July 18th, 2018
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is engaged in Sol 2114 duties, finishing up at the Voyageurs drill site. Reports Mark Salvatore, a planetary geologist at the University of Michigan in Dearborn: “After our attempt to drill the Voyageurs target did not reach sufficient depth due to the impressive hardness of the rock, the team is […]
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Launch tomorrow of the New Shepard is slated for 9:00 am CT / 14:00 UTC. Live webcast begins at T-20 minutes on http://BlueOrigin.com On Mission 9 a third round of payload customers from commercial companies, universities and space agencies will share the cabin with Blue Origin’s Mannequin Skywalker for their flight to space. Customers […]
Back in June, NASA held a press meeting to detail new findings from the space agency’s Curiosity Mars rover. The Mars machinery had found new evidence preserved in rocks on Mars that suggests the planet could have supported ancient life, as well as new evidence in the Martian atmosphere that relates to the search for […]
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is to soft land on the Moon courtesy of propulsion provider, Dynetics of Huntsville, Alabama. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Astrobotic plans to start delivering customer payloads once a year starting in 2020. In a multi-mission deal announced today, Dynetics will integrate Peregrine’s main engines and attitude control thrusters, controller electronics, tanks, and […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is carrying out Sol 2113 science tasks after being thwarted in performing new drilling in a selected target. “Hard as a rock,” reports Lauren Edgar, planetary geologist at the USGS in Flagstaff, Arizona. “Unfortunately, we found out this morning that the ‘Voyageurs’ drill target was a much harder rock than expected. […]
The UK Space Agency has awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin to develop the UK’s first spaceport in Sutherland, on the north coast of Scotland. Pegged at $31 million total, the two contract deal has Lockheed Martin establishing vertical launch operations in Sutherland, Scotland and to develop innovative technologies in Reading, Berkshire with support from […]
The consequences of incoming space objects plowing into Earth’s atmosphere and resulting human injuries are being spotlighted during the upcoming 81st Annual Meeting of The Meteoritical Society, being held July 22-27 in Moscow, Russia. The entry of the roughly 65-foot (20-meter) sized meteoroid at Chelyabinsk on February 15, 2013, stands out from other fireballs for […]
Why should we be warming up to ultra-cold lunar ice? Permanently shadowed craters at the polar regions of the Moon are eyed as repositories of water ice. That resource can be converted to oxygen, water, and rocket fuel. Exploiting these stores of water ice is a big plus to assure humans not only can survive […]
The nuclear power sector is seeing resurgence in innovation, supported by new policies and emerging technologies. BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT) is a major supplier of nuclear components and fuel to the U.S. government. As such, BWXT envisions a path forward in two of the U.S. government’s top priorities: space exploration and national security. Compact […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is wrapping up Sol 2109 duties on Vera Rubin Ridge. Abigail Fraeman, a planetary geologist at NASA/JPL in Pasadena, California, notes one of the most significant aspects of Vera Rubin Ridge is the signature of the mineral hematite (Fe2O3). Fraeman recalls that she and many collaborators spent the winter and […]
