February 1st, 2018
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A new kickstarter campaign is underway to create a feature documentary film about Apollo 8 and the three astronauts that crewed that amazing NASA mission into space. Director Paul Hildebrandt explains that nearly 50 years ago three astronauts launched from the Earth and headed towards the Moon for the first time. The saga was […]
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Earth’s celestial neighbor in gravitational lock – the moon — is far from being a “been there, done that world.” The scientific study of the moon, by robots and humans, is a “barely scratched the surface” enterprise. Yes, between 1969 and the close of 1972, a dozen American moonwalkers strutted their Apollo right stuff […]
A new marketing forecast projects that as many as 2,600 nano/microsatellites will require launch over the next 5 years. SpaceWorks Enterprises, Inc. (SEI) released today its annual nanosatellite and microsatellite market forecast. According to an SEI press statement, compared with last year’s Nano/Microsatellite forecast, the current projections have been increased to reflect an increase […]
NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars has just started to perform Sol 1950 duties. “We are back on Vera Rubin Ridge today after a short diversion into the phyllosilicate unit,” reports Abigail Fraeman, a planetary geologist at NASA/JPL in Pasadena, California. Detailing Curiosity duties for Sol 1950-1951: “Our workspace this morning contained rocks in various […]
NASA’s Curiosity rover is now in Sol 1949, taking in views of Mt. Sharp in the neighborhood. The recent weekend plan on Sol 1947 called for Mastcam observation of the target “Montrose”, the first of a pair of images intended to watch for any changes in the soil at this location, reports Ryan Anderson, a […]
The European Space Agency’s Space Debris Office in Darmstadt, Germany has updated its prediction of when China’s Tiangong-1 space lab will reenter. The posted January 26 estimate is roughly March 18 to roughly April 12 – noting that this current estimated window “is highly variable.” According to the ESA office, due to the orbital inclination […]
NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover has just passed 14 years of exploring the Red Planet. The robot has been working on Mars since landing in Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004. Originally intended to last 90 days, the machine is still trekking and is continuing her winter exploration of “Perseverance Valley” on the west rim of […]
There was a “secret” satellite onboard Rocket Lab’s “Still Testing” Electron launch vehicle that lifted off from New Zealand on January 21. Now in orbit is “Humanity Star,” created by Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck. Still Testing also orbited a Dove Pioneer Earth-imaging satellite for launch customer Planet, as well as two Lemur-2 […]
China has successfully made its first Lunar Laser Ranging measurements, making use of the Apollo 15 Lunar Laser Ranging RetroReflector (LRRR) array – equipment deployed on the Moon in 1971. The applied astronomy group from the Yunnan Observatories measured the distance between the Apollo 15 retro-reflector and the Yunnan Observatories ground station. Results of Lunar […]
From ubiquitous internet access to precise climate monitoring and affordable space tourism, a new golden age of space economy led by the commercial sector is upon us, or is it? How can investors, companies and governments leverage an arguable one trillion dollar space industry to benefit society? In case you missed it, yesterday the World […]
