Follow the launch on 30 July of a sophisticated telecommunications satellite capable of being completely repurposed while in space.
Space News & Blog Articles
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SpaceX stretches rocket reuse record with another Starlink launch
ESA has successfully operated a spacecraft with Europe’s next-generation mission control system for the first time. The powerful software, named the 'European Ground System - Common Core' (EGS-CC), will be the ‘brain’ of all European spaceflight operations in the years to come, and promises new possibilities for how future missions will fly.
“All eyes on weather” for Friday test launch of Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is stacked on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral. Credit: Boeing/Damon Tucci
The threat of lightning could thwart plans to launch an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Friday with a Boeing commercial crew capsule on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station, according to the forecasters on the Space Coast.
There is a 60% chance that weather could prevent liftoff at 2:53 p.m. EDT (1853 GMT) Friday, when the Atlas 5 has an instantaneous opportunity to launch on a trajectory to allow the Starliner spacecraft to intercept the space station Saturday.
If launch occurs on time, the Starliner spacecraft is set to dock with the station at 3:06 p.m. EDT (1906 GMT) Saturday. The capsule is scheduled to undock and return to Earth for a parachute-assisted landing in New Mexico on Aug. 5.
But that assumes weather cooperates for Friday’s launch attempt.
“It kind of feels like all eyes are on weather at this point,” said Will Ulrich, launch weather officer at the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron. “Anytime me and my colleagues see a launch being put on the schedule or on the calendar during the summer months from Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, we always have to be prepared for a challenge. And this particular launch is no different, especially given the time of the instantaneous launch window just before 3 p.m.”
Magnetic "Spoon" Feeds Supermassive Black Hole
The Space.com Forums are giving away a SpaceX Crew-3 prize pack to get ready for the planned Oct. 31, 2021 launch of four astronauts to the International Space Station.
25 weird and wild solar system facts
On Monday (July 26), astronauts said goodbye to a cornerstone of the International Space Station and captured stunning images of the compartment burning up in Earth's atmosphere.
SpaceX is about to begin launching the next series of Starlink satellites
A Starlink ground terminal. Credit: SpaceX
After going through July with no launches, SpaceX is scheduled to resume missions in August with Falcon 9 rocket flights from California and Florida to commence deployment of the next generation of Starlink internet satellites.
SpaceX is gearing up for at least two Starlink launches next month, beginning with a Falcon 9 mission departing from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, no earlier than Aug. 10, multiple sources said. Another Falcon 9 launch is scheduled to carry a batch of Starlink satellites into orbit in mid-August.
They will be the first SpaceX launches since June 30, an unusually long gap in the company’s jam-packed launch schedule. The most recent Falcon 9 mission to carry a full load of Starlink satellites occurred May 26.
Since then, SpaceX has activated hundreds of internet spacecraft delivered to orbit on previous Falcon 9 missions, raising the number of operational Starlink craft from roughly 950 satellites to more than 1,300, according to an analysis by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and a widely-respected tracker of spaceflight activity
More than 200 additional Starlink satellites are drifting into their operational positions in orbit 341 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth at an inclination of 53 degrees to the equator.
Jeff Bezos asks NASA for moon lander contract, offers to cover billions in costs
Hot on the heels of its first crewed flight to suborbital space, Blue Origin reiterated that it wants a NASA moon lander contract — and stressed that it's willing to put a lot of its own money into the effort.
Fireball streaks across North Texas, creating light show and sonic boom
A fireball streaked across North Texas last night, leading to several hundred witness reports of a bright flash and sonic boom.
SpaceX retires giant net boats that caught rocket nose cones
SpaceX has retired its two rocket nose-cone-catching boats with their giant arms and nets.
Watch the trailer for 'Return to Space' on Netflix chronicling SpaceX's historic 1st astronaut launch
In the wisp-thin sky of Jupiter's moon Ganymede, the largest satellite in the solar system, astronomers have for the first time detected evidence of water vapor, a new study finds.
Lunar Rovers Could be Dropped Into Lava Tubes to Explore Their Depths
In some planetary systems, the direction that a star spins and the direction its planets orbit don’t always line up. A new study explores what we can learn from these nonconformists.
The post A Pileup of Perpendicular Planets appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
German X-ray space telescope captures most complete map of black holes ever
A German X-ray mission is mapping the distribution of black holes and neutron stars in the Universe, having discovered over two million such new objects in less than two years since its launch.
