SpaceX Falcon Heavy seen from space waiting on launch pad (photos)

Before SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy made its seventh flight to space, space decided to send some Falcon Heavy to Earth.  In photographs beamed back from one of Maxar Technologies’ imaging satellites, SpaceX’s heavy-lift Falcon Heavy rocket can be seen standing at Launch Launch Complex-39A, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, in Florida.  SpaceX was poised to launch Falcon Heavy Wednesday night, but was scrubbed barely a minute before liftoff. Another attempt will occur Thursday night at 11:04 p.m. ET (0304 UTC on July 28). The rocket’s payload, the Jupiter 3 communications satellite,…

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China begins trial operations with world’s largest solar telescope array

The world’s largest array of sun-monitoring radio telescopes has begun trial operations in southwest China. The Daocheng Solar Radio Telescope (DSRT) consists of 313 dishes, each with a diameter of 19.7 feet (6 meters), forming a circle with a circumference of 1.95 miles (3.14 kilometers). A 328-feet-high (100 m) calibration tower stands in the center of the ring. The array has undergone half a year of debugging and testing, demonstrating the capability to consistently and reliably monitor solar activity with high precision. Trial operations officially started July 14, according to…

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SpaceX aiming for record-breaking launch doubleheader tonight

SpaceX aims to pull off an unprecedented launch doubleheader tonight (July 27). Elon Musk’s company plans to launch 22 of its Starlink internet satellites atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station tonight at 10:20 p.m. EDT (0220 GMT on July 28).  Then, a Falcon Heavy carrying the huge Jupiter 3 communications satellite is scheduled to lift off during a 99-minute window that opens at 11:04 p.m. EDT (0304 GMT on July 28) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, which is also on Florida’s Space Coast. We…

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Interns Flying High

NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) interns Dorothy Sue Grimmer and Victoria Tran pose for a photo in front of the Dynamic Aviation B200 ahead of their morning research flight on Tuesday, June 13, 2023.

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How long does it take to get to the moon?

If you wanted to go to the moon, how long would it take?  Well, the answer depends on a number of factors ranging from the positions of Earth and the moon, to whether you want to land on the surface or just zip past, and especially to the technology used to propel you there. The average travel time to the moon (providing the moon is your intended destination), using current rocket propulsion is approximately three days. The fastest flight to the moon without stopping was achieved by NASA’s New Horizons…

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When and where will Europe’s Aeolus wind satellite fall to Earth this week?

A European satellite is making a first-of-its kind return to Earth this week. The European Space Agency (ESA) is currently guiding its Aeolus wind-studying satellite down for a controlled destruction in Earth’s atmosphere. This strategy is a major shift for Aeolus, whose original end-of-life plan called for an unguided fall.  It’s also a milestone moment in spaceflight: No satellite has been deorbited in such an “assisted” fashion before, according to ESA. (Such maneuvers are common for rocket stages, which often steer themselves to safe reentries over the open ocean.) Here’s…

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