The biggest airplane ever built, Stratolaunch’s Roc carrier aircraft, just aced its fourth test flight. Roc, which will eventually haul hypersonic vehicles into the air, successfully finished its latest flight on Thursday (Feb. 24), a jaunt that came on the heels of another test flight in January. Roc lifted off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California at 3:23 p.m. EST (1823 GMT) and stayed aloft for 1 hour and 43 minutes, reaching a maximum altitude of 15,000 feet (4,572 meters), Stratolaunch representatives said. The huge aircraft has…
Read MoreMonth: February 2022
NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission, 1st flight of new megarocket, won’t launch until May
NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission may end up being a summertime affair. An April launch is no longer possible for Artemis 1, which will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the moon using a huge Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, agency officials said today (Feb. 24). And May could be difficult to hit as well. “We continue to evaluate the May window, but we’re also recognizing that there’s a lot of work in front of us,” Tom Whitmeyer, deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development at NASA headquarters in Washington,…
Read MoreInspiring the Next Generation: Meet Three Space Station Women Engineers
Women of the International Space Station Program’s workforce are trailblazers and contribute to the success of the orbiting laboratory in remarkable ways. From program management to research or mission integration, the numerous space station teams are rich with women engineers.
Read MoreBlack Hole Spins Crookedly
Astronomers have found a black hole leaning decidedly askew in its orbit with a star. The post Black Hole Spins Crookedly appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreTed Brown: Artist of the Space Age
There are few artists in the aerospace industry whose career was as varied or accomplished as Ted Brown.
Read MoreIs our universe a holographic projection? Scientists are using black holes and quantum computing to find out.
What happens inside a black hole — and how does whatever goes on inside relate to the universe outside it? It’s a mystery that has evaded scientists for decades. It’s also a mystery that could also redefine how we think about the nature of the universe. In a paper published in the journal PRX Quantum on Feb. 10, physicists applied quantum computers and machine learning — the computational technology that powers facial recognition software and natural language processing — to test a possible connection. Black holes play by Einstein’s theory…
Read MoreRussian military could target satellites in Ukraine conflict, NRO chief warns: report
Various satellites could be targets of the Russian military as it invades Ukraine, said the head of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which operates the nation’s fleet of spy satellites. “I think we’re seeing pretty clearly that Russia is committed to doing what they want to do in Ukraine, and they want to win,” NRO Director Christopher Scolese said Wednesday (Feb. 23) at the National Security Space Association’s Defense and Intelligence Space Conference, SpaceNews reported. “So I think it’s fair to assume that, to the extent that they can,…
Read MoreA giant Mars dust pile is sculpted by the wind in this photo by a European probe
The Medusae Fossae Formation on Mars. (Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) An enormous dust deposit on Mars shows the power of Martian wind in a new image snapped from orbit. Standing on the surface of Mars is possibly the largest single dust source on the Red Planet: the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF). Shaped and sculpted by blowing winds over time, this mound of dust and surface material stretches out over 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) and lies nestled between Tharsis and Elysium, the planet’s most prominent volcanic areas. …
Read MoreFast Radio Burst’s Unlikely Home Puzzles Astronomers
Astronomers have found a fast radio burst — presumably a flash from a young stellar remnant — amongst the ancient stars of a globular cluster, challenging ideas about what produces these enigmatic flashes. The post Fast Radio Burst's Unlikely Home Puzzles Astronomers appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreNASA to Host Virtual Future of Aviation Showcase
Members of the media and public are invited to participate in NASA’s imaginAviation, a three-day virtual event that will focus on the future transformation of aviation that begins Tuesday, March 1.
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