Category: Solar System

Our solar system

SpaceX’s Starship won’t be licensed to fly again until late November, FAA says

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SpaceX’s Starship will be grounded for a while longer yet. Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — flew for the fourth time in June, and SpaceX has been gearing up for flight number five ever since. But that test mission is probably still at least 2.5 months away, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). “SpaceX must meet all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements prior to FAA launch authorization,” agency officials said in an emailed statement to Space.com on Wednesday (Sept. 11). “A final license…

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Sun fires off X-class solar flare, increasing aurora viewing chances into weekend

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A parade of solar activity continues to flow from the sun this week, opening up more chances to spot the aurora across the United States this weekend. On Thursday morning (Sept. 12), a sunspot region that has not been numbered yet made its presence known blasting off a X1.3 class solar flare. X-class solar flares are the most powerful of their kind, and are typically followed by a full or partial loss of high frequency (HF) radio signals for sunlit locations on our planet. The energetic eruption, which peaked at…

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SpaceX’s private Polaris Dawn astronauts talk US flag and kids’ books from orbit on historic spaceflight (videos)

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The private Polaris Dawn crew called home from space to share their historic mission with two nonprofit organizations close to their hearts. Polaris Dawn, funded and commanded by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, lifted off early Tuesday morning (Sept. 10) and has since accomplished the first commercial spacewalk and the highest orbit of a crewed vehicle since the Apollo years. But Isaacman and his crew also are supporting nonprofits through fundraising and public events to raise awareness. As an example, the four astronauts unveiled the U.S. flag in their SpaceX Crew…

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Watch SpaceX Polaris Dawn astronauts conduct 1st private spacewalk early Sept. 12

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The first-ever private spacewalk will happen early Thursday morning (Sept. 12), and you can watch the historic action live. The pioneering extravehicular activity (EVA) will be conducted by Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis, two members of the four-person Polaris Dawn mission, which launched to Earth orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early Tuesday morning (Sept. 10). The spacewalk is expected to start at 2:23 a.m. EDT (0623 GMT), according to SpaceX. You can watch it live here at Space.com or directly via the company. Coverage will begin around 1:20…

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NASA’s Voyager 1 probe swaps thrusters in tricky fix as it flies through interstellar space

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The distant and cold Voyager 1 spacecraft did a clever thruster trick to help it phone home. Voyager 1, the most distant human object that is now flying through interstellar space, had thruster issues making it difficult for the spacecraft to stay pointed at Earth when calling home. Unless Voyager 1 could make a switch to a different thruster set, the 47-year-old spacecraft would sail on alone without help from Earth. Making matters worse, Voyager 1 is so old that sudden changes could damage the spacecraft. “All the decisions we…

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NASA’s Juno probe spots massive new volcano on Jupiter moon Io

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Researchers have spotted a huge new active volcano on Jupiter’s moon Io by comparing images taken by two NASA missions more than a quarter of a century apart. The images of the new volcano were taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft and its JunoCam as it made a flyby of Io — the solar system’s most volcanic body — on Feb. 3 this year. The images were captured on the nightside of Io, illuminated only by reflected sunlight from Jupiter.  Comparison with Galileo spacecraft imagery of the same area, just south…

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Polaris Dawn crew flies higher than 1966 Gemini 11 orbital record

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A commercial space crew has flown higher above Earth than anyone who has traveled since the last Apollo astronauts went to the moon. The four members of the Polaris Dawn mission, riding aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft “Resilience,” climbed into an elliptical orbit with a high point, or apogee, of 870 miles (1,400.7 kilometers) on Tuesday (Sep. 10). They reached the record distance about 15 hours after lifting off at 5:23 a.m. EDT (0923 GMT) from Florida earlier in the day and circling the planet about eight times in an initial…

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Watch 1st look clip from ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Season 5 (video)

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Star Trek Day 2024 Exclusive Clip | Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season 5 | StarTrek.com – YouTube Watch On Come autumn, crimson and gold leaves won’t be the only thing we’ll be saying goodbye to as Paramount+’s  “Star Trek: Lower Decks” takes one final flight when it rolls out its fifth and last 10-chapter season on Oct. 24 with a double-episode debut. To crank up the anticipation on Star Trek Day this past Sunday, Paramount and CBS Studios took the wrapper off a vibrant new poster by ace artist…

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Space MacGyver: NASA astronaut and inventor Don Pettit eager to return to ISS on Sept. 11

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NASA astronaut Don Pettit is about to embark on his fourth space mission — one sure to be filled with chances to tinker with things in orbit. Pettit, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will ride on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch atop a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday (Sept. 11) at 12:23 p.m. EDT (1623 GMT; 9:23 p.m. local Baikonur time). The 69-year-old Pettit will spend six months in space on the coming mission, adding to his 370-day…

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NASA’s Europa Clipper probe to icy Jupiter moon takes big step toward its Oct. 10 launch

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NASA’s highly anticipated Europa Clipper probe bound for an icy moon of Jupiter is on track for its liftoff next month. Europa Clipper, which will study the potentially life-harboring Jupiter moon Europa up close, passed a crucial technical review called Key Decision Point E (KDP-E) today (Sept. 9). The good news means that Clipper can proceed into final preparations for launch, which is scheduled to take place atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 10. “I am thrilled to say that we…

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