Tag: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
-
Wildfire forces evacuation of NASA’s Deep Space Network complex in Spain
A fast-moving wildfire, one of many raging across Spain, bore down on the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex on Friday, forcing an evacuation and temporarily suspending operations at one of NASA’s most important tracking stations. The tracking station is part of NASA’s Deep Space Network, operating in concert with similar facilities in California and Australia…
-
Loft Orbital and NASA JPL Partner to Demonstrate AI Software in Orbit
Loft Orbital has entered into an agreement with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to host and operate artificial intelligence software demonstrations in orbit as part of a NASA-funded Earth science technology program. The collaboration supports the Federated Autonomous MEasurement (FAME) project, which is funded by NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) and focuses on advancing…
-
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft returns unfamiliar views of a familiar world
Not quite halfway through a six-year sojourn through the Solar System, a NASA spacecraft used a close encounter with Mars last week as a dress rehearsal for its arrival at the Solar System’s largest metal asteroid in 2029. The Psyche mission launched more than two-and-a-half years ago, in October 2023, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida,…
-
Psyche keeps its date with an asteroid, but now it’s running in backup mode
A NASA spacecraft bound for an unexplored metal-rich asteroid has reignited its plasma thrusters, continuing its cruise deeper into the Solar System after switching to a backup fuel line. The $1.4 billion Psyche mission, built to explore an asteroid with the same name, has four electric thrusters fueled by xenon gas. Psyche’s solar-electric propulsion system…
-
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft hits a speed bump on the way to a metal asteroid
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, located nearly 150 million miles from Earth on the way to an unexplored metal asteroid, has stopped firing its engines after detecting a problem in its propulsion system. NASA published an update Tuesday revealing that the robotic spacecraft shut off its plasma thrusters earlier this month. The news wasn’t widely shared until…
-
NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer, AstroForge’s Odin face post-deployment challenges
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, named Athena, is prepared for encapsulation inside SpaceX Falcon 9 payload fairings. Beneath the lander are rideshare payloads from Epic Aerospace (front), AstroForge (right), and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (behind). Image: SpaceX via Intuitive Machines Two spacecraft that launched as rideshare payloads on Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission are dealing with post-deployment…
-
SpaceX launches Intuitive Machines’ 2nd Moon lander, 3 rideshare spacecraft
A streak shot of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as it launched the IM-2 mission for Intuitive Machines and sent its Nova-C lander, Athena, to a lunar transfer orbit. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Intuitive Machines is heading back to the Moon following its first trip a year ago. The company based in Houston, Texas, sent another…
-
NASA defers decision on Mars Sample Return to the Trump administration
For nearly four years, NASA’s Perseverance rover has journeyed across an unexplored patch of land on Mars—once home to an ancient river delta—and collected a slew of rock samples sealed inside cigar-sized titanium tubes. These tubes might contain tantalizing clues about past life on Mars, but NASA’s ever-changing plans to bring them back to Earth…
-
NASA launches mission to explore the frozen frontier of Jupiter’s moon Europa
NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft lifted off Monday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, kicking off a $5.2 billion robotic mission to explore one of the most promising locations in the Solar System for finding extraterrestrial life. The Falcon Heavy rocket fired its 27 kerosene-fueled engines and vaulted away from…
-
NASA will proceed with final preps to launch Europa Clipper next month
For a while earlier this summer, it looked like NASA’s flagship mission to study Jupiter’s icy moon Europa might miss its launch window this year. In May, engineers raised concerns that transistors installed throughout the spacecraft might be susceptible to damage from radiation, an omnipresent threat for any probe whipping its way around Jupiter. The…