NASA Expanding Lunar Exploration with Upgraded SLS Mega Rocket Design

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A final round of certification testing for production of new RS-25 engines to power the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, beginning with Artemis V, is underway at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.  Block 1B will also be built to house new-production RS-25 core stage engines that will operate routinely at 111% of their rated power versus the Block 1 RS-25 engines that operate at 109%, providing almost 2,000 more pounds of payload to the Moon. NASA By: Martin Burkey As NASA prepares for its first crewed…

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SpaceX stacks Starship ahead of 3rd test flight (photos)

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SpaceX’s latest Starship megarocket is poised for its highly anticipated liftoff. SpaceX has stacked the 400-foot-tall (122 meters) vehicle on the pad at its Starbase site in South Texas, the company announced via X today (March 12). That post also included two photos of the newly stacked Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. Stacking is a big step toward launch, which SpaceX has said could occur as soon as Thursday (March 14). Related: SpaceX fuels up massive Starship megarocket in test for 3rd launch (photos) Another shot…

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A rare nova ignites a ‘new star’ in the sky this year. Here’s how to see it

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A nova outburst visible to the naked eye is expected to decorate the night sky this year, offering a rare skywatching opportunity.  The star system offering us this opportunity is known as T Coronae Borealis (T CrB). It’s located some 3,000 light-years away from Earth and consists of a red giant star and a white dwarf that orbit each other. When the white dwarf steals enough stellar material from its red giant companion, it ignites a brief flash of nuclear fusion on its surface, triggering what is known as a…

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Tech Today: Suspended Solar Panels See the Light

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2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is an example of a concentrated solar power plant, which works by having hundreds of reflective panels heating up a central tower. The problem of keeping sunlight directed at the receiver throughout the day brought Jim Clair to request NASA’s help in validating the suspended design now used in Skysun solar power systems. Credit: Cliff Ho/U.S. Department of Energy In the 80 years since the shocking collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in…

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Communications Services Project

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Overview NASA’s Communications Services Project, known as CSP, is pioneering a new era of space communications by partnering with industry to provide commercial space relay communications services for NASA missions near Earth. CSP’s goal is to validate and deliver these commercial communication services to the Near Space Network by 2030. To meet this goal, CSP provided $278.5 million in funding to six domestic partners to develop and demonstrate space relay communication capabilities. CSP aims to deliver innovative capabilities to meet NASA mission needs, while simultaneously supporting the growing commercial space…

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Zero-Boil-Off Tank Experiments to Enable Long-Duration Space Exploration

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10 Min Read Zero-Boil-Off Tank Experiments to Enable Long-Duration Space Exploration Figure 1. The Gateway space station—humanity’s first space station around the Moon—will be capable of being refueled in space. Credits: NASA Do we have enough fuel to get to our destination? This is probably one of the first questions that comes to mind whenever your family gets ready to embark on a road trip. If the trip is long, you will need to visit gas stations along your route to refuel during your travel. NASA is grappling with similar…

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Splashdown! NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 Finishes Mission, Returns to Earth

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Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, left, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa are seen inside the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN shortly after having landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Tuesday, March 12, 2024. Moghbeli, Mogensen, Furukawa, and Borisov are returning after nearly six-months in space as part of Expedition 70 aboard the International Space Station. NASA/Joel Kowsky NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 completed the agency’s seventh commercial crew…

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Watch Rocket Lab launch a commercial radar-imaging satellite on March 12

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Rocket Lab will launch a commercial radar-imaging satellite on Tuesday morning (March 12), and you can watch the action live. An Electron rocket topped with one of Japanese company Synspective’s Strix-3 satellites is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab‘s New Zealand launch site on Tuesday during an hour-long window that opens at 10:13 a.m. EDT (1413 GMT; 3:13 a.m. local New Zealand time on March 13).  You can watch the event here at Space.com, courtesy of Rocket Lab, or directly via the company’s website. Coverage is expected to start…

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Watch SpaceX’s Crew-7 astronaut mission for NASA return to Earth March 12 in this free livestream

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The four astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-7 mission will return to Earth early Tuesday morning (March 12), and you can watch their homecoming live. Crew-7’s Dragon capsule, named Endurance, undocked from the International Space Station on Monday (March 11) after the astronauts’ 6.5-month stay on the orbiting laboratory. If all goes according to plan, the spacecraft will splash down off the coast of Florida on Tuesday around 5:50 a.m. EDT (0950 GMT). You can watch the reentry and recovery activities here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV. Coverage will begin at…

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