Tag: Space
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Once again, the US public says NASA should prioritize asteroid defense
The Pew Research Center published the results of a new public survey on Thursday, the 54th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. The survey assessed Americans’ attitudes toward space exploration and space policy issues. Similarly to five years ago, the survey found that Americans broadly support the national space agency, NASA. Three-quarters…
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India takes a critical first step toward a second attempt to land on the Moon
India took the first step toward its second attempt to land on the Moon on Friday with the launch of its Chandrayaan-3 mission from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in the southeastern part of the country. The spacecraft launched on the LVM-3 rocket, the heaviest lift vehicle in India’s fleet. Liftoff came nearly three years…
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Vulcan’s upper stage failed due to higher stress and weaker welds
United Launch Alliance has identified the root cause of a failure that destroyed the upper stage of its Vulcan rocket in late March. According to the company’s chief executive, Tory Bruno, the Centaur V upper stage failed due to higher-than-anticipated stress near the top of the liquid hydrogen propellant tank and slightly weaker welding. Bruno…
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Here come the Moon landing missions (probably)
As anyone who has been paying attention to space exploration knows, the Moon is red-hot. Up to half a dozen missions may launch to the lunar surface in the next six months, heralding a new era of Moon exploration. It has not always been so. Following the Space Race in the 1960s and early 1970s,…
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The Webb telescope just offered a revelatory view of humanity’s distant past
To commemorate the first year of scientific operations by the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA has released a stunning new image of a stellar nursery. The photo is gorgeous. It could easily hang in a museum, as if it were a large canvas painting produced by a collaboration of impressionistic and modern artists. But it…
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Astronomers solve mystery of how a mirror-like planet formed so close to its star
It has been about three decades since the first confirmed exoplanet was discovered. In the following 30 years, using a variety of telescopes and instruments on the ground and in space, astronomers have cataloged more than 5,000 planets around other stars. As part of this process of scientific discovery, astronomers have confirmed that our Milky…
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Rocket Report: Big dreams in Sin City; SpaceX and FAA seek to halt lawsuit
Welcome to Edition 6.01 of the Rocket Report! Due to the fact that we are up to Edition 6, it means that Ars has been publishing this newsletter for five years. I genuinely want to thank everyone for their contributions over the years, whether you’ve submitted a story (Ken the Bin for MVP?) or just…
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NASA’s Mars Sample Return has a new price tag—and it’s colossal
During his final months as the chief of NASA’s science programs last year, there was one mission Thomas Zurbuchen fretted about more than any other—the agency’s ambitious plan to return rocks from Mars to Earth. He supported the Mars Sample Return mission and helped get it moving through the agency’s approval process. But the project…
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Rocket Report: Electron scoops up Virgin launch, ULA flies first 2023 mission
Welcome to Edition 5.43 of the Rocket Report! I am thrilled to announce that Stephen Clark is joining Ars Technica to cover space alongside me. You’ve already read some of his fine work here in the Rocket Report, as he has been the long-time editor of Spaceflight Now. But now, starting Monday, he’ll be writing frequently…
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The bad blood between Musk and Zuckerberg began with a bang
The Internet is aflame this morning with the prospect of a cage match between two of the tech industry’s most prominent and controversial leaders. Ready to rumble in the red corner is Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk. And in the blue corner, we have the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. As the BBC and…