May 20th, 2023
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The upcoming liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon Freedom crew of four private astronauts headed for the International Space Station, also makes possible technology testing of an array of new-to-space hardware. The Axiom Mission-2 crew is led by former NASA astronaut and Ax-2 commander Peggy Whitson, also Axiom Space’s Director of […]
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NASA has given Blue Origin’s Blue Moon program team a $3.4 billion go-ahead as the second company to build a lunar lander for the space agency that will transport Artemis 5 astronauts to the surface of the Moon. Blue Origin is putting in their own cash, well north of NASA’s contract award dollar number. […]
We are on the cusp of learning far more about the projected icy situation of the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions, or PSRs. Multiple nations are eying the Moon’s south pole with research teams plotting out how and where to explore the bottoms of the sun-shy features. In some circles, however, there are suggestions of placing […]
Engineers have developed a system that allows autonomous vehicles to scout out underground habitats for astronauts. Researchers at the University of Arizona’s College of Engineering have developed technology that would allow a flock of robots to explore subsurface environments on other worlds. Their patent-pending concept the “Breadcrumb-Style Dynamically Deployed Communication Network” paradigm is admittedly a […]
Russia is pressing forward on creation of a new Venus exploration spacecraft – Venera-D. A “draft design” for Venera-D is scheduled to begin in January 2024. Champion spacecraft design leaders, Russia’s NPO Lavochkin Scientific and Production Association, have blueprinted the Venera-D space complex. Based on Lavochkin results, work schedules, technical specifications and the contracting […]
The world is abuzz, perhaps befuddled, about the growing use of artificial intelligence then strapping it to ChatGPT, the AI-powered language model. “It” can respond to queries, discuss a lot of topics, and crank out writing pieces. So let’s blue-sky a bit…but mix in the mystique of the Red Planet Mars. Well-paginated Say that […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale crater is now performing Sol 3827 tasks. The rover team reports successful drilling of a new hole on the Ubajara target. Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, a planetary geologist at the University of New Brunswick; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada reports: “Drilling campaigns force us to sit and stop, whilst the ‘Ubajara’ drill […]
China’s Shenzhou-15 astronauts have entered the recently docked Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft to begin unloading goods and equipment that will enhance the country’s Tiangong space station program. Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu began unpacking the supply craft on Friday. The coupling of the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft with the station signals an “integrated flight phase.” […]
A China-launched cargo craft has docked with the country’s space station, the first link-up since the orbital facility entered the application and development stage. The Tianzhou-6 supply ship was lofted by a Long March-7 Y7 carrier rocket on Wednesday from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province. With the cargo craft now […]
There are many challenges the space sector faces in this era of enhanced commercial space activity. The Aerospace Corporation has issued a 2022 Space Safety Compendium – Guiding the Future of Spaceflight, edited by Samira Patel and Josef S. Koller The publication covers policy implications of issues within five core mission areas, as well […]
