Tag: Space
-
What is CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite)?
The CALIPSO mission (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) represents a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency CNES. Launched on April 28, 2006, the satellite was conceived to enhance the understanding of the role clouds and aerosols play in Earth’s climate system and air quality. Aerosols tiny particles like dust, smoke, and…
-
What is Cryogenic Temperature?
Cryogenic temperature refers to extremely low temperatures, typically below 120 Kelvin (-153.15°C), where materials exhibit unique physical properties that are not observed at higher temperatures. These properties include superconductivity, where certain materials conduct electricity without resistance; superfluidity, where fluids flow without viscosity; and significant changes in mechanical and electrical properties of materials. The study and…
-
What is Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)?
The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is an advanced environmental satellite program developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in partnership with NASA. JPSS is a series of polar-orbiting satellites designed to monitor Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and land surface with high precision. JPSS represents the next generation of polar-orbiting satellites that provide critical…
-
Boeing has informed its employees of uncertainty in future SLS contracts
The primary contractor for the Space Launch System rocket, Boeing, is preparing for the possibility that NASA cancels the long-running program. On Friday, with less than an hour’s notice, David Dutcher, Boeing’s vice president and program manager for the SLS rocket, scheduled an all-hands meeting for the approximately 800 employees working on the program. The…
-
Chat, are you ready to go to space with NASA?
The US space agency said Wednesday it will host a live Twitch stream from the International Space Station on February 12. NASA, which has 1.3 million followers on the live-streaming video service, has previously broadcast events on its Twitch channel. However, this will be the first time the agency has created an event specifically for…
-
Europe has the worst imaginable idea to counter SpaceX’s launch dominance
It is not difficult to understand the unease on the European continent about the rise of SpaceX and its controversial founder, Elon Musk. SpaceX has surpassed the European Space Agency and its institutional partners in almost every way when it comes to accessing space and providing secure communications. Last year, for example, SpaceX launched 134…
-
Rocket Report: SpaceX tosses away a Falcon 9; a Somalian spaceport?
Welcome to Edition 7.29 of the Rocket Report! It may be difficult to believe, but we are already one full month into the new year. It will be hard to top this month in launch, however, given the historic debut of New Glenn, and fiery end of the seventh Starship flight test. And in truth,…
-
AstroForge selects target for “high risk, seat of the pants” asteroid mission
The concept of flying out to distant asteroids and mining them for precious metals is going to seem preposterous right up until the moment that someone actually does it. It’s a terrible business model because it requires years and years of up-front investment and solving myriad technical problems before there’s any hope of a financial…
-
Why did Elon Musk just say Trump wants to bring two stranded astronauts home?
For reasons that were not immediately clear, SpaceX founder Elon Musk took to his social media site X on Tuesday evening to make a perplexing space-based pronouncement. “The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so,” Musk wrote. “Terrible that the…
-
With successful New Glenn flight, Blue Origin may finally be turning the corner
If one were to observe that I have written critically about Blue Origin over the last half-decade, they would not be wrong. The reality is that the space company founded by Jeff Bezos has underperformed. Its chief executive for most of this time, Bob Smith, was poorly regarded by his employees. He brought the worst…