The Holy Stone HS700E has its pros and cons but comes in at a competitive price that could be attractive to beginners.
Space News & Blog Articles
Tune into the SpaceZE News Network to stay updated on industry news from around the world.
NASA and DARPA will build a nuclear rocket by 2027
NASA and DARPA announced a collaboration to demonstrate a working nuclear thermal rocket by 2027 with the goal of sending humans to Mars as quickly as possible.
An asteroid will pass close by Earth this week. Here's how to watch it live
Asteroid 2023 BU will pass Earth at a distance of 2,178 miles (3,506 kilometers) on Thursday (Jan. 26) — closer than satellites in geostationary orbit.
Astronomers can't wait to search for signs of life and massive black-hole mergers
From black holes to the search for life, scientific breakthroughs are on the horizon as new observatories come online.
New Galileo service set to deliver 20 cm accuracy
Galileo’s capabilities have grown with the addition of a new High Accuracy Service, freely available worldwide to anyone with a suitably equipped receiver. Delivering horizontal accuracy down to 20 cm and vertical accuracy of 40 cm, the High Accuracy Service is enabled through an additional level of real-time positioning corrections, delivered through a new data stream within the existing Galileo signal.
See Venus and Saturn together beneath the crescent moon tonight (Jan. 24)
Venus and Saturn will appear close together in the night sky on Tuesday (Jan. 24) beneath a crescent moon.
Save $1000 on the Unistellar eQuinox computerized telescope
Get a massive $1000 discount on this highly sophisticated eQuinox telescope and save a ton of money.
The moon will eclipse Uranus Saturday (Jan. 28)
Get your telescopes ready: Uranus will disappear behind the moon on Saturday (Jan. 28) and the event will be visible to a select few in Asia or the far north of the world.
Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron review
The new range of highly detailed Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron miniature ships from Jazwares are loaded with play features and let you bring home the battle against the Empire.
Saturn IB rocket no longer safe to keep standing at Alabama rest stop
A roadside rocket display that has stood as a welcome sign for drivers entering the state of Alabama is no longer safe to be left standing, according to NASA and the museum charged with its care.
Classified Chinese satellite releases small object in orbit
A classified Chinese technology verification satellite that launched earlier this month has released an object into orbit alongside it, for reasons that remain mysterious.
How ESA works with the EU to advance European space
ESA has formed a formidable partnership with the EU to secure the future of Europe in space, developing Earth observation, navigation, secure connectivity and space entrepreneurship, people attending the 15th European space conference held on 24 and 25 January in Brussels will hear.
SpaceX fuels up fully stacked Starship vehicle for 1st time ever (video)
SpaceX fueled up a fully stacked Starship for the first time ever on Monday (Jan. 23), notching a huge milestone on the path toward the vehicle's debut orbital flight.
Another countdown begins for Rocket Lab’s first launch from Virginia
Three small satellites for the U.S. company HawkEye 360 are awaiting liftoff on Rocket Lab’s first mission from U.S. soil. Credit: Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab is set to fill up its small Electron launcher with propellant fire it into space from Virginia Tuesday evening with three commercial satellites, the company’s second try to launch its first mission from U.S. soil after bad weather thwarted attempts last month.
The California-based launch provider has a two-hour window to send the Electron rocket into orbit Tuesday. The launch window opens at 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT), and forecasters expect a 90% chance of favorable conditions for liftoff.
The 59-foot-tall (18-meter) rocket will take off powered by nine kerosene-fueled Rutherford engines, built at Rocket Lab’s headquarters in Long Beach, California. The Electron launcher will head southeast over the Atlantic Ocean with more than 50,000 pounds of thrust, then separate its first stage to fall into the sea. An upper stage engine will fire to place the mission’s three commercial payloads into a parking orbit, then a final maneuver by the rocket’s kick stage is required before releasing the satellites about an hour into the flight.
The launch Tuesday will be the 33rd Rocket Lab mission, and the first from the company’s new launch site in Virginia, called Launch Complex 2. All of the previous Rocket Lab flights originated from Launch Complex 1, the company’s privately-owned spaceport on the North Island of New Zealand.
Rocket Lab scrubbed a launch attempt in Virginia on Dec. 18 due to unfavorable upper level winds. Poor weather the next few days also prevented the rocket from getting off the ground, forcing Rocket Lab to reschedule the flight for a different launch period this month.
Hidden, never-before-seen penguin colony spotted from space
Satellite photos showing poop stains in the West Antarctic snow and ice have revealed a previously unknown breeding colony of emperor penguins.
United Launch Alliance's 1st Vulcan Centaur rocket arrives in Florida for debut flight
The first of a new generation of United Launch Alliance rockets has arrived at its Florida spaceport to prepare for a debut flight.
A Novel Propulsion System Would Hurl Hypervelocity Pellets at a Spacecraft to Speed it up
Today, multiple space agencies are investigating cutting-edge propulsion ideas that will allow for rapid transits to other bodies in the Solar System. These include NASA’s Nuclear-Thermal or Nuclear-Electric Propulsion (NTP/NEP) concepts that could enable transit times to Mars in 100 days (or even 45) and a nuclear-powered Chinese spacecraft that could explore Neptune and its largest moon, Triton. While these and other ideas could allow for interplanetary exploration, getting beyond the Solar System presents some major challenges.
As we explored in a previous article, it would take spacecraft using conventional propulsion anywhere from 19,000 to 81,000 years to reach even the nearest star, Proxima Centauri (4.25 light-years from Earth). To this end, engineers have been researching proposals for uncrewed spacecraft that rely on beams of directed energy (lasers) to accelerate light sails to a fraction of the speed of light. A new idea proposed by researchers from UCLA envisions a twist on the beam-sail idea: a pellet-beam concept that could accelerate a 1-ton spacecraft to the edge of the Solar System in less than 20 years.
The concept, titled “Pellet-Beam Propulsion for Breakthrough Space Exploration,” was proposed by Artur Davoyan, an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The proposal was one of fourteen proposals chosen by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program as part of their 2023 selections, which awarded a total of $175,000 in grants to develop the technologies further. Davoyan’s proposal builds on recent work with directed-energy propulsion (DEP) and light sail technology to realize a Solar Gravitational Lens.
Image of a gravitationally-lensing galaxy creating an Einstein Ring. Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble
As Prof. Davoyan told Universe Today via email, the problem with spacecraft is that they are still beholden to the Rocket Equation:
2 massive 'active regions' on the sun have rotated into Earth's view
Solar activity increased on Jan. 13 as massive active regions of the sun rounded its east limb to face Earth.
Bresser Junior Astro Planetarium Deluxe star projector review
This Bresser planetarium star projector, designed for kids, has true to life projections, a five year warranty and is simple to operate.
Rocket Lab now targeting Jan. 24 for 1st-ever launch from US
Bad weather has pushed Rocket Lab's first-ever launch from U.S. soil back a day, to Tuesday (Jan. 24).
