October 26th, 2023
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Earth orbit is a heavenly mess and getting messier. Decades of human-made detritus already encircles our planet in the form of clutter – be it discarded rocket stages, aging or lifeless satellites, and other sorts of garbage. Orbital debris persists and the problem is growing exponentially as space becomes ever more crowded. For instance, there’s […]
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Sent skyward earlier this month, NASA’s outbound Psyche spacecraft is making its way to a unique asteroid of the same name. It is supposedly sporting a metal core that some space miners hungrily value at many trillions of dollars. The object is viewed as a mother lode of high iron-nickel metal. By August 2029, the […]
China has revealed the Shenzhou-17 crew slated for launch to the country Tiangong space station: A trio of former fighter pilots, Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin, are set to carry out the mission. Commander Tang will also be the first astronaut to return to China’s space station. His launch sets a new record […]
NASA’s Perseverance rover is scurrying around on the Red Planet, wheeling and dealing with Jezero Crater and inspecting up-close the site of this former lake, perchance with beach-front property. Newly found by the Mars machinery are eye-catching circular rock structures. They are attention-grabbers for good reason. They resemble ones formed by microbial communities in […]
As newly posted by NASA/JPL, the Ingenuity Mars helicopter at Jezero Crater flew Flight #63 on October 19th. The craft covered a horizontal distance of roughly 1,901 feet (579 meters); reached an altitude of approximately 39 feet (12 meters); taking to the thin martian air for 142.6 seconds. The official […]
Leave behind those rocket fuel tanks that are topped off with propellant on the launch pad. To get into Earth orbit might be just a high-speed spin away. At Spaceport America in New Mexico a huge centrifuge has been installed and a series of tests have already flung rockets high into Earth’s atmosphere. […]
Launch preparations are in full-swing in China, readying rocket and the three-person Shenzhou-17 crew for a reported October 25 sendoff. A set of comprehensive pre-launch tests were conducted Sunday at the launching area in northwest China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. According to China Central Television (CCTV), the trio of still-unidentified Shenzhou-17 astronauts participated in a […]
Russia’s re-rendezvous with Moon exploration, despite the crash of its Luna-25 lander, has produced an informative scientific result. Prior to Luna-25’s smashing encounter with the Moon on August 19, the probe imaged the Zeeman crater on August 17. Using the craft’s Service Television System (STS-L), the imagery was compared to available data on the […]
Following a hold at 5-seconds before liftoff, India’s TV D1 test flight was accomplished. Thanks to a quick rocket check and turnaround, the vehicle did launch at 10 am (India Time), demonstrating the crew escape system as intended. “Mission Gaganyaan gets off on a successful note,” reported the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Project Gaganyaan […]
“Capsule is turning around. Oh, that view is tremendous.” This comment from space about the Earth came over 6 decades ago, voiced by John Glenn, America’s first person to circuit the Earth back in February 1962. That off-Earth outlook has now been uttered by hundreds of people hurled high above the planet on both […]
