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Rocket Lab delays its Venus atmospheric probe mission
Last year, Rocket Lab announced that it would embark on an ambitious mission to send a small probe to Venus to hunt for organic molecules in its atmosphere.
Watch SpaceX's all-civilian Inspiration4 spaceflight here at 8PM ET
SpaceX is making history by launching the first ever all-civilian mission to orbit, and you can watch it happen live.
SpaceX successfully launches four astronauts into orbit for ISS rendezvous
SpaceX has successfully launched four astronauts into orbit en route to the International Space Station (ISS) and stuck the landing with the Falcon 9's first stage booster.
Astrobotic’s tiny Moon rover is on its way to NASA for testing
Astrobotic's lunar CubeRover is heading to Kennedy Space Center for testing.
NASA's SpaceX Crew Dragon astronauts will return to Earth on August 2nd
NASA is planning for the SpaceX Crew Dragon to return to Earth on August 2nd.
Two more astronauts join SpaceX's first crewed mission to the ISS
Two more astronauts have been assigned to the first operational crewed flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA astronaut Shannon Walker and Noguchi Soichi, of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), will join NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover Jr., who were assigned to the mission in 2018. If all goes according to plan, this will be the first in a series of regular Crew Dragon flights to the ISS, NASA said in a press release.
US Space Force will send its first satellite into space today
The US Space Force will kick off its first National Security Mission this afternoon. It's sending a Lockheed Martin Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF-6) satellite into orbit, onboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. The satellite will provide next-gen military communications, and it could prove that Space Force isn't just a Trump administration pipe dream.
The ExoMars rover mission has been postponed until 2022 for further testing
The ExoMars mission to carry a rover to the red planet will not launch this year as planned, according to the European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia's Roscosmos. The agencies announced that several components of the spacecraft, particularly the parachutes, still need testing. That means they'll miss the planned 2020 launch window and will need to wait for the next opportunity happening sometime between August and October 2022.
Boeing’s Starliner will not reach the ISS in its first test flight
Early this morning, Boeing launched the Starliner capsule for its first uncrewed test flight. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned and while the Starliner made it into orbit, it did not achieve the correct orbit.
India’s lunar lander crashed within 500 meters of its target
In September, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) lost contact with its Vikram lander as it was making its descent to the lunar surface. If you were one of the people who guessed that Vikram crashed, you are correct. In a report to lawmakers, ISRO has confirmed that Vikram did indeed "hard land."
NASA ramps up its efforts to understand space weather
This week, NASA selected three proposals for missions that could help us better understand the Sun-driven space weather that occurs near Earth. Space weather, like solar flares, can impact spacecraft and astronauts, and it has the potential to disable utility grids on the ground. As NASA prepares to send more astronauts to space and we become increasingly reliant on technology, the need to protect both has become more pressing.
SpaceX 'rideshare' program launches satellites for just $2.5 million
For space tech startups and other small companies doing research, one of the biggest hurdles is actually getting to space. SpaceX is looking to change that. Today, it announced a SmallSat Rideshare Program, which will allow small satellite operators to book a spot on regularly scheduled Falcon 9 launches.
European astronauts plan to take pics of a comet from the dawn of time
The European Space Agency (ESA) hopes to photograph a yet-to-be-discovered comet as it approaches Earth's orbit for the first time. To do so, it's developing "Comet Interceptor," a composite made of three individual spacecraft, which will separate to snap photos of the comet from multiple perspectives. The photos will be used to create a 3D model, and ESA hopes to spot material from the dawn of the Solar System.
Christina Koch will set a record for longest spaceflight by a woman
Thanks to NASA's recent schedule changes, astronaut Christina Koch will soon hold the record for the longest space flight by a woman. Koch arrived at the International Space Station on March 14 and has already conducted one spacewalk. She'll now remain in orbit until February 2020, and she'll surpass the current record, which is 288 days, held by Peggy Whitson. But Koch will fall just short of the longest spaceflight by a NASA astronaut -- Scott Kelly's 340-day trip.
