spaceflight
Latest
Rocket Lab plans to send payloads to the Moon
Rocket Lab has been increasing the altitude of its missions in recent months, but now it wants to venture much, much farther. The private spaceflight firm now intends to help launch missions to higher Earth orbits, lunar orbit and even Lagrange points. It'll use a combination of Electron rockets, the Photon payload platform and a "dedicated bulk maneuver stage" to provide the new capabilities as soon as the fourth quarter of 2020.
Northrop's satellite life extension spacecraft launches on October 9th (updated)
Space junk is hard to completely avoid when satellites can only last so long, but that might not be a problem for much longer. Northrop Grumman and NASA are launching a "first-of-its-kind" service vessel, the Mission Extension Vehicle, aboard a Russian rocket on October 9th. The inaugural MEV-1 will dock with an Intelsat satellite in three months' time and provide life-extending services over five years. After that, it should be free to help other satellites -- it'll still have 10 years' worth of use after that.
Elon Musk hopes SpaceX's Starship will reach orbit in six months
Elon Musk's ambitious plans for Starship extend to the timeline for its first flights. As part of a Q&A session at SpaceX's presentation, Musk outlined plans for rapid prototyping that could get the vessel into space in a short time frame. Starship Mk1 (above) at Boca Chica, Texas should have a suborbital test flight within one to two months, the executive said. After that, a competing team in Cape Canaveral, Florida will conduct a similar test with a Mk2 ship as soon as November. Mk3 will start construction in October with aims to fly in December, while the competing Mk4 could come in January. If all goes well, either Mk3 or an eventual Mk5 would fly an orbital test within six months -- no small achievement when Starhopper only flew in August.
Watch SpaceX's Starship presentation at 9:15PM ET (updated)
SpaceX is close to outlining the next chapter for its Starship program, and you can hear about it at the same time as anyone else. The company is streaming its presentation on the "design and development" of Starship at 9PM Eastern, with Elon Musk shedding light on the vessel at the launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas. It's not clear exactly what Musk will discuss, although there have been some clues.
Get a glimpse of SpaceX's orbital Starship prototype under construction
You won't have to rely on spy shots to get a glimpse of SpaceX's orbital Starship prototype while it's under construction -- they're coming straight from the company's founder. Elon Musk has posted a pair of photos showing progress on the more ambitious spacecraft. The look won't startle anyone -- surprise, it's a much taller expansion of the Starhopper design. It does provide a good sense of scale, though, and it's a reminder that the finished Starship is meant to handle much more than putting satellites into service.
India found its missing Vikram lunar lander
India has located its Vikram lunar lander after losing contact, and the situation isn't looking great. Indian Space and Research Organization chairman K. Sivan said that cameras aboard the orbiter found the spacecraft and believed it had been a "hard landing." There were efforts in progress to contact the lander, Sivan said, although there hadn't been any sign of success as of this writing.
Divorce dispute leads to accusation of crime in space
This is one spaceflight milestone that NASA isn't about to celebrate. Former Air Force intelligence officer Summer Worden and her family have filed complaints accusing Worden's estranged spouse, astronaut Anne McClain (above), of committing a crime while in space. When McClain appeared to know of Worden's spending habits despite an ongoing separation battle, Worden found that McClain had accessed their still-linked bank account while aboard the International Space Station -- supposedly committing the crimes of identity theft and improper access to private financial records.
SpaceX Starman Roadster completes its first orbit around the Sun
Starman and his Tesla Roadster are now regular denizens of space. According to data from Where is Roadster, the cosmic driver has completed his first orbit around the Sun, taking 557 days since the first Falcon Heavy launch to circle our home star. Its path has taken it over 762 million miles since then, or enough to exceed its original 36,000-mile warranty over 21,000 times.
Rocket Lab will reuse its rockets by catching them with a helicopter
SpaceX won't be the only company reusing its rockets for payload deliveries. Rocket Lab has unveiled plans to recover the first stage of its Electron vehicle. The strategy's first phase will have Rocket Lab recovering the stage from the ocean and refurbishing it for later. A second phase will be more... audacious. The company intends to have the stage "captured mid-air" by a helicopter, with the aircraft hooking on to the rocket's parachute array during the descent. It won't be as elegant as SpaceX's rocket landings, but it will be efficient if it works as planned.
NASA's Orion crew capsule is ready for its uncrewed trip to the Moon
You knew the US wouldn't mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 without news about the country's next trip to the Moon. Both Lockheed Martin and NASA have confirmed completion of the Orion crew capsule that will play a key role in Artemis 1, the uncrewed mission that will fly past the Moon while verifying Orion, the Space Launch System and the associated support systems. Efforts are now focused on integrating the capsule with the service module and testing it ahead of launch processing in early 2020.
