Copernical Team
Boeing will fly its empty capsule back to Earth soon. Two NASA astronauts will stay behind
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Boeing will attempt to return its problem-plagued capsule from the International Space Station later this week—with empty seats.
NASA said Wednesday that everything is on track for the Starliner capsule to undock from the space station Friday evening. The fully automated capsule will aim for a touchdown in New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range six hours later.
NASA's two stuck astronauts who flew up on Starliner will remain behind at the orbiting lab. They'll ride home with SpaceX in February, eight months after launching on what should have been a weeklong test flight. Thruster trouble and helium leaks kept delaying their return until NASA decided that it was too risky for them to accompany Starliner back as originally planned.
"It's been a journey to get here and we're excited to have Starliner return," said NASA's commercial crew program manager Steve Stich.
NASA's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will close the hatches between Starliner and the space station on Thursday. They are now considered full-time station crew members along with the seven others on board, helping with experiments and maintenance, and ramping up their exercise to keep their bones and muscles strong during their prolonged exposure to weightlessness.
To make room for them on SpaceX's next taxi flight, the Dragon capsule will launch with two astronauts instead of the usual four.
Astronaut's 'science of opportunity' experiments help prepare for launch to the International Space Station
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Science ideas are everywhere. Some of the greatest discoveries have come from tinkering and toying with new concepts and ideas. NASA astronaut Don Pettit is no stranger to inventing and discovering. During his previous missions, Pettit has contributed to advancements for human space exploration aboard the International Space Station resulting in several published scientific papers and breakthroughs.
Pettit, accompanied by cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will launch to the orbiting laboratory in September 2024. In preparation for his fourth spaceflight, read about previous "science of opportunity" experiments Pettit performed during his free time with materials readily available to the crew or included in his personal kit.
NASA admits tension with Boeing over space rescue plan
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NASA admitted on Wednesday there was "tension" during meetings with Boeing executives about how to bring home two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station, but denied reports of shouting matches.
The US space agency is enlisting SpaceX to rescue the astronauts because of safety concerns with Boeing's Starliner capsule, which encountered thruster malfunctions and helium leaks on its way to the orbital outpost.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched in June for what was meant to be around a weeklong stay, but they now aren't expected back until February 2025 when the SpaceX Crew-9 mission returns.
Small, harmless asteroid burns up in Earth's atmosphere over the Philippines
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A small asteroid discovered on Wednesday harmlessly burned up in Earth's atmosphere the same day, NASA said.
The asteroid—about 3 feet (1 meter) across—was spotted by astronomers in Arizona and broke apart over the coast of the Philippines hours after the discovery.
This space rock, dubbed 2024 RW1, is only the ninth to have been spotted before its impact. Asteroids around this size hurtle toward Earth about every two weeks without posing any danger.
The asteroid was discovered through the Catalina Sky Survey, which is run by the University of Arizona and funded by NASA.
Blue Origin set to test fire New Glenn stage at Canaveral launch pad
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Blue Origin has only 40 days to go to be ready for its first launch of its heavy lift New Glenn rocket, but has a lot of boxes to tick before liftoff.
That includes a test fire in the coming days of the rocket's second stage, which the company rolled out to the pad Tuesday at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex 36.
Jeff Bezos' rocket company is targeting Oct. 13 for liftoff of NG-1, a mission to send a pair of satellites built by fellow rocket company RocketLab on a mission for NASA to Mars called ESCAPADE, which stands for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers.
"We're looking forward to firing up those two BE-3Us on New Glenn's second stage in a few days," the company posted on X after the hardware's trip to the pad.
When it launches, the second stage and its engines will be tasked with deploying the twin ESCAPADE spacecraft on an 11-month trip to the Red Planet where they will study Mars' plasma and magnetic fields.
The launch, though, will be the culmination of years of development for New Glenn, which is constructed at Blue Origin's nearby factory on Merritt Island.
Outer solar system is more populated than previously thought, research reveals
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Survey observations using the Subaru Telescope's ultra-widefield prime focus camera have revealed that there may be a population of small bodies further out in the Kuiper Belt waiting to be discovered.
The results, which are important for an understanding of the formation of the solar system, were obtained through an international collaboration between the Subaru Telescope and the New Horizons spacecraft traveling through the outer solar system.
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft was launched in 2006 with the critical mission of observing the surfaces of outer solar system bodies up close for the first time in human history; it successfully completed a flyby of the Pluto system in 2015, and in 2019 it made a flyby of one of the Kuiper Belt objects, (486958) Arrokoth.
There have been five spacecraft that have flown to the outer solar system (including New Horizons), but New Horizons is the only spacecraft that has flown through the Kuiper Belt while observing Kuiper Belt objects.
Gateway's propulsion system testing throttles up
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The powerhouse of Gateway, NASA's orbiting outpost around the moon and a critical piece of infrastructure for Artemis, is in the midst of several electric propulsion system tests.
The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), being manufactured by Maxar Technologies, provides Gateway with power, high-rate communications, and propulsion for maneuvers around the moon and to transit between different orbits.
The PPE will be combined with the Habitation and Logistic Outpost (HALO) before the integrated spacecraft's launch, targeted for late 2024 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. Together, these elements will serve as the hub for early Gateway crewed operations and various science and technology demonstrations as the full Gateway station is assembled around it in the coming years.
In this image, PPE engineers successfully tested the integration of Aerojet Rocketdyne's thruster with Maxar's power procession unit and Xenon Flow Controller.
Provided by NASA
Artemis IV: Gateway gadget fuels deep space dining
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NASA engineers are working hard to ensure no astronaut goes hungry on the Artemis IV mission.
When international teams of astronauts live on Gateway, humanity's first space station to orbit the moon, they'll need innovative gadgets like the Mini Potable Water Dispenser.
Vaguely resembling a toy water soaker, it manually dispenses water for hygiene bags, to rehydrate food, or simply to drink. It is designed to be compact, lightweight, portable and manual, making it ideal for Gateway's relatively small size and remote location compared to the International Space Station closer to Earth.
A review of humanity's planned expansion between the Earth and the moon
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Between low Earth orbit and the moon, there is a region of space measuring 384,400 km (238,855 mi) wide known as Cislunar space. In the coming decades, multiple space agencies will send missions to this region to support the development of infrastructure that will lead to a permanent human presence on the moon.
This includes orbital and surface habitats, landing pads, surface vehicles, technologies for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), and other elements that will enable the long-term exploration and development of the lunar surface.
For all parties concerned, Cislunar space holds immense potential in terms of scientific, commercial, and military applications. The vastly increased level of activity on and around the moon makes space domain awareness (SDA)—knowledge of all operations within a region of space—paramount.
It is also necessary to ensure the continued success and utilization of the covered region.
BOLT-1B hypersonic experiment soars and collects vital data
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The Boundary Layer Transition 1B (BOLT-1B) experiment, a joint research project of the U.S.