Tag: commercial-space
-
Boeing closing in on Starliner pad abort test
Boeing engineers in New Mexico are readying a Starliner spacecraft for a critical pad abort test this fall to demonstrate the capsule’s ability to escape an emergency on the launch pad before green-lighting the capsule to carry astronauts. Boeing has not announced a target date for the pad abort test, but final preparations are underway…
-
Photos: SpaceX’s first full-size Starship prototype
SpaceX’s first full-size stainless steel Starship test vehicle stands some 164 feet (50 meters) tall and measures wider than the cabin of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. If Elon Musk has his way, it will fly to an altitude of 65,000 feet (20 kilometers) before the end of the year. These photos taken Saturday show…
-
Elon Musk wants to move fast with SpaceX’s Starship
SpaceX’s Starship Mk. 1 prototype stands 164 feet (50 meters) tall at Boca Chica, Texas. Credit: SpaceX Standing in front of a shiny full-scale prototype of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle in South Texas, Elon Musk said Saturday night he wants the company’s gigantic next-generation rocket to fly into orbit within six months, a bold schedule that…
-
Elon Musk to provide update on SpaceX’s Starship this weekend
EDITOR’S NOTE: Check back Sunday for a full report on Elon Musk’s Starship update. In the last few months, teams of SpaceX engineers working on the flat coastal plains of South Texas and in a nondescript industrial yard on Florida’s Space Coast have been building two futuristic-looking stainless steel rockets — or Starships — prototypes…
-
NASA announces funding for moon and Mars mission tech
Astrobotic is one of 14 companies selected for NASA’s Tipping Point solicitation. This illustration depicts CubeRover, an ultra-light, modular and scalable commercial rover. Credit: Astrobotic/Carnegie Mellon University NASA announced agreements worth a combined $43.2 million with 14 commercial partners Friday — including Blue Origin and SpaceX — to fund experiments in propellant and power generation,…
-
NASA to fly CubeSat pathfinder for Gateway in unique lunar orbit
A highly elliptical near rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon takes advantage of a precise balance point in the gravities of Earth and the Moon and creates a stability that is ideal for long-term missions like Gateway. Credit: Advanced Space As soon as next year, NASA plans to launch a CubeSat the size of a…
-
Five Chinese smallsats launched by Long March 11 rocket
A solid-fueled Long March 11 rocket lifts off from the Jiuquan launch base Thursday at 0642 GMT (2:42 a.m. EDT; 2:42 p.m. Beijing time). Credit: Xinhua Five commercial Earth-imaging satellites rode a Long March 11 rocket into orbit Thursday from the Jiuquan space base in northwestern China. The five satellites will join the Zhuhai 1…
-
Starlink to fill lion’s share of SpaceX near-term launch manifest
Artist’s concept of a Starlink satellite with its solar array wing unfurled. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX plans as many as 24 launches next year to build out the company’s Starlink network to provide broadband Internet service from space, following up to four more Starlink missions before the end of this year, according to SpaceX’s chief operating…
-
SES selects SpaceX for two Falcon 9 launches
File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, the expected launch site for the first satellites in the O3b mPower constellation. Credit: SpaceX Two SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches will loft seven high-throughput broadband satellites for SES’s O3b mPower constellation in 2021, SES announced this week. The two launches are expected…
-
Investigators narrow cause of Vega launch failure to second stage
Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio, discusses the outcome of the Vega launch failure investigation, backdropped by the forward dome of a Zefiro 23 rocket motor at the rocket’s factory in Italy. Credit: Avio Engineers believe super-hot gas from burning solid propellant impinged on the structure of the second stage on a European Vega launcher during…