...the who's who,
and the what's what 
of the space industry

Space Careers

news Space News

Search News Archive

Title

Article text

Keyword

Write a comment
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Sep 06, 2024
From sea to sky to orbit, a range of vantage points allow NASA Earth scientists to collect different types of data to better understand our changing planet. Collecting them together, at the same place and the same time, is an important step used to verify the accuracy of satellite data. NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite launched in February 2024 and is colle
Write a comment
Blue Origin
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

It'd be reasonable to think Washington's space economy has a lot riding on Boeing's Starliner, the spacecraft that left two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station and headed back to Earth with an empty cabin Friday.

The astronauts were scheduled to return on Starliner in June after a week on the ISS, but thruster failures and helium leaks on the way there made NASA decide a trip back on the Boeing spacecraft was too risky. Boeing's troubles with Starliner date back years, including a flawed, unmanned test flight in 2019 that had to be repeated in 2022.

But, outside of some classified jobs that pop up in South King County, Boeing's efforts in the Seattle area are largely centered on its commercial airplane business, according to industry experts. Instead, the biggest players in the Seattle area's space industry are Amazon, Blue Origin and SpaceX.

"The Seattle space ecosystem is small but mighty because we have companies here that cover the entire space supply chain," said Stan Shull, founder of space technology consulting firm Alliance Victory.

Shull said there are the space and tech giants like SpaceX and Amazon manufacturing thousands of satellites in their Starlink and Project Kuiper divisions, respectively, and Blue Origin with its rocket engines and spacecraft.

Write a comment
Video: 00:04:29

Watch the second episode of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission – Europe’s ambitious exploration journey to search for past and present signs of life on Mars.

This episode starts with Rosalind searching for traces of life below the martian surface using a ground penetrating radar and a set of cameras.

The rover will dig, collect, and investigate the chemical composition of material collected by a drill. Rosalind Franklin will be the first rover to reach a depth of up to two metres deep below the surface, acquiring samples that have been protected from surface radiation and extreme temperatures.

Write a comment
Video: 00:04:11

ESA's Euclid mission is surveying the sky to explore the composition and evolution of the dark Universe. But how can Euclid see the invisible? Watch this video to learn about the light-bending effect that enables scientists to trace how dark matter is distributed in the Universe.

By making use of Euclid’s flagship simulation, the video illustrates how dark-matter filaments subtly alter the shape of galaxies. Light travelling to us from vastly distant galaxies is bent and distorted by concentrations of matter along its way. The effect is called gravitational lensing because matter (both ‘normal’ and dark matter) acts

Voyager 1 team accomplishes tricky thruster swap

Wednesday, 11 September 2024 06:39
Write a comment
Voyager 1 team accomplishes tricky thruster swap
A model of NASA’s Voyager spacecraft. The twin Voyagers have been flying since 1977 and are exploring the outer regions of our solar system. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Engineers working on NASA's Voyager 1 probe have successfully mitigated an issue with the spacecraft's thrusters, which keep the distant explorer pointed at Earth so that it can receive commands, send engineering data, and provide the unique science data it is gathering.

After 47 years, a fuel tube inside the thrusters has become clogged with , a byproduct that appears with age from a rubber diaphragm in the spacecraft's fuel tank. The clogging reduces how efficiently the thrusters can generate force. After weeks of careful planning, the team switched the spacecraft to a different set of thrusters.

The thrusters are fueled by liquid hydrazine, which is turned into gases and released in tens-of-milliseconds-long puffs to gently tilt the spacecraft's antenna toward Earth.

Write a comment
This handout image released by SpaceX on September 10, 2024 shows a view of Earth and the Dragon capsule's Skywalker shortly after the Polaris Dawn crew launched into orbit
This handout image released by SpaceX on September 10, 2024 shows a view of Earth and the Dragon capsule's Skywalker shortly after the Polaris Dawn crew launched into orbit.

A private crew set out on an audacious orbital expedition Tuesday, journeying deeper into the cosmos than any humans in half a century as they prepare for the first ever spacewalk by non-professional astronauts.

The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, led by Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman, launched early morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and attained its peak altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) later that day.

"Achievement unlocked—apogee 1,400.7 km," SpaceX said on X Tuesday night.

Write a comment
PNNL Takes Its Radiation Expertise to Space | News Release
Understanding how several different metals—such as the contents of PNNL's space-bound cube—react to radiation in space will help scientists understand the potential impact of radiation on space travelers. Credit: Eddie Pablo | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

An experiment designed to answer questions about the radiation environment for manned space missions was launched from Kennedy Space Center today.

For the five-day mission, experiments from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and several other institutions will circle the Earth 435 miles above—nearly twice as high as the International Space Station. Before settling in at that altitude, Polaris Dawn will reach 870 miles, the highest that any person has been since NASA's Apollo program several decades ago.

Write a comment
'Polaris Dawn' mission participants (from left) Jared Isaacman, Anna Menon, Sarah Gillis and Scott Poteet
'Polaris Dawn' mission participants (from left) Jared Isaacman, Anna Menon, Sarah Gillis and Scott Poteet.

Four US civilians are set to attempt the first-ever private spacewalk on Thursday—a risky endeavor usually reserved for trained astronauts from government agencies.

The ambitious , dubbed Polaris Dawn, is being carried out on a SpaceX capsule that launched early Tuesday from Florida.

Who are the select few to pioneer this new chapter of ?

Jared Isaacman, billionaire

The behind the mission is Jared Isaacman, a billionaire who serves as mission commander.

The 41-year-old American from Pennsylvania is the CEO of the digital finance company Shift4 Payments, which he founded in his family's basement when he was only 16.

Isaacman is a seasoned pilot who is qualified to fly military aircraft and holds several world records.

He had previously gone into space in 2021 as part of another SpaceX mission he chartered, Inspiration4, which was the first orbital spacecraft to feature no professional astronauts.

Write a comment
Kennedy Space Center U.S. (AFP) Sep 10, 2024
SpaceX successfully launched the Polaris Dawn mission early Tuesday morning, marking the beginning of a multiday orbital expedition featuring the first-ever spacewalk conducted by private citizens. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 5:23 a.m. ET from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "Liftoff of Polaris Dawn!" SpaceX announced on X, along with an image of the rocket ascending into the
Write a comment
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Sep 06, 2024
China's initiative to establish an international lunar research station has attracted new international partners, marking a significant step in global space collaboration. At the opening of a two-day space conference in Tunxi, Anhui Province, on Thursday, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) signed a cooperation agreement with Senegal on the International Lunar Research Station (
Page 113 of 1862