March 17th, 2024
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China has reportedly embarked on a magnetic levitation (MagLev) system using an electromagnetic catapult to hurl a 50-ton space plane down a track at speeds up to Mach 1.6. At the rail gun’s end, the space plane would use a propulsion system to reach orbit. The South China Morning Post reports work on the idea […]
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A Long March-8 Y3 booster is being prepped for sendoff at China’s Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan Province. The Queqiao-2 spacecraft is expected to be launched in the next several days, states the China National Space Administration (CNSA). If successfully lofted, Queqiao-2 — or Magpie Bridge-2 – is built to serve as […]
That milestone-making third test flight of the SpaceX Starship involved mishaps with the Super Heavy booster and the Starship vehicle. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is “overseeing the SpaceX-led mishap investigation to ensure the company complies with its FAA-approved mishap investigation plan and other regulatory requirements,” according to the federal organization. Public safety In […]
It has been a rough and tumble start for hurling hardware and science experiments to the Moon under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, dubbed CLPS. Under CLPS, American vendors have been contracted to assist the space agency in “re-booting” the Moon no earlier than September 2026 by way of an Artemis crew landing at […]
The launch of SpaceX’s Starship OFT-3 has been given a go by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as cited in a FAA License Modification Approval dated March 13, 2024. “The FAA is authorizing the SpaceX Starship Super Heavy Orbital Flight Test 3 (OFT-3) launch. The FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental, policy and financial […]
The Red Planet continues to surprise us. New research has unveiled a giant volcano and possible sheet of buried glacier ice. Viewed as a groundbreaking announcement, the site on Mars for this new big reveal is in the eastern part of Mars’ Tharsis volcanic province, near the planet’s equator. Due to its eroded, tough-to-spot nature, […]
The 14th Mars Analog Mission of the Austrian Space Forum is starting today, carried out in cooperation with the Armenian Space Agency. This analog test site is within the province of Ararat, chosen for its geological and topographic similarity to Mars and led by a dedicated Mission Support Center in Austria. The Austrian Space Forum […]
That nearly 3-ton leftover tossed overboard from the International Space Station years ago has made a destructive plunge to Earth. That multi-ton Exposed Pallet 9 (EP9) carrying 5,800 pounds of batteries was jettisoned in 2021 from the space station using the Canada-supplied robotic arm. The Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC), based at Vandenberg […]
While the just-issued U.S. Department of Defense report on aerial strangeness found no link to extraterrestrial visitation, don’t tell that to the Roswell Police Department (RPD) in New Mexico. Roswell is long associated with a reported 1947 site of an out-of-control UFO and its travel weary pilots. Dutifully, Roswell’s police have a new official patch […]
A nearly 3-ton leftover tossed overboard from the International Space Station is nearing its plunge toward Earth. The multi-ton Exposed Pallet 9 (EP9) was jettisoned from the space station back in March 2021. At the time, it was reported to be the most massive object ever tossed overboard from the International Space Station. Disposing of […]
