Tag: NASA
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ESA roundup: Ariane 6, James Webb, & BepiColombo
Three flagship European Space Agency (ESA) projects have or will reach critical milestones this month, both on Earth and in space. On the ground, the Agency’s upcoming Ariane 6 launcher’s solid rocket boosters passed their final test firing while the James Webb Space Telescope — a partnership with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency —…
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ESA roundup: Ariane 6, James Webb, & BepiColombo
Three flagship European Space Agency (ESA) projects have or will reach critical milestones this month, both on Earth and in space. On the ground, the Agency’s upcoming Ariane 6 launcher’s solid rocket boosters passed their final test firing while the James Webb Space Telescope — a partnership with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency —…
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Search continues for small air leak on space station
File photo of the International Space Station’s Zvezda service module. Credit: Roscosmos Crew members on the International Space Station over the weekend continued trying to pinpoint the location of a small air leak in the research outpost’s Russian Zvezda service module, one of the oldest sections of the orbiting laboratory. As of Monday, the station…
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S.S. Kalpana Chawla Cygnus arrives at Space Station
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus vehicle, the S.S. Kalpana Chawla, has arrived at the ISS following launch or its Antares rocket for the NG-14 mission. The flight delivered thousands of kilograms/pounds of equipment, crew supplies, and science to the orbital outpost. Liftoff occurred Friday, 2 October at 21:16 EDT (Saturday, 3 October at 01:16 UTC) from Pad…
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EGS Integration Console in the middle of Artemis 1 countdown deliberations
The NASA and Jacobs engineers staffing the Integration Console will be literally and figuratively in the center of the final discussions to clear the Orion/Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle for its inaugural Artemis 1 launch. Sitting in the middle of the main Firing Room at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Launch…
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Jupiter looms large in spectacular Hubble image
The Hubble Space Telescope captured this view of Jupiter and its icy moon Europa on Aug. 25. Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M. H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley) and the OPAL team The Hubble Space Telescope turned toward Jupiter last month, capturing colorful views of the giant planet and…
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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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First possible “survivor” planet orbiting a white dwarf seen via NASA telescopes
A potential planet… where no planet should be. An international team of astronomers utilizing NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and data obtained from the now-retired Spitzer space telescope have reported an astounding potential discovery of a surviving planet closely orbiting a white dwarf. So what’s the big deal? Scientists have found many exoplanets in close…
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ESA’s Hera planetary defense mission signs prime contractor, on course for launch in 2024
The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed a design, manufacturing, and testing contract with OHB of Germany for their Hera planetary defense mission, marking a major advancement toward the agency’s commitment to NASA for their joint Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment project. NASA’s portion is scheduled to launch in July 2021 and slam into the…
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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,…