China plans to retrieve Martian soil by 2030
Wednesday, 26 April 2023 04:10
China's Chang'e 5 robotic mission created history when it brought back samples from the lunar surface in 2020, and now, Chinese space scientists have set their sights on another celestial body - Mars.
According to Wu Yanhua, chief designer of China's deep-space exploration programs, the nation plans to bring Martian soil back to Earth around 2030. The mission has been named Tianwen 3, whic China to launch Tianwen 2 mission to explore asteroid
Wednesday, 26 April 2023 04:10
HEFEI - China plans to launch the Tianwen 2 mission around 2025 to collect samples from a near-Earth asteroid and explore a comet, a senior space expert said Monday.
The main goal of the Tianwen 2 mission is to send a probe to a near-Earth asteroid coded 2016HO3 to retrieve samples, Zhang Rongqiao, the chief designer of China's planetary exploration program and chief designer of the Tianwe Scientist lays out plans for international lunar station and 3D luanr printing
Wednesday, 26 April 2023 04:10
China is proposing to establish a multinational organization to take charge of the construction and operation of the International Lunar Research Station.
Wu Weiren, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief planner of the country's lunar programs, said on Tuesday in Hefei, Anhui province, the organization will be responsible for planning, building and running the luna Astrobotic purchases Falcon Heavy for third lunar lander mission
Wednesday, 26 April 2023 01:03
Lunar lander developer Astrobotic announced April 25 it will launch a third mission to the moon in 2026 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.
AST SpaceMobile conducts first direct-to-device voice test
Tuesday, 25 April 2023 23:11
AST SpaceMobile announced April 25 it made the first voice call last week with a standard smartphone using its BlueWalker 3 test satellite in low Earth orbit.
SpaceX to take over West Coast launch pad previously used by ULA
Tuesday, 25 April 2023 18:51
SpaceX is getting a second launch pad on the West Coast after gaining approval to lease Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, a historic pad previously occupied by United Launch Alliance.
Norway irked over Swedish rocket crash on its turf
Tuesday, 25 April 2023 18:48
The Norwegian foreign ministry expressed irritation Tuesday with Sweden for not immediately informing it of a research rocket that crashed in Norway, in a rare spat between the two neighbours.
The rocket, which was launched early Monday from the Esrange Space Centre in Kiruna, northern Sweden, plunged into a mountainside in the Malselv municipality in Norway's far north, about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the closest inhabited area.
No one was injured and no material damage was reported.
"The crash of a rocket like this is a very serious incident that can cause serious damage," the foreign ministry in Oslo said.
"When such a border violation occurs, it is crucial that those responsible immediately inform the relevant Norwegian authorities through the proper channels," it said.
The rocket was carrying out experiments in zero gravity at an altitude of 250 kilometres.
"The rocket took a slightly longer and more westerly trajectory than calculated and landed after a completed flight 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) into Norway," the Swedish Space Corporation said in a statement on Monday.
"Work on retrieving the payload is underway," it added.
SpaceX Starship clobbered Texas launch pad; future Space Coast launches prompt contingency plans
Tuesday, 25 April 2023 17:32
The most powerful rocket to ever launch from Earth left a crater at the SpaceX launch site last week, but Elon Musk said teams could be ready to try another Starship launch in as little as one to two months.
Meanwhile, SpaceX continues to build out a backup site for human launches on the Space Coast to assuage NASA fears of potential Starship damage for when it starts flying from Kennedy Space Center.
Those launches won't come until SpaceX completes testing from SpaceX's Starbase launch site in Boca Chica, Texas where the first integrated launch of the Starship and its Super Heavy booster took place last Thursday.
While it didn't make it to space, the booster's 33 Raptor engines that can produce more than 17 million pounds of thrust was able to clear the launch tower. About four minutes after flying only to about 24 miles and tumbling back to Earth, SpaceX sent the self-destruct command resulting in the rocket exploding over the Gulf of Mexico.
"The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble," reads an update on the SpaceX website.
