Tag: Space
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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…
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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…