Author: starpathwp-production
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Astrobotic Selected by NASA’s Mars Exploration Program to Support Future Mars Missions
Astrobotic has been selected by NASA’s Mars Exploration Program for two concept studies of commercial services to support lower-cost, higher-frequency missions to Mars. The company will examine how potential commercial services, both payload delivery and surface imaging, could enable future science missions to the Red Planet. The two studies — one for large payload delivery…
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How Seattle science-fiction pioneer Vonda N. McIntyre blazed a trail for diversity
Seattle author Vonda N. McIntyre’s science fiction reflected an imaginative view of other worlds. (Illustration: SFWA / Microsoft Copilot / Media.io) Decades before the current debates over gender and sexuality, the late Seattle science-fiction writer Vonda N. McIntyre flipped the script on those subjects. “In many of her stories, there are characters that, by the…
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Blue Origin flies its first crew in 21 months — and writes another page in space history
Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spaceship lifts off from its West Texas pad. (Credit: Blue Origin) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture today resumed sending people on suborbital space trips after a 21-month gap, and made a Black aerospace pioneer’s 60-year-old dream come true in the process. “Man, it feels good to be flying again,”…
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Astronomers find an Earth-sized exoplanet around a tiny star and a large, but ultra-light exoplanet around a Sun-like star
Astronomers from the Search for Planets Eclipsing Ultra-cool Stars (SPECULOOS) project found an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting an ultracool dwarf star about 55 light-years away. The team concluded that the exoplanet, called SPECULOOS-3b, likely has a rocky surface and no atmosphere. The SPECULOOS project is a network of six robotic telescopes, four in the Southern Hemisphere…
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How the Space Shuttle completed a final, daring Hubble repair 15 years ago
The Hubble Space Telescope continues to operate to this day in part due to the work performed 15 years ago by the crew of STS-125. Dubbed Hubble Servicing Mission 4 (HSM 4), scientists knew this would be their final chance to use the space shuttle to visit and upgrade the orbiting laboratory. As we look…
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Aitech Provides Crucial Flight Computers and Peripherals to Sidus Space for LizzieSat Mission
Aitech Systems, one of the leading providers of rugged boards and system-level solutions for military, aerospace, and space applications, has successfully provided a complete system of command and data handling (C&DH) flight computers and peripherals to Sidus Space for the LizzieSat satellite, that has successfully launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-10 Rideshare mission on March 4th. This…
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SpaceX launches Falcon 9 booster on record-breaking 21st flight
A SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage creates a so-called ‘jellyfish’ effect as it streaks across the sky over the Atlantic Ocean and a cruise ship out on the horizon. The Starlink 6-59 mission launched on May 17, 2024. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now SpaceX reached a new reusability milestone with its Falcon 9 rocket with a…
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Europe is uncertain whether its ambitious Mercury probe can reach the planet
This week the European Space Agency posted a slightly ominous note regarding its BepiColombo spacecraft, which consists of two orbiters bound for Mercury. The online news release cited a “glitch” with the spacecraft that is impairing its ability to generate thrust. The problem was first noted on April 26, when the spacecraft’s primary propulsion system…
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NASA and the European Space Agency Sign an Agreement to Land Europe’s Rover on Mars
NASA and the European Space Agency announced they signed an agreement to expand NASA’s work on the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover, an ESA-led mission launching in 2028 that will search for signs of ancient life on the Red Planet. With this memorandum of understanding, the NASA Launch Services Program will procure a U.S. commercial launch…
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Aerospacelab Breaks Ground on Satellite Factory in Belgium
Belgian small satellite manufacturer Aerospacelab broke ground on a new factory this week that it says will be capable of producing 500 small satellites per year. The new factory, located in Charleroi, Belgium, will open in 2026. With 7,000 square meters of production area and 4,000 square meters of clean room, Aerospacelab said it will…