Tag: Falcon Heavy
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ULA, SpaceX win landmark multibillion-dollar launch agreements with Pentagon
Artist’s concept of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket. Credit: ULA United Launch Alliance and SpaceX beat out Northrop Grumman and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin for billions of dollars in U.S. military rocket contracts, and will share the load in launching the Pentagon’s highest-priority national security space missions through 2027, officials announced Friday. ULA, the 50-50…
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Maxar making progress with Power and Propulsion Element for Gateway
Last year, NASA awarded Maxar Technologies the contract for the Power and Propulsion Element, the very first Lunar Gateway contract and, at the time, the first module scheduled to be launched. The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) acts as Gateway’s service module, providing solar electric propulsion for orbital adjustments, and electricity with its solar arrays. …
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Maxar making progress with Power and Propulsion Element for Gateway
Last year, NASA awarded Maxar Technologies the contract for the Power and Propulsion Element, the very first Lunar Gateway contract and, at the time, the first module scheduled to be launched. The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) acts as Gateway’s service module, providing solar electric propulsion for orbital adjustments, and electricity with its solar arrays. …
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NASA signs Gateway habitat design contract with Northrop Grumman
Artist’s illustration of the Gateway’s PPE and HALO modules in lunar orbit. Credit: NASA NASA has signed a $187 million contract with Northrop Grumman to complete the preliminary design of a pressurized crew habitat for the planned Gateway mini-space station near the moon, and agency officials have discussed new details about plans to launch first…
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NASA plans to launch first two Gateway elements on same rocket
Artist’s illustration of the Gateway space station in lunar orbit. Credit: NASA Aiming to reduce risk and costs, NASA has decided to launch the first two modules of the Gateway station in lunar orbit on the same heavy-lift rocket in 2023, rather than fly them on separate rockets and dock them together in deep space,…
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Falcon Heavy set for design validation milestone before late 2020 launch
A Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on June 25, 2019. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky The U.S. Space Force expects to complete design validation on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket by July, ahead of the launch of the military’s first high-priority national security mission on the heavy-lifter late this year.…
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NASA picks SpaceX to deliver cargo to Gateway station in lunar orbit
Illustration of the SpaceX Dragon XL as it is deployed from the Falcon Heavy’s second stage in high Earth orbit on its way to the Gateway in lunar orbit. Credit: SpaceX NASA has selected SpaceX to deliver supplies to the planned Gateway mini-space station in lunar orbit using a new version of the Dragon cargo…
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SpaceX wins NASA contract to send cargo to lunar Gateway with new Dragon XL craft
An artist’s conception shows SpaceX’s Dragon XL cargo ship as it is deployed from the Falcon Heavy’s second stage in high Earth orbit, on its way to the Gateway in lunar orbit. (SpaceX Illustration) NASA has tapped a type of SpaceX cargo craft that hasn’t yet been built to deliver supplies to a moon-orbiting outpost…
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NASA to consider WFIRST launch options after mission passes key review
Artist’s illustration of the WFIRST spacecraft. Credit: NASA NASA expects to select a launch vehicle next year to carry the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope — a multibillion-dollar flagship astrophysics observatory targeted for cancellation by the Trump administration — into space in 2025 after the mission passed a key review last month, agency officials said.…
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NASA taps SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to launch mission to metal asteroid
File photo of a Falcon Heavy launch in April 2019. Credit: SpaceX NASA has selected SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to launch a robotic mission in July 2022 to explore Psyche, a metal-rich asteroid located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The Psyche probe is NASA’s first mission assigned to fly on SpaceX’s heavy-lift launcher.…