Japan firm's pioneering Moon landing fails
Tuesday, 25 April 2023 17:20
A Japanese startup attempting the first private landing on the Moon said Wednesday it had lost communication with its spacecraft and assumed the lunar mission had failed.
Ispace said that it could not establish communication with the unmanned Hakuto-R lunar lander after its expected landing time, a frustrating end to a mission that began with a launch from the United States over four months ago.
"We have not confirmed communication with the lander," a company official told reporters about 25 minutes after the expected landing.
"We have to assume that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface," the official said.
Officials said they would continue to try and establish contact with the spacecraft, which was carrying payloads from several countries, including a lunar rover from the United Arab Emirates.
Ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada said after the apparent failed landing that they had acquired data from the spacecraft all the way up to the planned landing and would be examining that for signs of what happened.
Hard landing: Japan firm fails in historic Moon bid
Tuesday, 25 April 2023 17:20A Japanese startup attempting the first private landing on the Moon said Wednesday it had lost communication with its spacecraft and assumed the lunar mission had failed.
Ispace said that it could not establish communication with the unmanned Hakuto-R lunar lander after its expected landing time, a frustrating end to a mission that began with a launch from the United States over four months ago.
"We have not confirmed communication with the lander," a company official told reporters about 25 minutes after the expected landing.
"We have to assume that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface," the official said.
Officials said they would continue to try and establish contact with the spacecraft, which was carrying payloads from several countries, including a lunar rover from the United Arab Emirates.
Ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada said after the apparent failed landing that they had acquired data from the spacecraft all the way up to the planned landing and would be examining that for signs of what happened.
First ispace lunar lander feared lost
Tuesday, 25 April 2023 16:37
Controllers lost contact with a lunar lander developed by a Japanese company moments before its scheduled touchdown, raising fears the spacecraft crashed during its final descent.
Here's how NASA is planning to protect Earth from asteroids and comets
Tuesday, 25 April 2023 16:34
The large impact craters dotting our planet are powerful reminders that asteroids and comets strike the Earth from time to time. As often said, it's not a question of "if"; it's a matter of "when" our planet will face an impending strike from space. But an impact is one existential threat humanity is finally starting to take seriously and wrap its head around.
Hakuto-R spacecraft just captured its own stunning version of 'Earthrise'
Tuesday, 25 April 2023 16:33
The Hakuto-R lunar lander, currently in orbit around the moon, just captured a beautiful "Earthrise"-like image, and one with an interesting side note. The Mission 1 lander, from the Tokyo-based commercial company ispace, took the image during the time of the April 20 solar eclipse, where totality was visible in Australia; and so the photo includes a perfect view of the shadow of the moon passing above the Land Down Under.
The spacecraft was approximately 100 km (60 miles) above the lunar surface when it took the photo.
"We've received another incredible photo from the camera onboard our Mission 1 lander!" ispace Tweeted this morning.
Earth and the moon are seen with stunning clarity, showcasing the lander-mounted camera's abilities.
This could be a big week for Hakuto-R, as its landing on the moon could come as soon as today, Tuesday, April 25 at 16:40 (UTC)/12:40 (EST).
Using a computational model to study how to land on a planet safely
Tuesday, 25 April 2023 14:00
When a lander descends toward the moon—or a rocky planet, asteroid, or comet—the exhaust plume of the rocket interacts with the surface, causing erosion and kicking up regolith particles. The resulting blanket of dusty debris can create a dangerous brownout effect, limiting visibility and potentially damaging the spacecraft or nearby equipment.
In the journal Physics of Fluids,, researchers from Chungnam National University, the University of Edinburgh, Gyeongsang National University, and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information developed a model to describe the interaction between a rocket plume and the surface of a planetary body in near-vacuum conditions.
Connecting the Dots | SES-Intelsat merger would face uphill regulatory struggle
Tuesday, 25 April 2023 13:42
Plenty of operational synergies await SES and Intelsat if the world’s largest fixed satellite service providers can craft a merger able to clear regulatory scrutiny.