Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 16, 2025
Water is essential for all known forms of life on Earth, leading scientists searching for extraterrestrial life to adopt the principle of "follow the water." NASA's upcoming SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) mission, set for launch no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27, will aid in this pursuit. Launching aboard a SpaceX Falc

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 16, 2025
Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are a diverse group of icy bodies orbiting beyond Neptune, ranging in size from dwarf planets such as Pluto and Eris, with diameters of approximately 1,500 miles, to much smaller objects like Arrokoth, spanning just tens of miles. First theorized by Kenneth Edgeworth and Gerard Kuiper in the 1950s, these celestial objects reside in what is now known as the Kuiper B

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 16, 2025
NASA's Lunar Trailblazer has arrived in Florida for final preparations ahead of its upcoming launch later this month. The small satellite, built by Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, has been integrated with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It will fly as part of Intuitive Machines' IM-2 mission under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, with liftoff planned no earlier

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 16, 2025
NASA's Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) is set to probe the Moon's subsurface, analyzing its composition and potential resources to support future lunar exploration. As part of the Artemis campaign, PRIME-1 will assess the Moon's soil and environmental conditions to aid in developing sustainable human presence on the lunar surface. The mission consists of two key instrumen

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 16, 2025
A key component of NASA's Gateway lunar space station has completed rigorous environmental tests and is now in the cleanroom for final preparations before its journey to the United States. When Artemis IV astronauts travel to the Moon, they will be the first to visit Gateway, a space station orbiting the Moon designed to support human exploration and scientific research. Currently, the Hab

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Feb 16, 2025
China has successfully launched its Long March 8A carrier rocket for the first time, sending a group of satellites into orbit, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC) announced. The rocket lifted off at 5:30 p.m. from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province, delivering the second batch of low-orbit satellites for China's State-owned internet network into their designat

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 16, 2025
Sierra Space, a pioneering force in commercial space and defense technology, has completed the test campaign for its fully integrated VR35K-A upper stage engine. Conducted at the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Rocket Propulsion Division at Edwards Air Force Base in California, this milestone underscores the company's progress in developing next-generation propulsion systems. The co

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 16, 2025
A cutting-edge carrier-phase-based approach to satellite-ground time synchronization has reached an unprecedented level of precision, achieving picosecond-level accuracy. This breakthrough stands to redefine global navigation, deep space exploration, and high-precision scientific research by effectively mitigating errors such as motion delays, relativistic distortions, and atmospheric disturbanc

Paris (AFP) Feb 14, 2025
The first-ever astronaut with a physical disability has been cleared for a mission onboard the International Space Station, the European Space Agency announced on Friday. John McFall, a 43-year-old British surgeon and former Paralympian who lost a leg in a motorbike accident when he was 19, said he was "hugely proud" of clearing the hurdle. Since announcing McFall as a member of its astr

Washington DC (UPI) Feb 15, 2025
SpaceX early Saturday launched another 21 Starlink satellites aboard a record-setting Falcon 9 first-stage booster from Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff was at 1:14 a.m. from pad 40 with clouds obscuring the rocket. It was the 27th time this first-stage booster was used. It landed eight later at SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. This was the 98th booster