Tag: commercial-space
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NASA says it needs better ideas on how to return samples from Mars
NASA’s $11 billion plan to robotically bring rock samples from Mars back to Earth is too expensive and will take too long, the agency’s administrator said Monday, so officials are tasking government and private sector engineers to come up with a better plan. The agency’s decision on how to move forward with the Mars Sample…
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SpaceX’s most-flown reusable rocket launches for the 20th time
For the first time, SpaceX launched one of its reusable Falcon 9 boosters for a 20th time Friday night on a flight to deliver 23 more Starlink Internet satellites to orbit. This milestone mission lifted off at 9:40 pm EDT Friday (01:40 UTC Saturday) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force…
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The Space Force is planning what could be the first military exercise in orbit
The US Space Force announced Thursday it is partnering with two companies, Rocket Lab and True Anomaly, for a first-of-its-kind mission to demonstrate how the military might counter “on-orbit aggression.” On this mission, a spacecraft built and launched by Rocket Lab will chase down another satellite made by True Anomaly, a Colorado-based startup. “The vendors…
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Rocket Report: Blue Origin to resume human flights; progress for Polaris Dawn
Welcome to Edition 6.38 of the Rocket Report! Ed Dwight was close to joining NASA’s astronaut corps more than 60 years ago. With an aeronautical engineering degree and experience as an Air Force test pilot, Dwight met the qualifications to become an astronaut. He was one of 26 test pilots the Air Force recommended to…
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Pentagon calls for tighter integration between military and commercial space
A strategy document released by the Pentagon this week lays out where the US military can most effectively rely on the commercial space industry and what missions should remain in government hands. “This marks a new effort to harness the remarkable innovation of the commercial space sector to enhance our resilience and strengthen integrated deterrence…
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Space experts foresee an “operational need” for nuclear power on the Moon
In February, NASA celebrated the arrival of the first US-made lander on the Moon in more than 50 years, an achievement that helps pave the way for the return of American astronauts to the lunar surface later this decade. But the clock was ticking for Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus spacecraft after touching down on February 22 near the…
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SpaceX celebrates major progress on the third flight of Starship
SpaceX’s new-generation Starship rocket, the most powerful and largest launcher ever built, flew halfway around the world following liftoff from South Texas on Thursday, accomplishing a key demonstration of its ability to carry heavyweight payloads into low-Earth orbit. SpaceX’s third towering Starship rocket, standing some 397 feet (121 meters) tall and wider than the fuselage…
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SpaceX has a license to launch Starship—this time it might fly at dawn
The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it has approved a commercial launch license for the third full-scale test flight of SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket. This is the final regulatory hurdle before SpaceX can launch Starship from South Texas. The third flight of the world’s most powerful rocket, following a pair of test launches last year,…
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The world’s most-traveled crew transport spacecraft flies again
SpaceX’s oldest Crew Dragon spacecraft launched Sunday night on its fifth mission to the International Space Station, and engineers are crunching data to see if the fleet of Dragons can safely fly as many as 15 times. It has been five years since SpaceX launched the first Crew Dragon spacecraft on an unpiloted test flight…
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For Virgin Galactic, becoming profitable means a pause in flying to space
Last year, Virgin Galactic seemed to finally be hitting a stride toward making commercial suborbital spaceflight. The company flew its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane to the edge of space six times in six months, giving a few Virgin Galactic customers a taste of spaceflight after waiting more than a decade. Finally, it appeared that Virgin Galactic…