Sentinel-2C in the Vega launch tower
Tuesday, 27 August 2024 12:49
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Sentinel-2C in the Vega launch tower How dangerous is Polaris Dawn space walk from SpaceX Crew Dragon?
Tuesday, 27 August 2024 10:27 Write a comment
Billionaire Jared Isaacman could make history for all the right reasons during his Polaris Dawn mission when the hatch opens on a SpaceX Crew Dragon and he ventures out into the vacuum of space.
He's sold on its safety, especially the sheer amount of development time in the new extravehicular activity suits all four members of the crew will have to wear during what would be the first commercial space walk in history.
"I mean, an absolutely extensive amount of time has gone into it," he said during a press conference after arriving to KSC last week. "It is rightfully. Why would it be the riskiest part? Because you're throwing away all the safety of your vehicle, right? And it now comes down to your suit becomes your spaceship."
Isaacman and crewmates Scott Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon are set to launch in the Crew Dragon Resilience atop a Falcon 9 rocket from KSC's Launch Pad 39-A early Tuesday, targeting liftoff at 3:38 a.m. Eastern time during a roughly four-hour window.
Poteet is a former Air Force pilot, while Gillis and Menon are SpaceX employees as the Polaris Program, which will feature up to three spaceflights including this one, is a partnership between Isaacman and Elon Musk's company to push the boundaries for commercial space.
Webb peeks into Perseus
Tuesday, 27 August 2024 07:00 Write a comment
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Webb peeks into Perseus Fire, fed by leaking engines, destroyed ABL Space Systems rocket
Tuesday, 27 August 2024 02:57
Military-commercial space divide persists despite policy push, experts say
Monday, 26 August 2024 22:26
Solar panels for NASA's Roman Space Telescope pass key tests
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U.S. military space domain awareness lags behind expectations
Monday, 26 August 2024 19:20
Webinar Replay – Space: The Next Frontier of Strategic Competition
Monday, 26 August 2024 18:00
NASA rolls out critical rocket part for upcoming manned Artemis II mission
Monday, 26 August 2024 16:44 Write a comment
NASA has taken the next critical step in preparing for the launch of its first crewed Artemis space mission, the agency announced Thursday.
On Wednesday, crews rolled out a key piece of space flight hardware, a cone-shaped launch vehicle stage adapter, that will connect the rocket's core stage to its upper one, protecting the engines that will help propel the Artemis II in a test flight Mynaric ousts CEO amid production troubles
Monday, 26 August 2024 16:20
China proposes magnetic launch system for sending resources back to Earth
Monday, 26 August 2024 16:16 Write a comment
In his famous novel "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," Robert A. Heinlein describes a future lunar settlement where future lunar residents ("Loonies") send payloads of wheat and water ice to Earth using an electromagnetic catapult.
In the story, a group of Loonies conspire to take control of this catapult and threaten to "throw rocks at Earth" unless they recognize Luna as an independent world. Interestingly enough, scientists have explored this concept for decades as a means of transferring lunar resources to Earth someday.
Given that space agencies are planning on sending missions to the moon to create permanent infrastructure, there is renewed interest in this concept. In a recent paper, a team of scientists from China's Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering (SAST) detailed how a magnetic launcher on the lunar surface could provide a cost-effective means of sending resources back to Earth.
ReOrbit Completes PDR Phase for UKKO Mission
Monday, 26 August 2024 13:19
Firefly Aerospace’s lunar lander begins pre-launch environmental tests
Monday, 26 August 2024 12:00
Space weather: prioritization, not policy, is the missing piece in U.S. resilience
Monday, 26 August 2024 12:00
Watching Salsa’s reentry live from the sky
Monday, 26 August 2024 10:54 Write a comment
On 8 September 2024, the first of four Cluster satellites will return home and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere in an uncontrolled ‘targeted reentry’ over a remote area of the South Pacific Ocean.
In the nearly 70 years of spaceflight about 10 000 intact satellites and rocket bodies have reentered the atmosphere. Yet we still lack a clear view on what actually happens during a reentry.
An airborne observation experiment will now attempt to witness the ‘Salsa’ (Cluster 2) reentry. Scientists on board a small plane will try to collect rare data on how and when a satellite breaks up,