Europe Launches its new Robotic arm, Which Will Crawl Around the International Space Station Like an Inchworm
The robotic arms of the ISS are some of its most useful tools. The arms, designed by Canadian and Japanese space agencies, have been instrumental in ferrying around astronauts and shepherding modules to one side of the ISS. However, the Russian segment lacked its own robotic arm – until a new one designed by ESA was launched last week.
The European Robotic Arm (ERA) will arrive at the ISS on July 29th along with Nauka, the Laboratory Module it is attached to the outside of. With the help of 5 expected space walks, the arm will soon be commissioned and will start on its first tasks – getting Nauka’s airlock up and running so it can become a permanent part of the station, and installing a large radiator to help handle the increased cooling load of the station.
Diagram of the newly upgraded ISS – including the ERA and Nauka modules (lower left).Credit – ESA
As part of those projects, ERA will get to show off its skills. Those include acting like an inchworm, moving hand over hand around the Nauka module. In addition, it is the first arm to be controllable from either inside or outside the station, and that control will allow astronauts and cosmonauts to move up to 8000 kg within 5mm of a desired location.
In fact, that level of accuracy doesn’t even need to be manually controlled – the ERA is autonomous and can run strictly off written step-by-step commands. Its seven degrees of freedom and 9.7 meter reach allow it to access even outside its home module. Made of carbon fiber and aluminum, it is also strong enough to handle the wear and tear of space, and hopefully the impacts of debris that have affected other arms.
If you want to see the newly upgraded ISS – UT has a video for that.Such impressive specifications took a lot of effort – 14 years of development from 22 companies spread over seven European countries. But it is part of a larger push to translate the ISS into a more commercially friendly space, with additional research bays, upgraded data links, and external research platforms.
Flashing meteor that exploded over Norway landed somewhere in a nearby forest
Scientists believe the ultra-fast object landed in a densely-forested area near the capital, Oslo. It could take up to ten years to find.
Stars: Facts about stellar formation, history and classification
The hit-horror survival game is coming to next-gen.
We found a new type of stellar explosion that could explain a 13-billion-year-old mystery of the Milky Way’s elements
Until recently it was thought neutron star mergers were the only way heavy elements (heavier than zinc) could be produced.
8 ways life would get weird on a flat Earth
Earth is spherical, but what would happen if the Earth were flat? We explore some of the bizarre implications of a flat world which would make life as we know it virtually impossible.
New FAA rules change who qualifies for commercial astronaut wings
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has changed their qualifications for commercial astronaut wings, and Blue Origin's first flight crew might no longer be eligible. That, however, doesn't change whether or not they are astronauts.
In photos: Blue Origin's 1st New Shepard passenger launch with Jeff Bezos
Blue Origin made history on July 20, 2021 with the launch of its New Shepard rocket on its first crewed spaceflight.
Perseverance is About to Collect the First Sample on Mars That Could Eventually be Returned to Earth
On Feb. 18th, 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover landed within the Jezero Crater on Mars. Like its predecessor, Curiosity, a fellow member of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program (MEP), the goal of Perseverance is to seek out evidence of possible life on Mars (past and present). A key part of this mission will be the first sample return ever performed on Mars, where samples obtained by Perseverance will be placed in a cache for later retrieval and return to Earth.
For the past five months, mission controllers at NASA have been driving the rover further from where it landed (Octavia E. Butler Landing Site) and conducting test flights with the Ingenuity helicopter. NASA is now in the midst of making final preparations for Perseverance to collect its first sample of Martian rock. This historic first is expected to begin by the end of the month or by early August and will culminate with the return of the samples to Earth by 2031.
This rock will come from an area known as the “Cratered Floor Fractured Rough,” a 4 km2 (1.5-square-mile) patch of crater floor that may contain Jezero’s deepest and most ancient layers of exposed bedrock. These rocks will also be the most significant sample return since the Apollo astronauts brought rocks back from the Moon. These samples are still teaching us things about the formation of the Earth-Moon System and the evolution of the Solar System.
Still from the interactive map showing the location of the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter. Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechSaid Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters, in a recent NASA press release:
“When Neil Armstrong took the first sample from the Sea of Tranquility 52 years ago, he began a process that would rewrite what humanity knew about the Moon. I have every expectation that Perseverance’s first sample from Jezero Crater, and those that come after, will do the same for Mars. We are on the threshold of a new era of planetary science and discovery.”
