Tag: Space Exploration

Shooting for the moon, Intuitive Machines to launch daring lunar lander for NASA on Feb. 26

NeRD

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Intuitive Machines is poised to launch its second lunar lander in as many years, marking a significant milestone in commercial space exploration. The mission, known as IM-2, is set to lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center here on Florida’s Space Coast on Wednesday (Feb. 26), at 7:17 p.m. EST (0017 GMT on Feb. 27). You’ll be able to watch the liftoff live via NASA and/or SpaceX when the time comes. The spacecraft, an Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander named Athena,…

Read More

SpaceX rolls huge Super Heavy booster to pad ahead of Starship Flight 8 launch (photos)

NeRD

Starship hardware has made it to the pad ahead of a planned liftoff this week. SpaceX posted photos on X today (Feb. 25) showing Super Heavy, the giant first stage of its Starship megarocket, being lifted onto the orbital launch mount at its Starbase site in South Texas. The milestone keeps the company on track to launch the eighth-ever Starship test flight this Friday (Feb. 28). Starship Flight 8 is scheduled to lift off on Friday afternoon (Feb. 28). (Image credit: SpaceX) SpaceX is developing Starship — the biggest and…

Read More

SpaceX says its Falcon 9 rocket debris crash over Europe was caused by propellant leak

NeRD

A propellant leak was to blame for the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket crashing to Earth over Europe last week, SpaceX says. The Falcon 9 launched on Feb. 1 from California, carrying 22 Starlink internet satellites to low Earth orbit as planned. SpaceX usually de-orbits Falcon 9 upper stages after their deployment work is done, bringing the hardware down in a controlled fashion over unpopulated areas. That didn’t happen on this particular mission, however. The Falcon 9 upper stage stayed aloft until Feb. 19, when it fell to…

Read More

SpaceX wraps up investigation of Starship Flight 7 explosion (video)

NeRD

SpaceX has finished its investigation into what went wrong on the seventh test flight of its Starship rocket, which ended with a dramatic explosion. Flight 7 launched on Jan. 16, sending Starship aloft from SpaceX‘s Starbase site in South Texas. The mission was partially successful; SpaceX caught Starship’s giant first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, back at Starbase using the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms as planned. The rocket’s upper stage — known as Starship, or simply “Ship” — was supposed to deploy 10 dummy satellites into a suborbital trajectory and…

Read More

SpaceX targeting Feb. 28 for next launch of Starship megarocket

NeRD

SpaceX’s Starship megarocket will fly again this week, if all goes according to plan. The company is planning to launch Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, for the eighth time on Friday (Feb. 28), Elon Musk said via X yesterday (Feb. 23). The 403.5-foot-tall (123 meters) fully reusable vehicle will lift off from Starbase, SpaceX‘s launch and manufacturing facility in South Texas. The company has not yet announced a target launch time, but you’ll almost certainly be able to watch it live whenever it happens; SpaceX has…

Read More

Private Blue Ghost moon lander captures amazing footage of Earth behind and lunar surface below (video)

NeRD

Firefly Aerospace is primed for a lunar landing attempt on Sunday (March 2) following a series of successful maneuvers in lunar orbit. The company’s Blue Ghost lander entered lunar orbit on Feb. 13, after launching atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Jan. 15. It has since been lowering its orbit in preparation for a moon landing and is now all set for the upcoming attempt. “Blue Ghost’s third and final lunar orbit maneuver is complete! Early this morning, our #GhostRiders performed a 16-second burn with our RCS thrusters to…

Read More

Swimming robots, fusion satellites and more! New NASA-funded studies could someday ‘change the possible’

NeRD

NASA has awarded funds to 15 trailblazing concepts for space technology that could help us explore and inhabit the solar system. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program (NIAC) is the agency’s scheme to help support the development of early stage innovative space technology concepts formulated by academics, innovators and entrepreneurs. This year’s NIAC Phase 1 grants go to projects including robots for ocean and ice world exploration, in-space manufacturing, balloons for exploring Venus, unravelling the mysteries of black holes and more. “Our next steps and giant leaps rely on innovation,…

Read More

SpaceX launches 22 Starlink internet satellites from California

NeRD

SpaceX launched another set of its Starlink internet satellites from southern California on Saturday evening (Feb 22). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Station at 8:38 p.m. EST (5:38 p.m. local time or 0138 GMT Feb. 23). The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocketrests on the deck of a drone ship shortly after launching 22 Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Feb. 22, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX via X) As to plan, the…

Read More

SpaceX launches 22 Starlink internet satellites from California (video)

NeRD

SpaceX launched another set of its Starlink internet satellites from southern California on Saturday evening (Feb 22). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Station at 8:38 p.m. EST (5:38 p.m. local time or 0138 GMT Feb. 23). As to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage came back to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff. It touched down on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You,” which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean. (Image credit: SpaceX via X) It was the…

Read More

What’s that smell? Astronomers discover a stinky new clue in the search for alien life

NeRD

Astronomers have discovered that sulfur may be a key to helping us narrow down our search for life on other planets. It’s not that sulfur is a great indication that a planet is inhabited. Instead, it’s the opposite: Significant amounts of sulfur dioxide in a planet’s atmosphere is a good sign that the world is uninhabitable and we can safely cross it off the list of candidates. One of the holy grails of modern astronomy is finding life on an alien planet. But that is an extremely daunting task. The…

Read More