May 7th, 2024
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Over the last number of years, our planet has become encircled by Starlink, OneWeb, and other “megaconstellation” satellites. Yes, the emergence of those megaconstellations offers great benefit for humanity. But in a wait-a-minute pause, there are also substantial costs, including the imposition on humankind’s ongoing and growing thirst for astronomical peering into the surrounding universe. […]
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NASA’s forward thinking Innovative Advanced Concepts program (NIAC) has selected six visionary concept studies for additional funding and development. And the winners are: Fluidic Telescope (FLUTE): Enabling the Next Generation of Large Space Observatories Pulsed Plasma Rocket: Shielded, Fast Transits for Humans to Mars is an innovative propulsion system The Great Observatory for Long Wavelengths […]
An international cadre of payload specialists aboard China’s outbound Chang’e-6 robotic Moon mission gathered last week in China’s Haikou City, the capital of Hainan Province. The Chang’e-6 lunar probe departed last week from the Wenchang Space Launch Site and is set to collect lunar samples from the far side of the Moon. Multiple international […]
From the Garage to Mars: Memoir of a Space Entrepreneur by Scott Tibbitts; HenschelHAUS Publishing (March 2024); 254 pages; softcover; $24.95. If you’ve got entrepreneurial dollars aligned with the needed spunk and spine to create a new space company, this book provides an insider, industrial strength look at what kind of roller coaster ride you […]
China’s second robotic mission to the Moon’s far side – Chang’e-6 – is en route to an impact crater known as the Apollo basin, located within the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin, selected as the primary target landing and sampling site for the lunar lander mission. After launch last Friday, Chang’e-6 is on track for a […]
In a post-flight analysis of the Artemis 1 uncrewed mission, NASA has identified more than 100 locations where ablative thermal protective material from the Artemis 1 Orion heat shield chipped away unexpectedly during reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. In classic “wait a minute” style, a NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) report has been issued […]
Today’s liftoff of China’s Chang’e-6 mission to the Moon is a signature statement for a much larger undertaking. If successful, China’s Change’-6 robotic exploration of the Moon serves as a direct link to the country’s intent to bring back to Earth samples from Mars. Moon unknowns According to James Head, noted Moon expert at Brown […]
China’s thirst and thrust to explore the Moon is ready for liftoff May 3. The Chang’e-6 lunar probe is to depart the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan Province. A recent trial run of the takeoff was carried out that also involved the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, the Xi’an Satellite Control Center, and the […]
In the on-going quest to unravel whether or not Mars is an extraterrestrial address for evidence of life, a handle-me-with-care credo needs to be applied to the Red Planet. Indeed, human exploration of that distant world poses risks to gathering possible evidence of life on Mars. Here on Earth, comparable sites of scientific interest […]
China’s Shenzhou-17 threesome returned to Earth today, parachuting safely into the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Shenzhou-17 crew members, Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, rocketed into Earth orbit last October, living and working aboard China’s space station for nearly a half-year. A well-rehearsed armada of search and […]
