Tag: NASA
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Tethers Unlimited and Rocket Propulsion Systems win NASA grants for space tech
Artwork shows Tethers Unlimited’s Hyperbus platform in Earth orbit. (Tethers Unlimited Illustration) Two Seattle-area space ventures — Tethers Unlimited and Rocket Propulsion Systems — are among 124 businesses receiving $750,000 Phase II grants from NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program. The two-year grants, announced today, support the further development of technologies that can benefit future…
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A boon for Boeing? Virgin Galactic strikes deal with NASA to work on supersonic rocket travel
Virgin Galactic says it’s signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA to collaborate on the development of supersonic vehicles for civil applications — a technology that’s of interest to Boeing, one of Virgin Galactic’s recent investors. The agreement also involves The Spaceship Company, a Virgin Galactic subsidiary that manufactures the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane and its…
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NASA working with Tom Cruise to film movie on the International Space Station
Tom Cruise in “Top Gun: Maverick.” Credit: Paramount Pictures NASA said Tuesday it is working with Tom Cruise to film a movie on the International Space Station, but details on the arrangements are scarce. The news that Cruise was in talks with to shoot an action-adventure film on the space station was first reported Monday…
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NASA confirms it’s working with Tom Cruise (and SpaceX?) to make a movie on space station
Tom Cruise played a drone repairman who turned into an action hero in the 2013 sci-fi movie “Oblivion.” (Universal Pictures) NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has confirmed in a tweet that the space agency is working with movie star Tom Cruise on a project that involves shooting a film on the International Space Station. Deadline Hollywood…
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NASA, SpaceX enters the critical month of May on track to end the gap
With the news SpaceX completed the 27th and the final test of the upgraded Mark-3 parachutes for the Crew Dragon spacecraft on the day of a series of flagship news conferences, there is growing excitement ahead of the return to US domestic crew launch capability as soon as the end of this month. SpaceX’s Demonstration…
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NASA and SpaceX get set to make history with landmark spaceflight during pandemic
NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley participate in an integrated SpaceX test of critical crew flight hardware in March, in preparation for this month’s scheduled launch to the International Space Station in a Crew Dragon capsule. (SpaceX Photo) Everything is in readiness for the first mission to send humans into orbit from U.S. soil…
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NASA identifies risks in SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander proposal
Artist’s illustration of SpaceX’s Starship on the lunar surface. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s proposal to land astronauts on the moon using the company’s reusable Starship vehicle could be “game-changing” for space exploration, but comes with risks and complexity that “threaten the schedule viability” to achieve NASA’s goal of returning crews moon by the end of 2024,…
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NASA puts Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX on the list for lunar lander development program
An artist’s conception shows Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander, equipped with an ascent module built by Lockheed Martin. (Blue Origin Illustration via NASA) NASA has selected teams led by Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX to develop lunar landing systems capable of putting astronauts on the moon by as early as 2024. “We want to be…
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ICESat-2 laser-scanning satellite tracks how billions of tons of polar ice are lost
This color-coded map shows the amount of ice gained or lost by Antarctica between 2003 and 2019. Dark reds and purples show large average rates of ice loss near the Antarctic coast, while blues show smaller rates of ice gain in the interior. (Smith et al. / Science / AAAS via UW) A satellite mission…
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NASA takes high-school student’s suggestion and gives Mars Helicopter a new name: Ingenuity
Picking up on a suggestion from an Alabama high-school junior, NASA has given an ingenious name to the first helicopter due to take flight on Mars. The new name, Ingenuity, was submitted by Vaneeza Rupani of Tuscaloosa County High School in Northport, Ala., for NASA’s “Name the Rover” essay contest. NASA went with a different…