Tag: Space
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A NASA astronaut may have just taken the best photo from space—ever
People who appreciate good astrophotography will no doubt be familiar with the work of Don Pettit, a veteran NASA astronaut who is closing in on having lived 500 days of his life in space. Pettit is now in the midst of his third stint on the International Space Station, and the decade he had to…
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An icy vent line may have caused Blue Origin to scrub debut launch of New Glenn
COCOA BEACH, Fla.—With 45 minutes left in a three-hour launch window, Blue Origin scrubbed its first attempt to launch the massive New Glenn rocket early on Monday morning. Throughout the window, which opened at 1 am ET (06:00 UTC), the company continued to reset the countdown clock as launch engineers worked out technical issues with…
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A glowing ring of metal fell to Earth, and no one has any idea what it is
It has been more than a week since reports first emerged about a “glowing ring of metal” that fell from the sky and crashed near a remote village in Kenya. According to the Kenya Space Agency, the object weighed 1,100 pounds (500 kg) and had a diameter of more than 8 feet (2.4 meters) when…
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Italy’s plan to buy Starlink data deals a serious blow to European space network
The Italian government is considering the purchase of satellite Internet services from SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, and the potential deal has triggered controversy along political, economic, and spaceflight lines in Europe. The story was initially broken by Bloomberg on Sunday, which reported that Italy is in “advanced talks” with SpaceX to purchase $1.6 billion worth of…
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Intuitive Machines set for second landing, looking to build a lunar economy
Five years ago, a small company in Houston named Intuitive Machines had just 30 employees, a couple of 3D printers, and a few soldering irons. Oh, and it had some big dreams. The company’s founders wanted to open a business on the Moon. On Wednesday morning, when I drove into the company’s new headquarters at…
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Nearly two years after its radical pivot, Fidelity slashes Relativity’s valuation
For several years, an innovative, California-based launch company named Relativity Space has been the darling of investors and media. Relativity promised to disrupt launch by taking a somewhat niche technology in the space industry at the time, 3D printing, and using it as the foundation for manufacturing rockets. The pitch worked. Relativity’s chief executive Tim…
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Outgoing NASA administrator urges incoming leaders to stick with Artemis plan
After a long career as a politician from Florida, former astronaut Bill Nelson has served as NASA’s administrator for the last three and a half years. He intends to resign from this position in about two weeks when President Joe Biden ends his term in the White House. Several significant events have happened under Nelson’s…
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Annual power ranking of US launch companies finds a shake-up at the bottom
Once again, we’re back with our annual power ranking of US launch companies. 2024 was the third year Ars compiled a list of the most accomplished rocket companies in the United States with the goal of sparking debate, discussion, and appreciation for the challenge of operating a successful launch company. This is a difficult business,…
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Elon Musk: “We’re going straight to Mars. The Moon is a distraction.”
Although SpaceX founder Elon Musk is known for outspokenness and controversial comments on his social media site X, he has been relatively restrained when it comes to US space policy in recent years. For example, he has rarely criticized NASA or its overall goal to return humans to the Moon through the Artemis Program. Rather,…
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Rocket Report: Avio named top European launch firm; New Glenn may launch soon
Welcome to Edition 7.25 of the Rocket Report! Happy New Year! It’s a shorter edition of the newsletter this week because most companies (not named Blue Origin, this holiday season) took things easier over the last 10 days. But after the break we’re back in the saddle for the new year, and eager to see…