Watch astronauts reach space on Apollo 11's 50th anniversary
Earth is about to mark Apollo 11's 50th anniversary in one of the most fitting ways possible: sending people to space on the same day. NASA's Andrew Morgan (shown at left), Roscosmos' Alexander Skvortsov and the ESA's Luca Parmitano are launching on a trip to the International Space Station at 12:28PM ET today (July 20th), with NASA's live coverage starting at 11:30AM Eastern. The rendezvous with the ISS is slated for around 6:50PM ET. The crew will be joining NASA's current ISS residents Nick Hague and soon-to-be record setter Christina Koch, as well as Russia's Alexey Ovchinin.
NVIDIA revamps Moon landing recreation in time for Apollo 11's 50th
You knew NVIDIA couldn't resist reviving its GPU-based Apollo 11 recreation for the Moon landing's 50th anniversary. Sure enough, the tech firm has updated the demo to take advantage of its RTX ray tracing technology, allowing a more faithful rendition of the moment Buzz Aldrin followed Neil Armstrong to the lunar surface. The biggest improvement, as you might suspect, is the lighting. Real-time raytracing captures how the Sun's rays bounced off the lunar lander and even the spacesuits -- the glowing highlights and varied shadows are closer to what you saw in the TV footage and photos than the slightly dulled look of the 2014 demo.
Time says its AR depiction of Apollo 11 is the 'most accurate' yet
Time is joining Google in marking Apollo 11's 50th anniversary using augmented reality, although this one is decidedly different -- and may be particularly valuable if you're a history buff. The magazine has introduced a Landing on the Moon AR experience in the Time Immersive app for iOS (coming shortly for Android astronauts; the experience is also available in Engadget sister company Yahoo News's app) that lets you relive the landing (complete with audio), explore the lunar surface and even stand next to Neil Armstrong while he plants the flag.
SpaceX blames Crew Dragon explosion on an oxidizer leak
Months after the incident, SpaceX has an explanation for why its Crew Dragon capsule was destroyed during a test. The private spaceflight firm has determined that a "leaking component" allowed liquid oxidizer (specifically nitrogen tetroxide) to enter high-pressure helium tubes during ground processing. When some of this oxidizer was sent through a helium check valve during the launch escape system startup, it reacted with the valve's titanium and triggered an explosion.
NASA backs demo that will 3D-print spacecraft parts in orbit
NASA is expanding its efforts to bring 3D printing to space. The agency has given Made In Space a $73.3 million contract to demonstrate the ability to 3D-print spacecraft parts in orbit using Archinaut One (shown above), a robotic manufacturing ship due to launch in 2022 or later. The vessel will fly aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket and 3D-print two 32-foot beams on each side, with each unfurling two solar arrays. The completed arrays could produce up to five times more power than the solar panels you normally find on spacecraft this size, NASA said.
Watch India launch a historic Moon mission starting at 5PM ET (updated)
India is on the cusp of making space exploration history in more ways than one, and you might get to watch it first-hand. ISRO is livestreaming the launch of Chandrayaan-2, its second uncrewed mission to the Moon, starting at 5PM Eastern (liftoff is expected at 5:21PM Eastern). The trip is meant to deliver the VIkram lander and Pragyan rover to the Moon, making this India's first soft landing on the lunar surface using its own technology -- only the US, Russia and China have managed this feat so far. It's also the first soft landing attempt for any country at the Moon's South Pole, where Pragyan will study the chemistry, seismography and topography of the celestial body.
Virgin Orbit's first rocket drop test was a success
Virgin Orbit's first rocket drop test has gone off without a hitch. The company's Boeing 747 launch aircraft (Cosmic Girl) successfully dropped a dummy LauncherOne rocket from its wing above the Mojave Desert, bringing it one step closer to launching real payloads into space. The focus after this is on launching a real rocket, according to Virgin -- and it might come soon.
NASA reopens Apollo mission control in time for Moon landing anniversary
The fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing is rapidly approaching, and NASA is determined to mark it in a fitting way: by restoring the hub of Apollo's operations to its former glory. The agency has reopened Apollo mission control at the Johnson Space Center after a restoration that makes it look like it did in 1969. There's functioning electronics, familiar furniture and other attentions to detail. The New York Times noted that there are even period-appropriate soft drink cans and cigarettes.
India plans to launch space station by 2030
India's broadening spaceflight ambitions now include a longer-term presence in Earth's orbit. Indian Space Research Organization chief K Sivan (above) recently revealed plans to launch a space station around 2030. It will be a relatively small station where astronauts would only stay for 15 to 20 days, but that should be enough to allow microgravity experiments. India won't lean on other countries for help, Sivan said.
Watch SpaceX launch Earth observation satellites at 10:17AM ET
SpaceX is about to get your morning started in dramatic fashion (if you're in the Americas, that is). The private spaceflight outfit plans to launch Canada's RADARSAT Constellation Mission as soon as 10:17AM Eastern, with the satellites deploying in earnest 54 minutes after blastoff. The company is using the same Falcon 9 first stage that put the Crew Dragon demonstration mission into orbit back in March, and it expects to land the rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base.