Copernical Team
SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from Florida, part of Inmarsat program
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SpaceX on Friday completed its second launch of the day, sending a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit from Florida as part of its Inmarsat program.
The Falcon 9 liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10:59 p.m. EST.
Earlier Friday, the company completed a Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:12 a.m. PST, pu SpaceX launches 51 Starlink satellites from California
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SpaceX launched 51 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Friday. The payload lifted off as scheduled aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 11:12 a.m. PT, 2:12 p.m. ET.
The first stage booster separated minutes after launch and successfully landed onboard a drone ship - called "Of Course I Still Love You" - in the Pacific Ocean.
The live feed from the booster NASA, Boeing target April for manned Starliner test flight
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NASA and Boeing said Friday they aim to launch the first manned test flight mission of the CST-100 Starliner to the International Space Station in April.
The long-awaited Starliner, described as the "next generation" spacecraft has been highly anticipated to add a needed transportation option to the orbiting laboratory, along with other missions. The launch had been planned for February ChatGPT sparks AI 'gold rush' in Silicon Valley
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Generative AI, of which ChatGPT is an example, wades through oceans of data to conjure up original content - an image, a poem, a thousand-word essay - in seconds and upon a simple request.
Since its discrete release in late November, ChatGPT has become one of the fastest growing apps ever and pushed Microsoft and Google to rush out projects that had until now stayed carefully guarded over Planetary scientist lays out arguments for sending a dedicated probe to Uranus (Update)
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Kathleen Mandt, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory has published a Perspectives piece in the journal Science arguing that NASA should send a dedicated probe to the planet Uranus. She notes that a window is opening in 2032 for the launch of such a probe.
Planetary scientists have spent far more time studying Mars than they have other planets, partly due to its close proximity and partly due to the fact that Mars has a surface upon which craft can land. Planets that have thick atmospheres, on the other hand, are more difficult to study, especially if they provide no place to land.
Still, Mandt argues, such research is important. And initiating the development of a probe to study Uranus, she adds, would be a good start. She further notes that now would be a good time to begin such plans because the next good window for launching a Uranus probe would be in 2032, when Jupiter's alignment with Earth will allow a slingshot maneuver toward Uranus.
Russia 'expected' to launch rescue ship to ISS on Feb 24: official
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Russia's space agency said Saturday it was planning to send a rescue ship on February 24 to bring home three astronauts whose return vehicle was damaged by a tiny meteoroid.
"The launch is expected on February 24," a spokesman for the Roscosmos space agency told AFP.
Last Monday, the space agency said it had delayed the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, saying a supply ship docked at the International Space Station (ISS) had leaked coolant.
The Soyuz MS-22 flew Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the ISS in September.
They were scheduled to return home in the same spacecraft, but it began leaking coolant in mid-December after being hit by what US and Russian space officials believe was a tiny space rock.
In January, Russia said that it would send an empty spacecraft to the ISS in February to bring home the three astronauts.
NASA's Perseverance rover set to begin third year at Jezero Crater
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After completing the first sample depot on another world, the rover continues its hunt for Mars rocks worthy of study on Earth.
NASA's Perseverance rover will celebrate its second anniversary on the surface of Mars Saturday, Feb. 18. Since arriving at Jezero Crater in 2021, the six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover has been examining geologic features and collecting samples of the Red Planet that are central to the first step of the NASA-ESA (European Space Agency) Mars Sample Return campaign.
Japan aborts launch of new rocket carrying missile sensor
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The launch of a new flagship series H3 rocket carrying an observation satellite and an experimental infrared sensor that could detect missile launches was aborted Friday after its auxiliary booster engines failed to ignite, Japan's space agency said.
The countdown had started. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency livestream and TV footage showed white smoke billowing from the H3's main engine.
Planetary scientist lays out arguments for sending a dedicated probe to Uranus
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Kathleen Mandt, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory has published a Perspectives piece in the journal Science arguing that NASA should send a dedicated probe to the planet Uranus. She notes that a window is opening in 2032 for the launch of such a probe.
Planetary scientists have spent far more time studying Mars than they have other planets, partly due to its close proximity and partly due to the fact that Mars has a surface upon which craft can land. Planets that have thick atmospheres, on the other hand, are more difficult to study, especially if they provide no place to land.
Still, Mandt argues, such research is important. And initiating the development of a probe to study Uranus, she adds, would be a good start. She further notes that now would be a good time to begin such plans because the next good window for launching a Uranus probe would be in 2032, when Jupiter's alignment with Earth will allow a slingshot maneuver toward Uranus.
