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Sunday, 15 September 2024 16:42

What next for Boeing Starliner sans astronauts

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College Station TX (SPX) Sep 15, 2024
Boeing's crew transport space capsule, the Starliner, returned to Earth without its two-person crew right after midnight Eastern time on Sept. 7, 2024. Its remotely piloted return marked the end of a fraught test flight to the International Space Station which left two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams, on the station for months longer than intended after thruster failures led
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Sydney, Australia (SPX) Sep 15, 2024
South Australia is set to enhance its position as a global aerospace hub following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Southern Launch, a prominent spaceport provider, and Hypersonix Launch Systems, a Queensland-based developer of hypersonic vehicles and scramjet technology. The MoU outlines a collaboration to develop a hypersonic test bed service that will utilize Southern Launch's spac
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Tehran (AFP) Sept 14, 2024
Iran on Saturday blasted a new research satellite into orbit, state media said, in the latest such development for an aerospace programme that has long faced Western criticism. "The Chamran-1 research satellite was successfully launched and put into orbit by the Ghaem-100 carrier," state television said. The satellite, which weighs around 60 kilograms (132 pounds), is designed to test h
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Washington (AFP) Sept 14, 2024
The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, which made history when its crew conducted the first ever spacewalk by non-government astronauts, is returning to Earth on Sunday. Splashdown is scheduled to take place at approximately 3:36 am Eastern Time (0736 GMT) off the coast of Dry Tortugas, Florida. A live webcast will be carried by SpaceX starting around an hour beforehand. The four-member
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Stuck-in-space astronauts make first public comments since Boeing capsule left without them
This image made from a NASA live stream shows NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore during a press conference from the International Space Station on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. Credit: NASA via AP

Stuck-in-space astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams said Friday it was hard to watch their Boeing capsule return to Earth without them.

It was their first public comments since last week's return of the Boeing Starliner capsule that took them to the International Space Station in June. They remained behind after NASA determined the problem-plagued posed too much risk for them to ride back in.

"That's how it goes in this business," said Williams, adding that "you have to turn the page and look at the next opportunity.

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US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams took off aboard Boeing's Starliner in early June for what was meant to be an eight-day mission
US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams took off aboard Boeing's Starliner in early June for what was meant to be an eight-day mission.

A US astronaut stuck on the International Space Station said Friday he believed Boeing's Starliner could have carried him home, if more time had been available to work through the beleaguered spacecraft's issues.

Last week, Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams watched the Boeing Starliner they rode to the ISS three months prior head back to Earth without them.

"We could have gotten to the point, I believe, where we could have returned on Starliner, but we just simply ran out of time," Wilmore said Friday in a video press conference.

On June 5, Wilmore and Williams took off aboard the Starliner as part of the vessel's first crewed mission, in what was originally meant to be eight days in orbit.

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Printed engines propel the next industrial revolution
A laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED) 3D printer at RPM Innovations’ facility additively manufactures a large-scale aerospike rocket engine nozzle from one of Elementum 3D’s specialized, 3D-printable aluminum alloys. Credit: RPM Innovations Inc.

In the fall of 2023, NASA hot fire tested an aluminum 3D printed rocket engine nozzle. Aluminum is not typically used for 3D printing because the process causes it to crack, and its low melting point makes it a challenging material for rocket engines. Yet the test was a success.

Printing aluminum engine parts could save significant time, money, and weight for future spacecraft. Elementum 3D Inc., a partner on the project, is now making those benefits available to the commercial space industry and beyond.

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Artemis Missions Could Put the most Powerful imaging Telescope on the Moon
Simulations depicting the potential solar physics science that the Artemis-enabled Stellar Imager (AeSI) on the moon could accomplish. Credit: Rau et al. (2024)

Ground-based interferometry on Earth has proven to be a successful method for conducting science by combining light from several telescopes into acting like a single large telescope. But how can an ultraviolet (UV)/optical interferometer telescope on the moon deliver enhanced science, and can the Artemis missions help make this a reality?

This is what a recently submitted study to the SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024 conference hopes to address as a team of researchers propose the Artemis-enabled Stellar Imager (AeSI) that, as its name implies, could potentially be delivered to the lunar surface via NASA's upcoming Artemis missions. The study is published on the arXiv preprint server.

This proposal was recently accepted as a Phase 1 study through NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program and holds the potential to develop revolutionary extremely high-angular resolution way of conducting science on other planetary bodies while contributing to other missions, as well.

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NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 to Conduct Space Station Research
Scanning electron-microscopy image of human platelets prior to launch to the International Space Station. Credit: University of Utah/Megakaryocytes PI Team

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are headed to the International Space Station for the agency's SpaceX Crew-9 mission in September. Once on station, these crew members will support scientific investigations that include studies of blood clotting, effects of moisture on plants grown in space, and vision changes in astronauts.

Here are details on some of the work scheduled during the Crew-9 expedition:

Blood cell development in space

Megakaryocytes Orbiting in Outer Space and Near Earth (MeF1) investigates how affect the development and function of megakaryocytes and platelets. Megakaryocytes, large cells found in , and platelets, pieces of these cells, play important roles in and immune response.

"Understanding the development and function of megakaryocytes and platelets during long-duration spaceflight is crucial to safeguarding the health of astronauts," said Hansjorg Schwertz, principal investigator, at the University of Utah.

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Stuck-in-space astronauts make first public comments since Boeing capsule left without them
This image made from a NASA live stream shows NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore during a press conference from the International Space Station on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. Credit: NASA via AP

Stuck-in-space astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams said Friday it was hard to watch their Boeing capsule return to Earth without them.

It was their first public comments since last week's return of the Boeing Starliner capsule that took them to the International Space Station in June. They remained behind after NASA determined the problem-plagued posed too much risk for them to ride back in.

"That's how it goes in this business," said Williams, adding that "you have to turn the page and look at the next opportunity.

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