SpaceX to move Dragon splashdowns back to West Coast
Sunday, 28 July 2024 12:07SpaceX Successfully Launches Falcon 9 Starlink Mission
Saturday, 27 July 2024 18:03SpaceX successfully launched 23 Starlink broadband satellites early Saturday morning, marking its return to flight operations after a brief hiatus due to a recent anomaly. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:45 a.m. EDT, right within its planned four-hour launch window. SpaceX provided a live stream of the event, showcasing the rocket's journey t
A cave discovered on the moon opens up new opportunities for settlement by humans
Saturday, 27 July 2024 15:40Almost 55 years after the launch of Apollo 11—the first mission to land humans on the moon—scientists have found evidence of a large cave system near the landing site of those astronauts.
Using radar images taken by Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft in 2010, researchers have been able to determine that huge pits, found in images of the moon, may in fact be "skylights" to large caves and tunnels that sit beneath the lunar surface.
These could be incredibly valuable to future astronauts hoping to settle on the moon, acting as a convenient shelter for a lunar base.
The cave is accessible through a pit in the well-studied Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility). This is a large basin made mostly of basalt. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched down in this region on July 20 1969.
While Mare Tranquillitatis isn't likely to be the first place humans try to settle on the moon, the existence of one cave makes the existence of others very likely, so scientists now expect there to be others in locations more suitable for human settlement.
Falcon 9 returns to flight with Starlink launch
Saturday, 27 July 2024 11:11Spacecraft to swing by Earth, moon on path to Jupiter
Saturday, 27 July 2024 08:22A spacecraft launched last year will slingshot back around Earth and the moon next month in a high-stakes, world-first maneuver as it pinballs its way through the solar system to Jupiter.
The European Space Agency's Juice probe blasted off in April 2023 on a mission to discover whether Jupiter's icy moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa are capable of hosting extra-terrestrial life in their vast, hidden oceans.
The uncrewed six-tonne spacecraft is currently 10 million kilometers (six million miles) from Earth.
But it will fly back past the moon and then Earth on August 19-20, using their gravity boosts to save fuel on its winding, eight-year odyssey to Jupiter.
Staff at the ESA's space operations center in Darmstadt, Germany began preparing for the complicated maneuver this week.
Gilmour Space to Start Hypersonic Flight Tests in 2025
Friday, 26 July 2024 21:58Gilmour Space Technologies, an Australian launch services company, has announced a new suborbital flight test service targeted at commercial and defense customers needing hypersonic speeds above Mach 5. "We've witnessed a surge in the research and development of hypersonic vehicles, materials, and other related technologies in recent years, especially since AUKUS (a trilateral security par
SpaceX cleared to launch Falcon 9 rocket again
Friday, 26 July 2024 21:58SpaceX's stalwart Falcon 9 rocket has been cleared for launch after experiencing a rare failure earlier this month, officials said Thursday. The rocket, a prolific launch vehicle that propels both satellites and astronauts into orbit, experienced an anomaly during a launch on July 11 in its second stage booster that meant it failed to deploy 20 Starlink satellites at a high enough altitude,
NASA continues to delay return of Boeing Starliner, astronauts from ISS
Friday, 26 July 2024 21:58There still is no return date set for the Starliner astronauts aboard the International Space Station, officials with NASA and Boeing said Thursday. NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich in a conference call Thursday morning said the agency has made significant progress in assessing the Starliner's return capability but there is no official plan to bring the astronauts home.
Star Catcher Secures $12.25M Seed Funding to Revolutionize Space Energy
Friday, 26 July 2024 21:58Star Catcher Industries, Inc. ("Star Catcher"), a leader in space-based energy generation, has successfully closed a $12.25 million seed funding round. The funding round was co-led by Initialized Capital and B Capital, with significant participation from Rogue VC. This investment will enable the company to build the Star Catcher Network, the world's first space-based energy grid, aimed at elimin
From Garuda to Pioneering Nepal's Space-Tech Industry
Friday, 26 July 2024 21:58In the Himalayan nation of Nepal, two innovators, Mohan Tamang and Akrit Dhungel, are making history with Mach24Orbitals, the country's first space-tech startup. Previously, Dhungel and Tamang led the Garuda project, which launched Nepal's first rocket on March 20, 2021. This project earned the Nancy Squires Team Spirit Award at the Spaceport America Cup 2021. Using potassium nitrate and s
UAH TERMINUS student group set to launch biggest, most advanced spacecraft with NASA
Friday, 26 July 2024 21:58This August, a student team at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System, is set to launch its biggest payload yet into the upper atmosphere from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The launch is part of NASA's RockSat Program, an initiative that aims to connect higher education students from across the United States with
Tracking Carbon Dioxide Movement in Earth's Atmosphere
Friday, 26 July 2024 21:58This global map illustrates carbon dioxide concentrations as the gas moved through Earth's atmosphere from January to March 2020, influenced by wind patterns and atmospheric circulation. Due to the model's high resolution, it's possible to zoom in and observe carbon dioxide emissions originating from power plants, fires, and cities, then dispersing across continents and oceans. "As p
Expiring Medications Present Risk for Long-Duration Space Missions
Friday, 26 July 2024 21:58Medications used by astronauts on the International Space Station may not last for the duration of a three-year mission to Mars. A study led by Duke Health found that over half of the medications stocked in space, including pain relievers, antibiotics, allergy medicines, and sleep aids, would expire before astronauts return to Earth. Astronauts could potentially rely on ineffective o
Epson Makes Strategic Investment in Microsatellite Innovator Axelspace
Friday, 26 July 2024 21:58Epson, alongside its subsidiary Epson X Investment Corporation (EXI), has invested in Axelspace Holdings, the parent company of Axelspace Corporation, a pioneering startup in microsatellite development and manufacturing. This investment was facilitated through the EP-GB Investment Limited Partnership fund. Axelspace, with its mission to bring "Space within Your Reach," operates AxelLiner,
NASA Achieves Milestone in 4K Video Streaming from Aircraft to ISS and Back
Friday, 26 July 2024 21:58NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland successfully streamed 4K video from an aircraft to the International Space Station (ISS) and back using laser communications for the first time. This achievement is part of ongoing tests to develop technology for live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Traditionally, NASA has used radio waves to transmit data to a