Tag: NASA
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NASA calls an end to Mars InSight lander mission, with Aerojet getting in on tributes
One of the InSight lander’s last selfies was sent back from Mars in April. (NASA Photo) Four years after engineers cheered the landing of the robotic InSight spacecraft on Mars, NASA today declared an end to the $830 million quake-detecting mission. In a mission update, NASA said the control team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory…
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With Hubble and Spitzer, researchers discover water-filled exoplanets
Using data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and retired Spitzer Space Telescope, a group of researchers has discovered two exoplanets that may be largely comprised of water. Located around a red dwarf star 218 light-years away, the two planets are low in density. Furthermore, the researchers, led by Caroline Piaulet of the Trottier Institute for…
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SpaceX launches SWOT ocean research mission
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched the joint NASA/CNES Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite mission from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 3:46 AM PST (11:46 UTC) on Friday, Dec. 16, after a 24-hour delay to allow teams to complete further data review and analysis after moisture was identified in two of…
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Artemis I review shows perfect ICPS performance, ULA looks to next Artemis launches
United Launch Alliance (ULA), the prime contractor for the Space Launch System’s (SLS’s) Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), has declared the stage’s overall performance on the Artemis I mission as “perfect.” The ICPS is the in-space upper stage of the SLS stack. On Artemis I, it was responsible for raising the initial orbital perigee and…
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SpaceX launches Falcon 9 carrying private Japanese moon lander
SpaceX has used its Falcon 9 rocket to send a privately funded mission toward the surface of the moon. After a series of delays, HAKUTO-R Mission 1 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) at 2:38 AM EST (07:38 UTC) on Dec. 11. An initial launch…
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Orion aces final in-flight test with nominal reentry and splashdown
The Orion spacecraft has reached the end of its flight on the Artemis I mission, with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the Baja Coast near Guadalupe Island at 12:40 PM EST (17:40 UTC) on Sunday, Dec. 11. Final in-flight development test objectives were completed on Saturday, Dec. 10, and the fifth and penultimate…
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NASA talks Mobile Launcher refurbishment, modifications needed for Artemis II crew debut of SLS
Mobile Launcher 1 (ML1, or ML) is on its way back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center after successfully launching the SLS rocket and Orion/European Service Module duo on the Artemis I mission from Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) on Nov. 16, 2022. The ML now needs to be repaired from…
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NASA’s Orion spacecraft zooms around the moon and sets a course for splashdown
A crescent Earth looms above the lunar horizon in an image captured by NASA’s Orion spacecraft (seen in the left foreground). The reddish dot and the rays of light are camera artifacts. (NASA / ESA Photo) NASA’s Orion capsule fired its main engine for three and a half minutes today during a close approach to…
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RS-25 engine performance “perfect” on Artemis I debut launch
The four RS-25 engines from Aerojet Rocketdyne successfully propelled the Core Stage, Interim Cryogenic Propulsion System, and Orion/Service Module stack into its initial Earth orbit during the system’s debut launch on Nov. 16, 2022. The engines fired for a full duration of nearly eight and a half minutes, inserting the SLS stack into a 30…
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Boeing talks Core Stage performance on Artemis I, looks ahead to future Core Stages and EUS debut
Following a successful first launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) and its critical Core Stage, Boeing is looking ahead to “the SLS fleet” as the aerospace company moves to complete the next three core stages for Artemis missions II through IV. Meanwhile, design and materials orders are in work from Boeing for SLS’s new…