Tag: commercial-space
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Jeff Bezos says next Blue Origin spaceship test should destroy the booster rocket
An artist’s conception shows Blue Origin’s crew capsule firing its escape rocket motor. (Credit: Blue Origin) Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, has flown the same rocket booster to outer space and back four times over the past year – but the fifth trip, planned for October, will be that booster’s…
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Virgin Galactic’s new SpaceShipTwo gets off the ground, two years after fatal mishap
The SpaceShipTwo rocket plane known as VSS Unity and its WhiteKnightTwo mothership are seen from below. (Credit: Virgin Galactic) Virgin Galactic sent its second SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, VSS Unity, into the air for the first time today – tucked securely beneath its WhiteKnightTwo mothership for the entire three-hour-plus flight. The captive-carry test flight, conducted from the…
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Concrete poured for Blue Origin’s orbital space complex in Florida
Workers pour concrete at the site of Blue Origin’s rocket factory in Florida. (Credit: Space Florida) Work is progressing on the facility in Florida where Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture plans to build its orbital spaceships. Bezos called attention to the groundbreaking milestone for the 750,000-square-foot rocket factory in June. Today, Space Florida, the state…
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SpaceX launches JCSAT-16 satellite, then lands Falcon 9 rocket at sea
A webcast view shows SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on the oceangoing drone ship known as “Of Course I Still Love You.” (Credit: SpaceX) SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched a satellite for a Japanese communication company tonight, and then made a bull’s-eye landing on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean. The two-stage Falcon 9 carried the JCSAT-16 satellite…
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‘Just DO IT!’ Blue Origin software engineers talk about Jeff Bezos’ space venture on Reddit
Blue Origin software engineers get their picture taken for a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” chat session. (Credit: Blue Origin via Imgur) Creating a commercial space effort is clearly not a 9-to-5 job: Software engineers from Blue Origin, the space venture that Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos created, reinforced that view today during an “Ask Me Anything”…
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Moon Express wins a green light from U.S. government for its lunar mission
An artist’s conception shows the Moon Express MX-1 lander in lunar orbit. (Credit: Moon Express) BELLEVUE, Wash. – Moon Express says it has received preliminary clearance for the robotic lander that it plans to send to the moon next year, after a voluntary payload review involving the Federal Aviation Administration and other federal agencies. The clearance…
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Tethers Unlimited wins $2.2 million in contracts for satellite mini-thruster system
Tethers Unlimited Inc.’s Hydros thruster fires during a test. (Credit: TUI) Tethers Unlimited Inc. says it’s won $2.2 million in contracts from NASA and Millennium Space Systems to provide its miniaturized, water-fueled Hydros thrusters for satellite missions. The company, based in Bothell, Wash., is developing the Hydros as a safe-to-launch propulsion system for CubeSats and other small…
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Virgin Galactic receives FAA license to fly SpaceShipTwo – and it’s taxiing on runway
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, known as VSS Unity, is pulled behind a Range Rover Autobiography vehicle during its first taxi test at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port. (Credit: Virgin Galactic) Virgin Galactic says it’s received an operator license from the Federal Aviation Administration for flying its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane into outer space with commercial…
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Intelsat confident in Ariane 5 to launch two critical satellites
The Intelsat 33e (left) and Intelsat 36 (right) satellites undergo launch preparations at the Guiana Space Center. Credit: Arianespace Two Intelsat communications craft are in French Guiana getting configured for a dual-launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket Aug. 24, the first time the global satellite operator has put two of its payloads on the same…
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NASA spells out support for SpaceX’s Red Dragon Mars mission
Artist’s concept of SpaceX’s Red Dragon spacecraft entering the Martian atmosphere. Credit: SpaceX If SpaceX is able to dispatch a robotic Dragon capsule to land on the red planet in 2018 on time and successfully, engineers stand to get a lesson on what it will take to eventually send humans there, capturing key data on…