'The clock's already started': NASA counting down to most powerful human spaceflight ever
Wednesday, 31 July 2024 13:00
The launch clock isn't set yet, but the hardware is lined up for what would become the most powerful rocket to ever send humans into space during a moonbound trip the likes of which has not happened in more than 50 years.
The biggest piece of the Space Launch System rocket, the 212-foot-long core stage, crept its way into the massive Vehicle Assembly Building on July 24 where work will begin to prepare it for the Artemis II launch set for no earlier than September 2025.
"The clock's already started," NASA SLS program manager John Honeycutt said. "We've got a great deal of work to do to get the rocket ready to go fly."
The core stage sports four RS-25 engines converted by Melbourne-based L3Harris' Aerojet Rocketdyne from the retired stock of the Space Shuttle Program. Two of the engines have previously flown on a combined 20 shuttle missions while the other pair are making their debuts.
Engine 2047 flew on STS-135, the final launch of the program on Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2011.
Also no stranger to KSC are the casings from the two solid rocket boosters fabricated by Northrop Grumman.
Glimpses of Hera’s target asteroids inspire new science
Wednesday, 31 July 2024 12:37
As ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence completes its pre-launch testing, its target asteroids have come into focus as tiny worldlets of their own. A special issue of Nature Communications published this week presents studies of the Didymos asteroid and its Dimorphos moon, based on the roughly five and a half minutes of close-range footage returned by NASA’s DART spacecraft before it impacted the latter body – along with post-impact images from the Italian Space Agency’s LICIACube.
Study finds space industry growth uncorrelated to larger markets
Wednesday, 31 July 2024 10:18
ULA launches top-secret Space Force payload on Atlas V rocket
Wednesday, 31 July 2024 08:15
The United Launch Alliance saw its Atlas V rocket liftoff from Florida for a national security mission on Tuesday morning.
The Atlas V lifted off from Launch Complex 41, south of Kennedy Space Center, at 6:45 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, carrying a top-secret payload for the U.S. Space Force.
"Payload fairing jettison is confirmed by Atlas V from the edge of space to expose the spacecraf 
SES wins $46 million U.S. Air Force contract for satellite services
Wednesday, 31 July 2024 07:15
One year on 'Mars': Inside NASA's ultra-realistic isolation study
Wednesday, 31 July 2024 06:28
Sealed inside a habitat in Texas and cut off from the outside world for over a year, Kelly Haston was the commander of a first-of-its-kind simulation for NASA to prepare for a future mission to Mars.
From conducting mock "Marswalks" to tending to a vertical garden, and occasionally grappling with boredom— Haston expressed pride in advancing the cause of space exploration while admitting the experience made her reconsider the reality of life on the Red Planet.
"Going to space would be an amazing opportunity," the 53-year-old biologist told AFP.
Repair kit for NASA's NICER mission heading to space station
Tuesday, 30 July 2024 18:59
NASA will deliver a patch kit for NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer), an X-ray telescope on the International Space Station, on the agency's Northrop Grumman 21st commercial resupply mission.
SynMax lands NGA pilot project for advanced geospatial MDA tool Theia
Tuesday, 30 July 2024 16:38
SynMax, a leader in geospatial analytics, has secured a pilot project from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for its advanced Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) tool, Theia. This state-of-the-art tool leverages extensive maritime data from Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL) and integrates over ten key maritime data sources, powered by SynMax's proprietary AI.
"Theia marks a significan Azimuth Space Program Joins Special Warfare Orientation
Tuesday, 30 July 2024 16:38
As the largest commissioning source for the Space Force, the Academy offers an array of space-related programs. This summer, cadets joined their ROTC peers for the third consecutive year for the Azimuth space education and training program. During the three-week session, participants visited commercial industry partners, launched rockets with the Blue Horizon Rocketry Club, operated satellites w Scientists examine Earth's early life and environmental interactions over 500 million years
Tuesday, 30 July 2024 16:38
The atmosphere, ocean, and life on Earth have interacted over the past 500 million years, creating conditions that supported early organisms. An interdisciplinary team has detailed this co-evolutionary history in a perspective article published in the multidisciplinary open-access journal National Science Review (Oxford University Press, Impact Factor 20.7).
"One of our tasks was to summar