Author: starpathwp-production
-
NASA’s Trio of Mini Rovers to Demonstrate New Autonomous Robotic Technology
NASA is sending a trio of miniature rovers to the Moon to see how well they can cooperate with one another without direct input from mission controllers back on Earth. A teamwork-minded experiment to demonstrate new technology, the CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration) project marks another step the agency is taking toward developing robots…
-
Amazon shifts launch of its first Internet satellites to Atlas V rocket
Amazon has confirmed it now plans to launch the first two test satellites for the company’s Kuiper broadband network on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket as soon as next month, shifting the payloads off of the inaugural flight of ULA’s new Vulcan rocket. The shift has been rumored for several weeks after ULA…
-
NASA Selects Advanced Space for Two SBIR Phase I Awards
Advanced Space, a space tech solutions company, has announced that NASA has selected two of their new Phase I concepts under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Flight Dynamics and Navigation Technologies The first project won under the Flight Dynamics and Navigation Technologies subtopic will support NASA’s future efforts to design spacecraft trajectories for…
-
SpaceX conducts a mostly successful test of its Super Heavy booster
SpaceX on Sunday performed a static fire test of a new Super Heavy booster at its launch site in South Texas. The ignition of 33 engines proved to be a spectacle, and there were positives and negatives to be taken away from the short-duration test firing. On the plus side, the rocket—dubbed Booster 9, as…
-
NASA announces who will fly on SpaceX’s Crew-8 mission next year
SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts Matthew Dominick, Commander (NASA) Michael Barratt, Pilot (NASA) Jeanette Epps (NASA) Alexander Grebenkin (Roscosmos) Leading the Crew-8 mission is Matthew Dominick, an experienced commander in the US Navy and a test pilot. He joined NASA’s astronaut corps in 2017 as part of Group 22. During his tenure in the Navy, Dominick flew…
-
LeoStella CEO Kienberger Explains New LS-300 Bus Platform and Smallsat Demand
LeoStella is debuting a new, larger small satellite bus platform that CEO Tim Kienberger, says is part of the move to more capable small satellite missions. The new LS-300, announced during the Small Satellite conference, can accommodate heavier and larger payloads, up to 250 kilograms. “It’s a much larger satellite, much more capable satellite that…
-
SpaceX conducts static test fire of Starship Super Heavy Booster
SpaceX fired up its Starship Super Heavy Booster 9 for a static test of its liquid methane-fueled Raptor rocket engines. The test was advertised to last “just under five seconds” but appeared to be cut short at 2.74 seconds. Four of the 33 Raptor engines were reported to have shut down prematurely. It was also…
-
LeoStella super-sizes its platform for small satellites as it takes aim at new markets
An artist’s conception shows a satellite based on LeoStella’s LS-300 bus. (LeoStella Illustration) Tukwila, Wash.-based LeoStella is unveiling its latest, greatest platform for small satellites, which should hit a sweet spot for future manufacturing contracts. LeoStella, which is a joint venture co-owned by European satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space and a geospatial data analysis company…
-
Starship Booster 9 and launch infrastructure moving into critical testing phase
After last week’s testing of Booster 9, the water deluge system, and other important activity at Starbase, the Starship program is now moving into a critical testing phase where Booster 9 conducted a static test firing of the Raptor engines with the water deluge in use. The Spin Prime test requirement – completed on Friday…
-
Falcon 9 chalks up new launch pad turnaround record on Starlink launch
The Falcon 9 roars away from launch complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Sunday carrying 22 more second-generation Starlink satellites into orbit, breaking a launch pad turnaround record. The booster, making its fourth flight, lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:41…