SpaceX knocks out Space Coast's 50th launch of the year
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 16:17
A SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral lit up the Space Coast for the 50th time this year while also achieving a milestone for the company.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying up another 22 of the company's Starlink satellites made a record 17th flight with liftoff at 11:38 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40.
The booster previously launched on the GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34, Transporter-6, and 11 Starlink missions. It made another recovery landing on the droneship A Short Fall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
SpaceX has flown all but three of the Space Coast launches this year with United Launch Alliance sending up two and Relativity Space the only other one.
With this mission, SpaceX has flown 37 from Cape Canaveral and another 10 from Kennedy Space Center including all three human spaceflights to orbit from the U.S. this year as well as three powerhouse Falcon Heavy launches.
The launch manifest for the remainder of the year should see the Space Coast beat the record 57 launches it saw in 2022.
NASA's moonbound Artemis astronauts take new ride to launch pad in practice run
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 16:07
The four astronauts headed to the moon next year on the Artemis II mission suited up and took a practice run to the launch pad in the new crew transport vehicles at Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen donned orange spacesuits and climbed into the curvy electric vehicles officially referred to as CTVs, as in crew transportation vehicles, and took the 9-mile ride from the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to Launch Pad 39-B.
The dry run is to demonstrate normal launch day procedures as they gear up for the mission that could fly as early as November 2024, taking the first crewed flight on NASA's powerful Space Launch System rocket riding in the Orion space capsule on what is planned to be a 10-day mission that will take them out and around the moon, but not land.
NASA's Artemis III mission is still planned to be the one to take humans back to the lunar surface for the first time since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.
FCC directing more satellite constellations to mitigate effects on astronomy
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 14:16
The Startup Nation in Space – Israel’s Equation for the Space Ecosystem
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 13:32
Firefoxes and whale spouts light up Earth's shield
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 11:36
Video:
00:00:56
Did you know, the Northern lights or Aurora Borealis are created when the mythical Finnish ‘Firefox’ runs so quickly across the snow that its tail causes sparks to fly into the night sky? At least, that’s one of the stories that has been told in Finland about this beautiful phenomenon. Another that we love comes from the Sámi people of Finnish Lapland (among others), who describe them as plumes of water ejected by whales.
What do they look like, to you?
Today’s scientific explanation for the origin of the Aurora wasn’t thought up until the 20th Century, by the
SpaceX deploys another 22 Starlink satellites
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 10:19
Elon Musk's SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with a payload of 22 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit late Tuesday.
The rocket launched at 11:38 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
SpaceX had said prior to launch that weather was 90% favorable for liftoff.
The orbitals were deposited into space where they will join China launches Yaogan 39 remote sensing satellite
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 10:19
China launched a Long March 2D carrier rocket on Sunday afternoon at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province to place several remote-sensing satellites into orbit, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.
The State-owned space contractor said in a news release that the rocket blasted off at 12:13 pm and transported the Yaogan 39 satellites into their preset DARPA seeks tech solutions to create autonomous capabilities for commercial drones
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 10:19
Commercial drone technology is advancing rapidly, providing cost-effective and robust capabilities for a variety of civil and military missions. As small aerial vehicles play increasingly important military roles on the battlefield, adversaries are developing electromagnetic countermeasures to disrupt communication links between operator and drone, forcing the vehicle to abort mission, return to NASA-built greenhouse gas detector moves closer to launch
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 10:19
A state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer, which will measure the greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxide from space, moved closer to launch this month after being delivered to a clean room at Planet Labs PBC (Planet) in San Francisco.
Designed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, this science instrument will be part of an effort led by the nonprofit Carb POWER Program selects teams to design power beaming relays
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 10:19
DARPA is entering the first phase of the Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) program, aimed at revolutionizing energy distribution through airborne wireless power transfer. Three teams - led by RTX Corporation, Draper, and BEAM Co. - will design and develop wireless optical power relays. The program goals include demonstrating the key components necessary for a resilient, speed-of-l ESA Open Day in the framework of European Researchers’ Night
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 06:17
ESA will open its doors to members of the public at its Earth Observation centre in Frascati, near Rome, Italy, on 29 September, as part of its annual open day.
Trio of Sentinel satellites map methane super-emitters
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 06:00
In the quest to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, detecting methane leaks – a potent contributor to global warming – has become increasingly vital. Researchers are harnessing the capabilities of cutting-edge satellite technology to monitor these leaks from space.
China, S. Africa space ties promise wide scope
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 03:01
There is huge potential and there will be big opportunities in the field of space cooperation between China and South Africa as the two nations have recently decided to enhance their collaboration in this regard, observers said.
Wang Yanan, chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, said that China wants to maintain and deepen its communications, exchanges and cooperation with other cou Kayhan Space Raises $7 million, Unveils First-Ever Autonomous Space Traffic Coordination Service
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 03:01
Kayhan Space, the leading provider of high-performance software and solutions for space mission operations, has announced it has raised $7 million in an oversubscribed seed extension round to accelerate commercial delivery of the industry's first autonomous space traffic coordination (STC) framework, at the core of its all-new Pathfinder 3.0 spaceflight safety platform.
Venture capital fir OSIRIS-REx Makes Final Course Adjustment Before Sept. 24 Sample Delivery
Wednesday, 20 September 2023 03:01
On Sept. 17, NASA's OSIRIS-REx engineers slightly shifted the spacecraft's trajectory to refine the landing location of its sample capsule, which the spacecraft will deliver to Earth on Sept. 24. The spacecraft briefly fired its thrusters Sunday to change its velocity by 7 inches per minute (3 millimeters per second) relative to Earth.
This final correction maneuver moved the sample capsul