Tag: commercial-space
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Indian rocket set to place 104 satellites in orbit
India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is scheduled to fire into orbit early Wednesday with 104 satellites on-board, setting a record for the largest flock of spacecraft ever launched on a single rocket. Most of the payloads cocooned inside the PSLV’s nose shroud are as small as a toaster oven, set to join commercial fleets tasked…
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Fire returns to flame trench at Apollo-era launch pad in Florida
Credit: William Harwood/CBS News Nine Merlin engines ignited and throttled up to nearly 2 million pounds of thrust Sunday during a brief hold-down firing of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, sending a plume of smoke out of the flame trench at Kennedy Space Center’s historic launch pad 39A as the company preps for a space station…
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Live coverage: SpaceX begins final launch preparations at historic launch pad
Live coverage of SpaceX’s preparations for the first Falcon 9 rocket launch from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission will send a Dragon supply ship to the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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SpaceX readies rocket for tests at historic pad 39A
An aerial view of launch pad 39A from late 2015. Credit: NASA SpaceX engineers are preparing to mount a Falcon 9 rocket at Kennedy Space Center’s historic launch pad 39A for the first time this week as the company declares the modified facility ready to support a new era of commercial space missions. The two-stage…
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NASA gives its nod to NanoRacks for space station’s first commercial portal
In this artist’s conception, NanoRacks’ airlock module is the knobby-looking hardware attached to a port on the International Space Station’s Tranquility module. (NanoRacks Illustration) NASA has accepted a plan from a private venture called NanoRacks to provide the International Space Station with an air lock that would serve as its first commercial portal. The plan could…
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NASA okays commercial airlock for space station
Artist’s concept of the NanoRacks airlock attached to the space station’s Tranquility module. Credit: NanoRacks A commercial airlock built in partnership by NanoRacks and Boeing will be connected to the International Space Station in 2019, the companies announced Monday, after the proposed project won preliminary approval from NASA managers. NanoRacks plans to deploy small commercial…
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Planet acquires rival satellite company from Google
One of Terra Bella’s SkySat satellites captured this image of downtown San Francisco on Dec. 27. Credit: Planet/Terra Bella San Francisco-based Planet, a company with a fleet of miniature satellites in orbit looking down on Earth, has acquired Terra Bella from Google to add high-resolution imaging to its business portfolio. The financial terms of the…
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GAO reportedly faults SpaceX’s rocket engines and predicts delay in crew flights
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches Iridium telecommunication satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Jan. 14. (SpaceX Photo) Investigators are raising concerns about persistent cracking in the turbine blades in SpaceX’s rocket engines, and adding to doubts about the schedule for flying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. The concerns are contained in…
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Here’s what it’ll be like to ride on Jeff Bezos’ suborbital Blue Origin spaceship
An artist’s conception shows passengers looking through one of the windows in Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spaceship. (Blue Origin Illustration) The folks who ride New Shepard, the suborbital spaceship being tested by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture, will be given barf bags to tuck into their flight suits. But they almost certainly won’t…
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SpaceX adds a big new lab to its satellite development operation in Seattle area
SpaceX has leased Building 117 at Redmond Ridge Corporate Center, which has 40,625 square feet of space. (Sierra Construction) SpaceX has taken on a 40,625-square-foot facility in Redmond, Wash., that will become a research and development lab for its ambitious satellite operation. The warehouse-style space in the Redmond Ridge Corporate Center, owned by M&T Partners,…