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.
SpaceX mega rocket makes successful test flight but lost in descent
Thursday, 14 March 2024 15:10
Starship, the world's most powerful rocket, flew further and faster than ever before during its third test launch 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 Boca Chica, Texas came at 8:25 am local time (1325 GMT) and was carried live on a webcast watched by millions on social media platform X.
SpaceX scrubs Wednesday launch attempt at Kennedy Space Center
Thursday, 14 March 2024 14:32
SpaceX scrubbed a launch attempt Wednesday night with just over 2 minutes on the countdown clock. The mission was set to send up another batch of Starlink satellites from the Space Coast using a first-stage booster for a record-tying 19th time.
SpaceX did not give a reason for the scrub, or say if it plans to try for its previously announced backup date on Thursday.
If it does, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 of SpaceX's internet satellites flying from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A could fly during a four-hour window Thursday that opens at 7:04 p.m.
Space Launch Delta 45's weather squadron forecasts a 95% chance for good conditions with the delay to Thursday.
The first-stage booster could equal the total number of flights by two of SpaceX's other boosters, one of which, though, was destroyed when it toppled over at sea.
This booster's resume includes two human spaceflights, the Inspiration4 orbital mission flown by billionaire Jared Issacman and the first private spaceflight for Axiom Space on its Ax-1 mission to the International Space Station. It has also flown the GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Nilesat 301, OneWeb Launch 17, ARABSAT BADR-8 and 11 Starlink missions.
Taking Earth’s temperature from space
Thursday, 14 March 2024 14:00
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Climate change exacerbates droughts by making them more frequent, longer, and more severe. This can have a wide range of impacts on the environment, agriculture, ecosystems and communities including water scarcity, crop failure and food shortages.
The upcoming Copernicus Land Surface Temperature Monitoring, LSTM, mission will improve sustainable agricultural productivity in a world of increasing water scarcity and variability.
The mission will carry a high spatial-temporal resolution thermal infrared sensor to provide observations of land-surface temperature.
These data are key to understand and respond to climate variability, manage water resources for agricultural production, predict droughts and also to address land
Shoebox-sized Milani CubeSat joining Hera asteroid mission
Thursday, 14 March 2024 11:59
The shoebox-sized Milani CubeSat, which will perform close-up mineral prospecting of the Dimorphos asteroid, is ready for delivery to ESA’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence. The spacecraft will carry Milani and a second CubeSat, the Juventas radar imaging spacecraft for probing into the target asteroid, which together will be ESA’s first CubeSats to operate in deep space.
Terran Orbital announces plans to produce small satellites for geostationary orbit
Thursday, 14 March 2024 10:00
