China is considering developing a fully reusable Long March 9 megarocket variant in the aftermath SpaceX’s Starship, a media report suggests. The Long March 9 would use the same fuel (methane-liquid oxygen, or methalox) as SpaceX’s Starship, which is tasked for deep-space missions and NASA’s human moon landings. The two designs share heavy-lift capabilities and fuel types, but beyond that their structure is wildly different. For example, Starship can do in-air flips during landing. The new Long March 9 design was revealed in a Chinese-language public lecture (available here (opens in…
Read MoreMonth: July 2022
Space Station Science Highlights: Week of July 18, 2022
Crew members aboard the International Space Station conducted scientific investigations during the week of July 18 that included examining immune system changes during spaceflight, studying formation of optical fibers in microgravity, and monitoring how impurities affect protein crystal growth.
Read More50 Years of Landsat
We’re celebrating 50 years of Landsat.
Read MoreThis Week’s Sky at a Glance, July 22 – 30
Bright Arcturus is still pretty high after dark, but as summer progresses, it moves down the western side of the evening sky. Its pale ginger-ale tint always helps identify it. The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, July 22 – 30 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreMars sample return details coming next week, NASA and European Space Agency promise
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have new details to share on how they will bring pieces of Mars to Earth, and they’ll share their plans next week. The agencies will hold a news conference about Mars sample return on Wednesday (July 27) at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), which you can watch here at Space.com or directly at the agency’s website (opens in new tab). The milestone project aims to bring Martian samples gathered by the Perseverance rover to Earth as early as 2033. The goal is to…
Read MoreNASA to Host Media Activities in Houston Ahead of Lunar Mission
Ahead of the Artemis I flight test, NASA is inviting media to its Johnson Space Center in Houston Friday, Aug. 5, for a detailed mission briefing and a behind-the-scenes look at facilities that will enable a long-term human presence at the Moon.
Read MoreSpaceX’s next astronaut launch for NASA slips to late September
SpaceX’s next Dragon passengers will need to wait a little longer to get off the ground. SpaceX and NASA will launch Crew-5, their next crewed mission to the International Space Station, no earlier than Sept. 29, according to a NASA statement (opens in new tab) released on Thursday (July 21). The delay will see the mission slip behind the next launch of astronauts on a Russian Soyuz vehicle. “A launch at the end of September will allow SpaceX to complete hardware processing and mission teams will continue to review the…
Read MoreNASA Selects Draper to Fly Research to Far Side of Moon
NASA has awarded Draper of Cambridge, Massachusetts a contract to deliver Artemis science investigations to the Moon in 2025.
Read MoreSpaceX aborts launch of Falcon 9 rocket carrying 46 Starlink satellites
SpaceX aborted the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of the company’s Starlink internet satellites just before liftoff on Thursday (July 21). The Falcon 9 rocket was just 46 seconds away from launch when mission controllers announced the abort. The rocket, which has flown three times before, was set to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission is carrying 46 of the company’s Starlink internet satellites and would have marked SpaceX‘s 32nd launch of 22, surpassing the company’s 2021 record of 31 launches. Following…
Read MoreNASA, ESA to Discuss Mars Sample Return Mission
NASA will host a media teleconference at 11 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, July 27, to discuss the architecture for its Mars Sample Return campaign.
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