Watch SpaceX launch a reused capsule on a recycled rocket
SpaceX is making an historic first on Wednesday, when it gets one step closer towards realizing its vision of reusable space launch gear. The private space company is launching a space station resupply mission using a refurbished Dragon spacecraft and a previously-flown Falcon 9 booster. Dragon will spend around a month at the International Space Station unloading supplies and filling up with return cargo before returning to Earth, while SpaceX plans to recover Falcon 9 by landing it at its LZ-1 facility at Cape Canaveral. Both parts have been used on other resupply missions before, and if SpaceX's dreams come to fruition, they'll be used again. Watch them blast off live on Wednesday December 13 at 11:24 AM EST (08:24 AM PST).
Nixon's Android Wear smartwatch is water resistant up to 100 meters
A number of smartwatches tout activity tracking and sporty looks, but Nixon is looking to offer more for folks who like to take the action outdoors. The watchmaker is jumping on the wearable tech bandwagon with the $400 Mission: an Android Wear device that touts a 10-ATM water resistance rating, which means it'll hold up in depths of up to 100 meters. Nixon says this is the highest rating for any smartwatch. To put that designation to the test, the Mission offers both surfers and snowboarders/skiers up-to-date info on conditions around the world through a pair of pre-loaded apps.
Our ongoing missions to Mars are over 50 years in the making
A deep space mission to Mars will require more than a few bottles of Poland Spring and water reclamation is a complicated business. Luckily, recent research is showing that liquid water may be more prevalent on the red planet than previously thought. Gathering the data that led to this discovery (amongst many others) didn't just happen overnight. It's the result of over 50 years' worth of missions from Earth with sights set on Mars, not all of which were successful. We've collected some highlights from humankind's long history of hurling spacecraft toward the fourth planet from the sun, and the good news is: We're getting better at it.
Carl Sagan's solar-powered spacecraft is in trouble (update: it's alive!)
The test flight of Carl Sagan's LightSail craft is in jeopardy after a computer problem left it unable to communicate with its mission controllers. According to the Planetary Society, the hardware was launched into space with an older version of its Linux-based operating system, which shipped with a serious glitch. As the vehicle circuits the planet, it's meant to send back a packet of data, but over the first two days, this file grew too big for the system to handle. As such, it crashed, although we mean that in the software sense, rather than the coming-back-to-Earth-with-a-bump sense.
NASA wants to build airship cities in the Venus sky
Since Venus is closer to Earth than Mars -- both in size and distance -- it would be a much more convenient candidate for manned exploration. There's just a slight hitch: the average temperature is 850 degrees F, and the atmosphere is 90 times denser than ours. In other words, you'd die in the opposite way that Quaid nearly did in Total Recall. Probes have been sent to the planet's surface, but the Russian Venera 13 survived the longest at just 127 minutes in 1982. As it does, NASA has figured a way around all that. In IEEE Spectrum, it outlined a study called HAVOC to build a floating "city" of astronaut-manned zeppelins that would hover 30 miles above the planet.
The Secret World adds new mission for the Halloween season [Updated]
The Secret World's Halloween offerings are expanding this year with a new mission chain called The Broadcast on October 20th that sends players to investigate mysterious radio signals affecting the dead. Funcom said that it will also be offering "a new loot setup" for the holiday as well as the return of the Cat God and Spooky Stories missions. Today's newsletter also announced a special double AP golden weekend starting on October 9th that will feature the encore of the golden guardian fight. Producer Joel Bylos spent some time in the letter discussing Issue #10, of which he said that the team is working on a nightmare monster section for Tokyo, postponing the release of the new auxiliary weapon, and allowing players more freedom to customize their user interfaces. [Update: Funcom has delayed the Halloween events but expects them to go live before Halloween itself.]
