July 15th, 2024
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Sent moonward over two years ago, NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment — mercifully shortened to CAPSTONE – is trial-running techniques to enhance spacecraft operations in cis-lunar space. Launched on June 28, 2022 aboard a Rocket Lab Electron booster from New Zealand, CAPSTONE — a microwave oven-sized CubeSat weighing a modest […]
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The largest stratospheric balloon ever to be launched from Sweden’s Esrange Space Center is on its way to its destination in North America. Its mission is to study X-rays in the polar atmosphere. Toted skyward by the huge balloon on July 13, an onboard experiment aims to take the first high-resolution images of X-ray radiation […]
In charting the actions of future foot soldiers on Mars, the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) has been busily addressing knowledge gaps for planetary protection of the Red Planet. Established in 1958, COSPAR is a prestigious scientific confab of international researchers, anchored in tackling problems that may affect space exploration. A COSPAR Principles and Guidelines […]
Wait-a-minute: A misbehaving SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage has led to Starlink satellites each taking destructive dives, willy-nilly style, into the Earth’s atmosphere. The July 11 liftoff of the SpaceX Starlink Group 9-3 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California was a definite dud, with several of the 20 Starlinks already nearing their plunge […]
Inspiration4 was the world’s first all-civilian mission to climb into orbit, a four-person crew transported skyward atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The privately-funded commercial mission took place September 16-18, 2021. The SpaceX Crew Dragon “Resilience” spacecraft was commanded by the well-heeled Jared Isaacman, entrepreneur, founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments. Get familiar […]
The Moon needs power! That’s the on-switch approach suggested in the House NASA Reauthorization Act of 2024. A “Lunar Power Purchase Agreement Program” is in the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee language just released. Independent entity It authorizes NASA to enter into an arrangement with an independent entity to conduct a study on the […]
“Above us in the heavens, an intergalactic land grab is unfolding,” explains an upcoming HBO documentary Wild Wild Space, premiering on HBO and Max next Wednesday, July 17. “It’s a fast-paced and high-stakes race in which rockets and satellites are taking over low earth orbit to gain control over our planet,” explains a press statement […]
Details regarding China’s plan to return samples from Mars spotlights the country’s work on planetary protection – not only to protect the Red Planet from hitchhiking Earth microbes but also guard our biosphere and we Earthlings from the prospect of hauling back Mars biology. The importance of planetary protection in China’s deep space exploration plans […]
A general schedule for the creation of the Russian orbital station has been approved. Along with Roscosmos chief, Yuri Borisov, 19 general directors of the main cooperation enterprises recently inked the document. The deployment of the Russian station is planned to begin with the launch of the scientific and energy module in 2027. By 2030, […]
In outer space can you hear the sound from ballooning expectations? That “Noise of Summer” liftoff of Firefly’s launcher on July 3 from Vandenberg Space Force Base was loaded with eight CubeSats under NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI). One of the mini-spacecraft is a technology demonstration of a novel inflatable antenna for high-speed communications. Called […]
