Author: starpathwp-production
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China lands on the Moon again, taking another step toward human missions
China landed a spacecraft on the Moon this weekend for the fourth time, successfully placing its Chang’e 6 lander in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon. After the landing on Saturday evening (United States time), the autonomous spacecraft will spend about 48 hours collecting samples. It will do so by…
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Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko reaches 1,000 cumulative days in space
Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, left, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, and Nikolai Chub, right, are seen in quarantine behind glass during a press conference, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. O’Hara, Kononenko, Chub are launched aboard their Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft on Sept. 15. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls Russian cosmonaut Oleg…
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China’s spacecraft takes off from moon with first samples from lunar far side
The ascender of China’s Chang’e-6 probe lifted off from lunar surface on Tuesday morning, carrying samples collected from the moon’s far side, an unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history. The ascender has entered a preset orbit around the moon, said the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The Chang’e-6 probe, comprising an orbiter, a lander,…
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China’s Chang’e-6 ascender lifts off, enters moon’s orbit
China’s Chang’e-6 ascender separated from the lander and lifted off from the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the moon at 7:38 a.m. Beijing Time on June 4. China’s Chang’e-6 ascender separated from the lander and lifted off from the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the moon at 7:38 a.m. Beijing Time on June 4. It is carrying…
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Scout Space’s Optical Payload System Successfully Captures First In-Space Image
Scout Space, one of the leading in-space observation service providers focused on space security and comprehensive Space Domain Awareness (SDA), announced its optical payload dubbed “Sparrow,” launched aboard the Apex Aries bus on the SpaceX Transporter-10 mission in March 2024, has successfully completed commissioning and captured its first in-space calibration image. This achievement represents the…
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SES Launches Open Orbits Inflight Connectivity Network with Satellite Network Operators
SES announced that it has reached agreements-in-principle with several regional satellite network operators to launch the SES Open Orbits Inflight Connectivity (IFC) Network to enable seamless connectivity services to airlines around the world. This fully interoperable Ka-band platform will combine the geostationary earth orbit (GEO) and medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite networks of SES; NEO…
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Ursa Major Successfully Conducts Hotfire Test of its Draper Engine
Ursa Major announced the successful March hot fire of its Draper engine at the company’s headquarters in Berthoud, Colorado – a huge milestone for the liquid engine. The development of Draper was announced in May 2023, and with an ambitious goal of hot firing Draper within 12 months, the engine is well ahead of schedule,…
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Launch Roundup – Starship launches for fourth time, Starliner launches on third attempt, Virgin Galactic to fly VSS Unity for last time
There were two high-profile missions scheduled this week after a challenging weekend that saw the scrub of another attempt to launch the first crewed Starliner and the announcement that the dearMoon project is canceled. In more positive news, it also confirmed that Chang’e 6 landed on the moon’s far side. Starship was one of two…
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Japanese Telco-Led Consortium Invests in Airbus’ AALTO HAPS
Japanese telco NTT DoCoMo, Mizuho Bank (the Development Bank of Japan), and Space Compass Corporation announced Monday that they have partnered on a $100 million investment in Airbus subsidiary AALTO HAPS (AALTO), the manufacturer and operator of the stratospheric, solar-powered Zephyr High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS). This investment marks the beginning of a strategic alliance to…