
In a significant move towards sustainable space exploration, China is fast-tracking the development of two large reusable rockets, with diameters of 4 meters and 5 meters, slated for their first launches in 2025 and 2026, respectively.
This initiative by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation marks a pivotal response to the burgeoning demand within the commercial space sect Final Mission: Delta IV Heavy Rocket Set for Historic Launch with NROL-70 Payload
Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:23
The Space Systems Command (SSC) of the U.S. Space Force, in partnership with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and United Launch Alliance (ULA), has announced the scheduled launch of the NROL-70 mission. This event, set for no earlier than March 28, will mark the final flight of the Delta IV Heavy rocket. The launch is planned from Space Launch Complex-37B at Cape Canaveral Space Force St NASA Allocates DALI Grants to Foster Lunar Science and Exploration Innovations
Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:23
In a significant push to enhance lunar research and exploration, NASA has awarded Development and Advancement of Lunar Instrumentation (DALI) grants to five leading scientists and engineers. These grants are a cornerstone of NASA's initiative to advance lunar science through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services and the Artemis campaign.
The announcement was made at the 55th Lunar and Plan Protect Earth instead of colonising Mars, Obama says
Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:23
Humanity must preserve Earth before dreaming of colonising Mars because even nuclear war and unbridled climate change cannot make the red planet more liveable, Barack Obama said Wednesday.
Speaking at a renewable energy conference in the French capital Paris, the former US president mentioned Silicon Valley "tycoons, many of whom are building spaceships" that could take humans to Mars.
" SwRI receives $2 million NASA grant to develop lunar-regolith-measuring instrument
Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:23
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has been awarded a three-year, $2,041,000 grant from NASA's Development and Advancement of Lunar Instrumentation (DALI) program to further develop a novel ground-penetrating radar instrument. The Synthetic Pulse Artemis Radar for Crustal Imaging (SPARCI, pronounced "sparky") instrument is designed to characterize the depth of the regolith and upper megaregolit Preventing Magnet Meltdowns Before They Can Start
Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:23
The particle accelerators that enable high energy physics and serve many fields of science, such as materials, medical, and fusion research, are driven by superconducting magnets that are, to put it simply, quite finicky.
Superconductors are a special class of materials which, when cooled below a certain temperature, carry large electrical currents without resistance. If you arrange the ma Stratolaunch Achieves Historic First Powered Flight of Hypersonic Test Vehicle TA-1
Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:23
Stratolaunch, LLC, marked a significant achievement on March 9, with the successful completion of the first powered flight of its Talon-A test vehicle, TA-1. This groundbreaking event signifies a crucial advancement in the United States' efforts to develop a privately funded, reusable hypersonic test platform.
The maiden flight's objectives encompassed ensuring a safe air-launch release, i Space station crew splash down in Gulf of Mexico
Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:23
Four astronauts splashed down off Florida in the Gulf of Mexico on their return to Earth early Tuesday, following a more than six-month mission on the International Space Station.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft landed in the waters off Pensacola at 5:47 am (0947 GMT), with a NASA thermal camera showing all four of its drogue parachutes had deployed for the night-time landing after their 1 The Next Accident: How Do We Prevent It?
Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:23
I recently watched NESC Deputy Director Mike Kirsch stand before a roomful of engineers at the Langley Research Center and tell them that with every passing day, NASA breaks a record: the longest stretch without a major accident in the nation's human spaceflight program since the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry on February 1, 2003. NASA's challenge, he told them, was to make NASA Expanding Lunar Exploration with Upgraded SLS Mega Rocket Design
Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:23
As NASA prepares for its first crewed Artemis missions, the agency is making preparations to build, test, and assemble the next evolution of its SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. The larger and power powerful version of SLS, known as Block 1B, can send a crew and large pieces of hardware to the Moon in a single launch and is set to debut for the Artemis IV mission.
"From the beginning, NAS NASA Armstrong updates 1960s concept to study giant planets
Thursday, 14 March 2024 16:42
NASA researchers are looking at the possibility of using a wingless, unpowered aircraft design from the 1960s to gather atmospheric data on other planets—doing the same work as small satellites but potentially better and more economically.
John Bodylski, a principal investigator at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, hypothesized a lifting body aircraft design NASA tested decades ago could meet the requirements for an atmospheric probe that can collect measurements of giant planets, like Uranus. The design relies on the aircraft's shape for lift, rather than wings.
Sierra Space developing dual-use spacecraft with military potential
Thursday, 14 March 2024 16:05
Danish chef to launch gourmet dining to stratosphere
Thursday, 14 March 2024 15:30
Danish chef Rasmus Munk wants to take high-end cuisine to the edge of space, with plans to serve up a stratospheric dining experience in 2025, his restaurant said Thursday.
"The expedition will take place aboard Space Perspective Spaceship Neptune, the world's first carbon-neutral spaceship," Alchemist, the Copenhagen restaurant that has earned Munk two Michelin stars, said in a statement.
"They will dine as they watch the sunrise over the Earth's curvature" at an altitude of 100,000 feet (30,000 meters) above sea level, it said.
For $495,000 per ticket, six tourists will embark on a six-hour journey in a pressurized space capsule that will rise into the stratosphere in a hydrogen-filled "SpaceBalloon".
The 32-year-old chef and self-confessed space enthusiast will be joining the trip.
Munk promises "dishes inspired by the role of space exploration during the last 60 years of human history, and the impact it has had on our society—both scientifically and philosophically".
His menu will be restricted only by his inability to cook food over an open flame.
Many of the ingredients will be prepared on the ship from which the capsule is launched, according to Alchemist, which is ranked fifth among the world's restaurants in 2023 according to the World's Best 50 Restaurants guide.
SpaceX mega rocket lost in final phase of test flight
Thursday, 14 March 2024 15:10
Starship, the world's most powerful rocket, flew further and faster than ever before during its third test flight Thursday, although it was eventually lost as it re-entered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said.
Lift-off from the company's Starbase in southeast Texas came around 8:25 am local time (1325 GMT) and was carried live on a webcast that was eventually watched by more than 3.5 million people on social media platform X.