Tag: Moon
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SpaceX test-fires Starship prototype with three engines
A view of the Starship SN8 prototype with three Raptor engines. Future Starship vehicles will have six Raptor engines, with three vacuum-rated engines with larger nozzles clustered around the three center engines optimized for sea level performance. Credit: Elon Musk/SpaceX SpaceX fired three Raptor engines on a prototype of the company’s Starship vehicle Tuesday, accomplishing…
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Russia’s space agency unlikely to join NASA-led lunar program
Artist’s illustration of the Gateway in lunar orbit, including modules from international partners. Credit: NASA The head of the Russian space agency said this week that the the Gateway mini-space station NASA plans to build around the moon is “too U.S.-centric” and added that Russia unlikely to significantly contribute to the project. Dmitry Rogozin, director…
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U.S. and seven other nations sign Artemis Accords to cooperate on moon missions
An artist’s conception shows surface operations on the moon. (NASA Illustration) Seven nations have signed up with the United States to participate in NASA’s Artemis effort to put astronauts on the moon by as early as 2024. The Artemis Accords commit the signatories — including Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, Italy, Luxembourg and the United Arab…
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Blue Origin completes successful suborbital space shot
Blue Origin’s 60-foot-tall New Shepard rocket takes off from West Texas on Tuesday. Credit: Blue Origin Blue Origin launched its New Shepard suborbital rocket to the edge of space Tuesday from the company’s remote desert test site in West Texas on an experimental flight to test precision lunar landing technology for NASA. The single-stage New…
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Blue Origin tests NASA landing system hardware on latest New Shepard flight
After a ten-month lull in flights following the previous test of Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard launch system, the company conducted a launch and landing of the fully reusable booster and capsule duo. Following weather-related and technical issues during a window late in September, the flight took place from the company’s West Texas facility —…
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Blue Origin’s suborbital spaceship tests NASA’s moon landing system in Texas
Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spaceship rises from its West Texas pad. (Blue Origin via YouTube) Blue Origin’s suborbital spaceship today conducted a robotic rehearsal for a future touchdown on the moon — and by all appearances, it stuck the landing. Testing most of the elements of NASA’s precision lunar landing system was the top…
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NASA touts lunar landing tech, and Blue Origin says there’ll be a flight test ‘soon’
Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spaceship makes a precision landing in May 2019. (Blue Origin Photo) Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong famously had to dodge a boulder-strewn crater just seconds before the first moon landing in 1969 — but for future lunar touchdowns, NASA expects robotic eyes to see such missions to safe landings. And…
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Blue Origin and partners pass key milestone for lunar lander design
Artwork shows the National Team’s lunar lander making its touchdown. (Blue Origin Illustration) Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture says the aerospace team that it’s leading has completed its first “gated milestone” in a NASA-funded effort to develop a lunar lander for crewed missions. The milestone — known as the system requirement review,…
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NASA challenges companies to mine lunar soil
Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani NASA announced Thursday it plans to purchase lunar soil from a commercial company, an effort the agency’s top official said is intended to set a precedent for the transfer of ownership of extraterrestrial material and stimulate a market harvesting resources from bodies throughout the solar system. The initiative is starting small, but…
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Rust on the Moon. How is that possible without oxygen and liquid water?
Humanity’s fleet of robotic explorers peppered throughout the solar system continue to reveal new and exciting pieces of information regarding other members of the Sun’s stellar family. New research from India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission shows the Moon is rusting. The baffling discovery led scientists on an intriguing search for the answer to how this seemingly…