SpaceX is poised to launch another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit. A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 22 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base on Friday (Dec. 8) during a roughly two-hour window that opens at 3:03 a.m. EST (0803 GMT; 12:03 a.m. local California…
Category: Uncategorized
NASA thinks it knows why the OSIRIS-REx asteroid probe’s return capsule failed to deploy its drogue parachute as planned while descending through Earth’s atmosphere on Sept. 24. The problem, which did not prevent the capsule from landing safely and softly that day, was likely caused by crossed wires. “After a thorough review of the descent…
The Space Development Agency has set its sights on an ambitious launch schedule for 2024 following two successful launches this year. The post Space Development Agency aims high for 2024 after strong 2023 start appeared first on SpaceNews.
Chinese startup Galactic Energy is flying high again after a successful satellite launch on Monday (Dec. 4). The company’s Ceres-1 solid rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 6:33 p.m. EST on Monday (2333 GMT; or 7:33 a.m. Beijing time on Dec. 5). The rocket rose into a dark, predawn…
The Senate and House Armed Services Committees unveiled a final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) conference agreement late Dec. 6 that includes several space policy and spending decisions impacting the military space and commercial space sectors. The post Lawmakers unveil 2024 defense authorization bill with space priorities appeared first on SpaceNews.
The U.S. Space Force’s mysterious X-37B space plane is just about ready to take flight for the seventh time. The Space Force and SpaceX “are making final preparations” for the planned Sunday evening (Dec. 10) launch of the robotic X-37B, Space Force officials said in an emailed update today (Dec. 7). The space plane is…
NASA will give companies greater choice in the type of contract to use for producing a deorbit vehicle for the International Space Station. The post NASA revises contract strategy for ISS deorbit vehicle appeared first on SpaceNews.
Satellite TV broadcaster and terrestrial wireless operator Dish Network and EchoStar, its sister company focused on broadband services from space, have cleared a key regulatory hurdle in the way of their merger plans. The post FCC nod puts Dish-EchoStar merger on home stretch appeared first on SpaceNews.
Scientists may have solved the physics behind massive and violent “superflares” that rip free from stars thousands of times as bright as the sun. Our host star regularly erupts with solar flares that can impact Earth and, if strong enough, disrupt communications and power infrastructure on a global scale. But these solar flares are mere…
Following a string of setbacks concerning one of its directional instruments, the Hubble Space Telescope will get back to its job of capturing deep space images soon enough, NASA says. It all began on Nov. 19, when one of the iconic observatory’s three gyroscopes (a trio that live on from an original set of six)…
An astronaut who died from injuries sustained in a plane crash before she could launch to the International Space Station (ISS) is being memorialized with the naming of Northrop Grumman’s first cargo spacecraft to fly on a SpaceX rocket. The S.S. Patricia “Patty” Hilliard Robertson is targeted to lift off no earlier than Jan. 29,…
An ethereal halo of light around the full moon created by ice crystals from overhanging clouds recently shone bright during a SpaceX rocket launch in Florida, setting the stage for a stunning time-lapse photo that captured the luminous ring and streaking rocket in the same frame. On Nov. 27, SpaceX launched one of its Falcon 9…
As many things have a shelf-life, so do satellites. But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has plans to take their older polar-orbiting satellites off the path toward decommission, and instead use a cloud-based system to add some extra years to their lifespan. NOAA’s next-generation Joint Polar Satellite Series (JPSS) are more of the…
When NASA’s Cassini spacecraft turned its instruments to Saturn’s moon Enceladus, it observed plumes of ice shooting up from the moon’s surface at speeds of about 900 miles per hour (1,448 kilometers per hour). These geysers seemed to be the tendrils of a vast subsurface ocean — and made scientists curious if their fluid might…
NASA’s robotic Mars exploration program is in crisis. A recent review of the plan of its flagship Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission pegged its cost at $10 billion, a price tag that threatens to preclude funding any other exploration missions to the Red Planet for the next decade and a half. The post Rethink the…
India is setting long-term goals that could see the country establish its own moon base before 2050. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S. Somanath set out a provisional, integrated roadmap for exploring the moon in a Nov. 28 talk at a symposium organized by the Indian Society of Geomatics and the Indian Society of…
A NASA astronaut will “light” felt candles to celebrate Hanukkah in space. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli plans to conduct the traditional lighting of the menorah in felt, given that the agency and International Space Station (ISS) wisely have restrictions against using fire aboard a spacecraft. The lighting will be done during Hanukkah, the Jewish festival…
The space station turned 25 years old on Wednesday (Dec. 6), and NASA is preparing for the pioneering outpost’s end. The agency just celebrated the milestone mission that docked the first two International Space Station (ISS) modules on Dec. 6, 1998. In the runup to that event, NASA updated its private proposal request to help…
The success of a NASA project last year to demonstrate an inflatable heat shield has attracted interest from several companies who are working with the agency to advance the technology. The post NASA working with industry to advance inflatable heat shield technology appeared first on SpaceNews.
Egypt and China signed a series of space agreements Wednesday including cooperation on the China-led International Lunar Research Station. The post Egypt joins China’s ILRS moon base initiative appeared first on SpaceNews.