A surprise solar storm supercharged auroras across the U.S. and Europe last night (March 23), with sightings of the colorful displays reported from as far south as New Mexico and Arizona. The storm, classified as a severe G4 on the 5-grade scale used by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), even forced Rocket…
ABL Space Systems, a California-based launch startup, announced March 24 it has secured a $60 million contract from the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Air Force that also includes matching funds from private investors, a type of agreement known as strategic funding increase, or STRATFI. The post ABL Space gets $60 million for responsive launch…
Cape Canaveral’s infrastructure is being stretched to its limits as the world’s busiest launch site continues to get busier. The post Cape Congestion: World’s busiest spaceport stretched to its limits appeared first on .
Boeing’s new astronaut taxi won’t launch on its first crewed mission next month after all. Boeing and NASA had been targeting the second half of April for Crew Flight Test (CFT), which will carry two astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the private Starliner capsule. But that plan has now changed.…
Blue Origin has figured out what doomed its most recent spaceflight. That uncrewed mission — known as NS-23, because it was the 23rd flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle — lifted off from the company’s West Texas launch site on Sept. 12, 2022, carrying 36 scientific payloads skyward. Something went wrong about 65…
A new NASA animation shows what the sky over Earth would look like to humans if we had evolved to see high-energy gamma-ray light rather than just the visible light spectrum. The animation represents a cosmic firework display created as Earth’s atmosphere is belted by gamma rays from astrophysical sources and powerful cosmic events. The…
Engineers at NASA and Lockheed Martin Space have performed the difficult task of measuring the fuel supply of the oldest Mars orbiting spacecraft without the use of a fuel gauge, after calculations indicated the probe may be close to running on empty. Estimates from 2021 and 2022 indicated the Mars Odyssey orbiter has exhausted its…
The most powerful solar storm in nearly six years slammed Earth today (March 24), but strangely, space weather forecasters didn’t see it coming. The geomagnetic storm peaked as a severe G4 on the 5-grade scale used by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to assess the severity of space weather events. The storm’s…
A distant spiral galaxy boasts bright streams of star-forming gas dripping from its central disk like tentacles of a jellyfish in a new Hubble Space Telescope photo. Located over 800 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus, JW100 is an example of a “jellyfish galaxy” — a type of galaxy that exhibits long tendrils…
The truth is out there, and it’s coming to get us, if the best alien invasion movies are to be believed anyway. Maybe this is one time we don’t want to believe. The matter of extra-terrestrial life has fascinated mankind for quite some time now, and the movie industry has made sure over the decades…
An agreement for a United Arab Emirates’ rover to fly on China’s Chang’e-7 lunar mission has apparently been hit by U.S. export control rules. The post China loses UAE as partner for Chang’e-7 lunar south pole mission appeared first on .
An advisory committee called on the European Space Agency to develop a comprehensive human spaceflight program using a more commercial approach. The post Advisory group backs European human spaceflight program using commercial approaches appeared first on .
Sometime next month, SpaceX will likely try to launch the largest rocketship ever flown, known as the Starship. If successful, this flight will herald a new space age, as humanity opens the solar system. This begs the question: Will it fail or will it succeed? And if it fails, what will it mean? Anyone familiar…
Rocket Lab launched a pair of BlackSky imaging satellites March 24 on a launch that was also a test of its ability to recover and reuse boosters. The post Rocket Lab launches BlackSky satellites appeared first on .
Rocket Lab’s early morning launch on Friday (March 24) got delayed by 90 minutes because of an unexpectedly powerful geomagnetic storm that space weather forecasters didn’t see coming. Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket eventually lifted off without a hitch at 5:15 a.m. EDT (0915 GMT; 10:15 p.m. local New Zealand time) from the company’s New Zealand…
The moon will be close to Uranus in the sky tonight (March 24) offering skywatchers an excellent guide to spotting the ice giant. Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun located towards the solar system‘s outskirts, will be just two lunar widths to the left of the moon during the evening on Friday for observers…
SpaceX plans to launch another big batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit and land a rocket at sea today (March 24), and you can watch the action live. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket topped with 56 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off at 11:33 a.m. EDT (1533 GMT) today from Florida’s Cape…
The first flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle with astronauts on board, previously scheduled for late April, has been delayed, likely until the summer. The post First crewed Starliner launch slips again appeared first on .
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson claims proposed spending reductions for fiscal year 2024 could have “devastating and potentially unrecoverable” effects on NASA programs, delaying or canceling many missions. The post NASA warns of “devastating” impacts of potential budget cuts appeared first on .
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