“Every one of our conclusions, every one of our recommendations, was unanimously agreed to by our team,” Hill said. “We went through a lot of effort, arguing sentence by sentence, to make sure the entire team agreed. To get there we definitely had some robust and energetic discussions.” Hill did acknowledge that, at the outset […]
December 6, 2024 | heat shield, orion, Science, Space | No comments
China debuts a new medium-lift rocket. China’s new Long March 12 rocket made a successful inaugural flight Saturday, placing two experimental satellites into orbit and testing uprated, higher-thrust engines that will allow a larger Chinese launcher in development to send astronauts to the Moon. The Long March 12 is the newest member of China’s Long […]
December 6, 2024 | rocket report, Science, Space | No comments
Two spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency launched on top of an Indian rocket Thursday, kicking off a mission to test novel formation flying technologies and observe a rarely-seen slice of the Sun’s ethereal corona. ESA’s Proba-3 mission is purely experimental. The satellites are loaded with sophisticated sensors and ranging instruments to allow the […]
December 6, 2024 | european space agency, india, isro, launch, proba-3, Science, solar eclipse, Space | No comments
So how would NASA astronauts get to the Moon without the SLS rocket? Nothing is final, and the trade space is open. One possible scenario being discussed for future Artemis missions is to launch the Orion spacecraft on a New Glenn rocket into low-Earth orbit. There, it could dock with a Centaur upper stage that […]
December 5, 2024 | Features, jared isaacman, NASA, Science, Space | No comments
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday he has selected Jared Isaacman, a billionaire businessman and space enthusiast who twice flew to orbit with SpaceX, to become the next NASA administrator. “I am delighted to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),” Trump […]
December 4, 2024 | artemis, Donald Trump, human spaceflight, jared isaacman, NASA, Science, Space, space policy, spacex | No comments
Despite all these changes, the contractors are still bound by the same stringent non-compete clauses. While the original arrangement saw multiple workforce companies in competition for open ESA positions, service contracts are largely controlled by a single company that has won an agreement to supply a certain type of worker. Should the contracting company ever […]
December 4, 2024 | employment, ESA, Features, Space | No comments
These startups operate with the blessing of China’s government and, in many cases, got their start by utilizing surplus military equipment and investment from Chinese local or provincial governments. However, the Chinese Communist Party has allowed them to raise capital from private sources, and they operate on a commercial basis, almost exclusively to serve domestic […]
December 2, 2024 | china, launch, long march, long march 12, moon, Science, Space | No comments
That is a meaningful number, because over the course of the three decades it flew into orbit, NASA’s Space Shuttle flew 135 missions. The space shuttle was a significantly more complex vehicle, and unlike the Falcon 9 rocket, humans flew aboard it during every mission. However, there is some historical significance in the fact that […]
December 2, 2024 | falcon 9, Science, Space, spacex | No comments
NASA taps Falcon Heavy for another big launch. A little more than a month after SpaceX launched NASA’s flagship Europa Clipper mission on a Falcon Heavy rocket, the space agency announced its next big interplanetary probe will also launch on a Falcon Heavy, Ars reports. What’s more, the Dragonfly mission the Falcon Heavy will launch […]
November 28, 2024 | blue origin, china, human spaceflight, italy, launch, rocket lab, rocket report, Science, Space, spacex | No comments
Notably, the Dragonfly launch was one of the first times United Launch Alliance has been eligible to bid its new Vulcan rocket for a NASA launch contract. NASA officials gave the green light for the Vulcan rocket to compete head-to-head with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy after ULA’s new launcher had a successful debut […]
November 26, 2024 | dragonfly, falcon heavy, launch, NASA, nuclear, planetary science, Saturn, Science, solar system, Space, spacex, Titan | No comments