Tag: Astrophysics
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Live coverage: Proton rocket lifts off with X-ray astronomy observatory
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Proton rocket with the Spektr-RG X-ray astronomy mission. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. The live video webcast from Roscosmos will begin at approximately 1130 GMT (7:30 a.m. EDT) on launch day, and will be available…
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Proton launch delayed to Saturday
The Proton rocket stands on its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, awaiting liftoff with the Spektr-RG X-ray astronomy mission. Credit: Roscosmos Russian officials have delayed until Saturday the launch of a Proton rocket from Kazakhstan with the Spektr-RG X-ray astronomy observatory, an ambitious mission jointly developed with Germany to probe dark energy.…
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Proton rocket and astronomy satellite back on the launch pad after battery replacement
Poised to loft a Russian-German X-ray astronomy observatory into space Friday, a Proton rocket returned to its launch pad Tuesday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan after a three-week delay to replace a drained battery on the vehicle. The Proton rocket departed its assembly building at Baikonur early Tuesday and rode a specialized rail car…
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SpaceX wins NASA contract to launch X-ray telescope on reused rocket
File photo of a Falcon 9 launch from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: SpaceX NASA has selected a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket — flying with a reused first stage booster — to launch the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer mission from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in…
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Russia postpones launch of X-ray astronomy mission
The Proton rocket with the Spektr-RG X-ray astronomy mission will return to an assembly building at the Baikonur Cosmodrome for troubleshooting ahead of another launch attempt as soon as July 12. Credit: Roscosmos Russian officials postponed the planned launch of a Proton rocket with an X-ray astronomy satellite Friday until no earlier than July 12…
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Russia to launch science mission probing dark energy
EDITOR’S NOTE: The launch of the Spektr-RG mission has been rescheduled for no earlier than Saturday, June 22, at 1217 GMT (8:17 a.m. EDT). Artist’s illustration of the Spektr-RG observatory in space. Credit: Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics A Russian-built satellite hosting an array of X-ray telescopes is awaiting launch Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome…
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Proton rocket, Russian-German astronomy satellite arrive at launch pad
A rocket-transporting railroad car ferried a Proton booster to its launch pad Friday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for final checkouts and testing before the vehicle’s scheduled June 21 liftoff with the Russian-German Spektr-RG X-ray telescope. The Proton rocket began the trip to the Complex 81 launch pad Friday at around 6:30 a.m.…
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NASA to shut down Spitzer Space Telescope early next year
This infrared view of the butterfly-shaped W40 nebula, a star-forming cloud of gas and dust 1,400 light-years from Earth, was captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech After a search for an outside funding source turned up empty, NASA plans to end observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope in January to conclude a 16-year…
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X-ray communications experiment delivered to space station
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) instrument and the U.S. military’s Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6) payload, which carries the X-ray communications experiment, inside the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft before launch. Credit: NASA A novel communications experiment developed by NASA and the Naval Research Laboratory has arrived at the International Space Station to prove…
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Russia ships X-ray astronomy satellite to launch site
The Spektr-RG astronomy satellite is prepared for shipment to the Baikonur Cosmodrome at an NPO Lavochkin facility in Khimki, Russia, near Moscow. Credit: Roscosmos A Russian X-ray astronomy satellite with major contributions from German and U.S. scientists and instrument developers arrived Thursday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a launch in June aboard a…