Tag: Space
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Rocket Report: Chinese firm suffers another failure; Ariane 6 soars in debut
Welcome to Edition 7.02 of the Rocket Report! The highlight of this week was the hugely successful debut of Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket. They will address the upper stage issue, I am sure. Given Europe’s commitment to zero debris, stranding the second stage is not great. But for a debut launch of a large new…
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Congress apparently feels a need for “reaffirmation” of SLS rocket
There is a curious section in the new congressional reauthorization bill for NASA that concerns the agency’s large Space Launch System rocket. The section is titled “Reaffirmation of the Space Launch System,” and in it Congress asserts its commitment to a flight rate of twice per year for the rocket. The reauthorization legislation, which cleared…
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SpaceX video teases potential Starship booster “catch” on next flight
In a short video released Thursday, possibly to celebrate the US Fourth of July holiday with the biggest rocket’s red glare of them all, SpaceX provided new footage of the most recent test of its Starship launch vehicle. This test, the fourth of the experimental rocket that NASA is counting on to land its astronauts…
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Two of the German military’s new spy satellites appear to have failed in orbit
On the day before Christmas last year, a Falcon 9 rocket launched from California and put two spy satellites into low-Earth orbit for the armed forces of Germany, which are collectively called the Bundeswehr. Initially, the mission appeared successful. The German satellite manufacturer, OHB, declared that the two satellites were “safely in orbit.” The addition…
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Chinese space firm unintentionally launches its new rocket
One of the most promising Chinese space startups, Space Pioneer, experienced a serious anomaly this weekend while testing the first stage of its Tianlong-3 rocket near the city of Gongyi. The rocket was undergoing a static fire test of the stage, in which a vehicle is clamped to a test stand while its engines are…
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Mere days before its debut, the Ariane 6 rocket loses a key customer to SpaceX
In a shocking announcement this week, the European intergovernmental organization responsible for launching and operating the continent’s weather satellites has pulled its next mission off a future launch of Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket. Instead, the valuable MTG-S1 satellite will now reach geostationary orbit on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in 2025. “This decision was driven…
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NASA will pay SpaceX nearly $1 billion to deorbit the International Space Station
NASA has awarded an $843 million contract to SpaceX to develop a “US Deorbit Vehicle.” This spacecraft will dock to the International Space Station in 2029 and then ensure the large facility makes a controlled reentry through Earth’s atmosphere before splashing into the ocean in 2030. “Selecting a US Deorbit Vehicle for the International Space…
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Some European launch officials still have their heads stuck in the sand
There was a panel discussion at a space conference in Singapore 11 years ago that has since become legendary in certain corners of the space industry for what it reveals about European attitudes toward upstart SpaceX. The panel included representatives from a handful of launch enterprises, including Europe-based Arianespace, and the US launch company SpaceX.…
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VIPs cut the ribbon at the grand opening of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite factory
Sen. Maria Cantwell speaks at a ribbon-cutting event for Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite factory in Kirkland, Wash. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) KIRKLAND, Wash. — Amazon gave U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and other VIPs a sneak peek at the company’s Project Kuiper satellite factory, where thousands of spacecraft are to be manufactured for a global…
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NASA’s commercial spacesuit program just hit a major snag
Almost exactly two years ago, as it prepared for the next generation of human spaceflight, NASA chose a pair of private companies to design and develop new spacesuits. These were to be new spacesuits that would allow astronauts to both perform spacewalks outside the International Space Station as well as walk on the Moon as…