Tag: Space
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NASA’s Lunar Gateway has a big visiting vehicles problem
Do you remember the Lunar Gateway? You could be forgiven if not, as the program continues to be tossed around by NASA planners, and it is still not entirely clear what purpose the lunar space station is supposed to serve. The Gateway—a small space station that will fly in a halo orbit around the Moon…
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After years of leniency, ULA cracks down on hobbyist photographers
The emails from United Launch Alliance started popping into the inboxes of photographers a few days after the Fourth of July holiday. Although that day is meant to celebrate freedom and the red glare of rockets, the communication threatened to strip both from some of the company’s most ardent devotees. The message from the launch…
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After years of leniency, ULA cracks down on hobbyist photographers
The emails from United Launch Alliance started popping into the inboxes of photographers a few days after the Fourth of July holiday. Although that day is meant to celebrate freedom and the red glare of rockets, the communication threatened to strip both from some of the company’s most ardent devotees. The message from the launch…
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Although it’s not final, SpaceX just got good news from the FAA on Starbase
After SpaceX decided to launch orbital missions of its Starship rocket from Texas about five years ago, the company had to undergo a federal environmental review of the site to ensure it was safe to do so. As a part of this multi-year process, the Federal Aviation Administration completed a Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment in…
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Although it’s not final, SpaceX just got good news from the FAA on Starbase
After SpaceX decided to launch orbital missions of its Starship rocket from Texas about five years ago, the company had to undergo a federal environmental review of the site to ensure it was safe to do so. As a part of this multi-year process, the Federal Aviation Administration completed a Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment in…
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SpaceX roars back to orbit barely two weeks after in-flight anomaly
Early on Saturday morning, at 1:45 am local time, a Falcon 9 rocket soared into orbit from its launch site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. By some measures this was an extremely routine mission—it was, after all, SpaceX’s 73rd launch of this calendar year. And like many other Falcon 9 launches this year, the…
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Pete Beck vs. Chris Kemp: The rocket rivalry you’ve got to see to believe
Early on in the new documentary film Wild Wild Space, Astra rocket company chief executive Chris Kemp offers this bit of snide commentary on his launch competitor, Rocket Lab: “I’m someone who wants to actually succeed from a business perspective, versus just make big toys.” For better or worse—and it’s better for viewers and ultimately…
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SpaceX just stomped the competition for a new contract—that’s not great
There is an emerging truth about NASA’s push toward commercial contracts that is increasingly difficult to escape: Companies not named SpaceX are struggling with NASA’s approach of awarding firm, fixed-price contracts for space services. This belief is underscored by the recent award of an $843 million contract to SpaceX for a heavily modified Dragon spacecraft…
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The Falcon 9 rocket may return to flight as soon as Tuesday night
It was only about 10 days ago that the Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage failed in flight, preventing the rocket from delivering its 20 Starlink satellites into a proper orbit. Because they were released lower than expected—about 135 km above the Earth’s surface and subject to atmospheric drag—these satellites ultimately reentered the planet’s atmosphere and…
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NASA’s flagship mission to Europa has a problem: Vulnerability to radiation
The launch date for the Europa Clipper mission to study the intriguing moon orbiting Jupiter, which ranks alongside the Cassini spacecraft to Saturn as NASA’s most expensive and ambitious planetary science mission, is now in doubt. The $4.25 billion spacecraft had been due to launch in October on a Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space…