Tag: CNES
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Live coverage: Falcon 9 launches ocean study satellite, barge landing fails
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with the Jason 3 ocean altimetry mission. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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Photos: Falcon 9 poised on hillside launch pad in California
The first Falcon 9 flight of 2016 is ready for takeoff Sunday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and these photos show the rocket positioned on its launch mount overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The 224-foot-tall rocket will blast off at 10:42:18 a.m. PST (1:42:18 p.m. EST; 1842:18 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 4-East at…
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Ideal weather predicted for Falcon 9 launch Sunday
Photo credit: SpaceX Meteorologists predict mostly sunny skies, mild temperatures and light winds Sunday for the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from California’s Central Coast with a $364 million oceanography satellite for U.S. and European science institutions. The forecast is so favorable that U.S. Air Force meteorologists give a 100 percent chance of…
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Hold-down firing completed ahead of Sunday’s Falcon 9 launch
Nine Merlin engines on the Falcon 9’s first stage fired up Monday for a static fire test at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s launch team ran through a traditional preflight test Monday, putting a Falcon 9 rocket through a mock countdown, loading it with a supply of liquid propellant and briefly…
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Hold-down firing completed ahead of Sunday’s Falcon 9 launch
Nine Merlin engines on the Falcon 9’s first stage fired up Monday for a static fire test at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s launch team ran through a traditional preflight test Monday, putting a Falcon 9 rocket through a mock countdown, loading it with a supply of liquid propellant and briefly…
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Offshore barge landing targeted after next Falcon 9 launch
The first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is pictured after landing at Cape Canaveral following a Dec. 21 launch with 11 satellites. Credit: SpaceX Nearly a month after nailing a landing a rocket landing at Cape Canaveral, SpaceX plans to steer the next flight of a Falcon 9 booster toward a recovery vessel in…
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Offshore barge landing targeted after next Falcon 9 launch
The first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is pictured after landing at Cape Canaveral following a Dec. 21 launch with 11 satellites. Credit: SpaceX Nearly a month after nailing a landing a rocket landing at Cape Canaveral, SpaceX plans to steer the next flight of a Falcon 9 booster toward a recovery vessel in…
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Launch of NASA’s next Mars mission delayed until at least 2018
NASA’s InSight lander is pictured inside Lockheed Martin’s satellite factory in Colorado. Credit: Lockheed Martin Persistent problems with a seismometer instrument package will keep NASA’s InSight Mars lander from departing for the red planet during a March launch period, and officials said they will consider shelving the $675 million project if the issues prove too…
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Launcher contracts signify shift in Europe’s rocket industry
Artist’s concepts of the Vega C (left) and Ariane 6 (right) rockets. Credit: ESA–J. Huart and D. Ducros, 2015 Europe’s next-generation launcher family has moved a step closer to reality with the signature of nearly $3.8 billion in contracts for development of the Ariane 6 rocket and an upgraded version of the lightweight Vega booster.…
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Ariane 6 rockets likely to be assembled horizontally
Updated June 25. Artist’s concept of the Ariane 6 rocket in its “Ariane 64” configuration with four solid rocket boosters. Credit: CNES Construction of a new launch pad for Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket, which sources say will likely be put together horizontally instead of vertically, is due to begin next week at an abandoned quarry…