Intuitive Machines has won a NASA contract worth up to $4.8 billion to provide communications and navigation services at the moon to support Artemis.
War games analyze a scenario where China disables Taiwan's communications networks in order to invade the country.
"The business model had to change."
Companies that are fielding new launch vehicles are now facing the challenge of scaling up operations to meet the continued high demand for them.
"Authorities will have high-resolution imagery that is updated globally every 20 minutes."
Pressure is mounting on the Federal Communications Commission to do more to protect the environment from rising megaconstellations.
European officials say a software change should fix a problem on the inaugural Ariane 6 launch in July that kept the rocket’s upper stage from restarting.
Constellations in non-geostationary orbit are set to overtake geostationary satellites in revenue by 2028, according to Novaspace research published Sept. 15.
As the solar wind moves away from the Sun, it cools slower than expected and…
A model of SpaceX's Starship Super Heavy rocket that will launch future Artemis missions to the moon has passed wind tunnel testing, marking another milestone in its development.
They flew high, they walked in space, and finally early on Sunday, they landed.
United Airlines is replacing multiple geostationary operators with Starlink in SpaceX’s largest aviation Wi-Fi deal, shaking up the last satellite broadband market where the low Earth orbit constellation had yet to gain significant traction.
NASA pushes back on audit overload, but accountability remains essential
How the Space Force is gearing up for the electromagnetic battlefield in space.
A day after harsh criticism from Congress and industry, the FAA defended its approach to launch licensing and, specifically, its work with SpaceX.
"Today’s success represents a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry."
A new report concludes that infrastructure and workforce challenges will soon require NASA to make tough choices about what missions to conduct.
Landspace completes 10-kilometer reusable rocket test, eyes 2025 orbital launch Chinese launch startup Landspace conducted a 10-kilometer vertical liftoff, vertical landing test at Jiuquan spaceport Wednesday as it develops a reusable orbital rocket.
It's time to start taking this stuff seriously. Glad to hear it's in the works.
I LOVE that already there are enough commercial space missions happening that it's easy to get confused which one is which! The more the merrier imo :)
Thanks for sharing the video! I'm always interested in seeing mainstream coverage of this stuff. However, they really don't know what they're talking about. For example, the host says they're going to higher altitudes than the Apollo program, which is just utterly baloney. Really throws a wrench into the credibility of this news outlet, in my view at least.
As for whether this mission is risky, yes it absolutely is. However, all manned space missions are risky and this one doesn't really have anything that makes it fundamentally unsafe.
Look, NASA sets objectives to accomplish its missions to the ISS, and they work with the engineers at SpaceX to figure out how to accomplish them as safely as possible. These Polaris missions are fascinating in that the objectives are set jointly between the SpaceX team and a paying customer.
The customer is interested in a few things, but it probably comes down to fame for doing new things. SpaceX is interested in developing the technologies and raising funds to get to Mars. Where their goals overlap is how we get the Polaris missions. I think that's pretty cool!
Just kidding...
https://x.com/rfa_space/status/1825634436794245548
On Monday evening, RFA conducted a hot fire of its first stage at their launch site at SaxaVord Spaceport.
This resulted in an anomaly that led to the loss of the stage. No one was injured in the process. The launch pad has been saved and is secured, the situation is under control and any immediate danger has been mitigated. We are now working closely with SaxaVord Spaceport and the authorities to gather data and info to eventually resolve what happened.
We will take our time to analyze and assess the situation.
We develop iteratively with an emphasis on real testing. This is part of our philosophy and we were aware of the higher risks attached to this approach. Our goal is to return to regular operations as soon as possible.
While the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is responsible for developing the satellite bus, Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) is in charge of the payloads.
SpaceX is just launching the satellites.
Think a booster will complete 25 flights by the end of the year? I think so. We're close!
Thanks! I've never modded(?) before but I'd be more than happy to give it a shot :)
Personally, I think it's a great thing that the US arguably has the best military surveillance and communication satellites. Certainly I prefer money going there than into literal bullets. In any case, doesn't this have nothing to do with space tourism?
Instant upvote. Well played, my friend, well played.
My dear friend, the report is factually false. I can't speak for others, but I personally find it to only be responsible to help dispel false news. And for what it's worth, Elon is an asshole in my view, but that is irrelevant in this context, wouldn't you agree?
As for the facts, you may check them yourself. Here is the actual application. Typo is on page 79, the actual figure is in the appendix on page 177.
Maybe you're wondering why I am keen on sharing all this. I am a big fan of spaceflight, it's just something I like and find inspiring. False reports that lean heavily on "Elon Musk bad" make the spacefaring future I'm rooting for more difficult to achieve. Surely it's ok to correct misinformation?
This community is awesome!
I post kind of a crazy amount, so if anyone wants to request that I do less of that, please let me know! (I'm also going to try to be more on-topic in the future.)
Thanks everyone for being so cool and for having a great time cheering for and discussing spaceflight. Ad astra!
I agree completely! Life is so cool. I would also say that we are a very, very long way from sending tons of dirt to Mars, but current probes are essentially sterilized, which adds billions to their cost, and for what?
Here is the actual application. Typo is on page 79, the actual figure is in the appendix on page 177.
https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1823378186836889699
CNBC updated its story yesterday with additional factually inaccurate information.
While there may be a typo in one table of the initial TCEQ's public version of the permit application, the rest of the application and the lab reports clearly states that levels of Mercury found in non-stormwater discharge associated with the water deluge system are well below state and federal water quality criteria (of no higher than 2.1 micrograms per liter for acute aquatic toxicity), and are, in most instances, non-detectable.
The initial application was updated within 30 days to correct the typo and TCEQ is updating the application to reflect the correction.
Planetary Protection is one of my absolute FAVORITE can of worms!! Obviously it is a good idea to be careful and mindful, but I personally believe that NASA's current policies are complete overkill.
Let's think this through. Why don't we want to bring earth life to another world?
Maybe because then we won't be able to tell whether it is indigenous or not? Baloney! Imagine you accidentally bring a lizard to an island that doesn't have them. If it is indigenous, there would be evidence of them being there in the past, through fossils or otherwise!
Maybe we don't want to infect any life that is on that other planet, that earth life could take over that ecosystem like an invasive species? Astronomically unlikely. All earth life is evolved to live in its specific environment and to interact with the species with which it has evolved alongside. As such, totally unrelated organisms form different planets would be so completely alien to each other that they would be unlikely to interact to begin with. Additionally Mars, for example, definitively has no macro-fauna or flora. As such, any possible microbes on Mars would be completely at a loss on how to interact with humans or indeed any earth life.
Finally, Earth and Mars, for example, exchange ~500 kilograms of material every year. Analysis shows that some of that material never exceeded a temperature high enough for sterilization. Thus, if there was any life on mars, it would have reached us by now, living in our biosphere along with us.
Anyways I'm a big nerd and I hope this stuff is interesting!