Tag: Space
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The inside story of SpaceX’s historic rocket landing that changed launch forever
On Dec. 21, 2015, SpaceX launched the Orbcomm-2 mission on an upgraded version of its Falcon 9 rocket. That night, just days before Christmas, the company successfully landed the first stage for the first time. The story behind this remarkable achievement is nowhere more fully told than in the book Reentry, authored by Ars Technica…
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Russia’s Soyuz 5 will soon come alive. But will anyone want to fly on it?
After nearly a decade of development, Russia’s newest launch vehicle is close to its debut flight. The medium-lift Soyuz 5 rocket is expected to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome before the end of the year. The Russian space corporation, Roscosmos, has released images of final processing of the Soyuz 5 rocket at the Progress Rocket…
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Amazon Leo starts to roll out its fastest satellite internet service — and reveals just how fast it’ll be
A worker installs an Amazon Leo antenna at a Hunt Energy facility. (Amazon Photo) Amazon Leo — the satellite internet service provider formerly known as Project Kuiper — says it has started shipping its top-of-the-line terminals to select customers for testing. Today’s announcement serves as further evidence that Amazon is closing in on providing space-based,…
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Blue Origin revealed some massively cool plans for its New Glenn rocket
One week after the successful second launch of its large New Glenn booster, Blue Origin revealed a roadmap on Thursday for upgrades to the rocket, including a new variant with more main engines and a super-heavy lift capability. These upgrades to the rocket are “designed to increase payload performance and launch cadence, while enhancing reliability,”…
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Stoke Space goes for broke to solve the only launch problem that “moves the needle”
LAUNCH COMPLEX 14, Cape Canaveral, Fla.—The platform atop the hulking steel tower offered a sweeping view of Florida’s rich, sandy coastline and brilliant blue waves beyond. Yet as captivating as the vista might be for an aspiring rocket magnate like Andy Lapsa, it also had to be a little intimidating. To his right, at Launch…
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‘Project Kuiper’ no more: Amazon renames satellite internet venture ‘Leo’ on path to commercial debut
(Amazon Image) Amazon is rebranding its ambitious effort to expand global access to high-speed internet: Project Kuiper will now be known as Amazon Leo. The Seattle-based tech giant announced Thursday that it was renaming its satellite broadband project in the midst of deploying the equipment that will help power it all. Leo is a nod to…
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NASA is kind of a mess: Here are the top priorities for a new administrator
After a long summer and fall of uncertainty, private astronaut Jared Isaacman has been renominated to lead NASA, and there appears to be momentum behind getting him confirmed quickly as the space agency’s 15th administrator. It is possible, although far from a lock, the Senate could finalize his nomination before the end of this year.…
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After Russian spaceport firm fails to pay bills, electric company turns the lights off
One of Russia’s most important projects over the last 15 years has been the construction of the Vostochny spaceport as the country seeks to fly its rockets from native soil and modernize its launch operations. However, the initiative has been a fiasco from the start. After construction began in 2011, the project was beset by…
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Elon Musk on data centers in orbit: “SpaceX will be doing this”
As artificial intelligence drives the need for vastly more computing storage and processing power, interest in space-based data centers has spiked. Although several startup companies, such as Starcloud, have begun to address this problem, the idea has also attracted the interest of tech barons. In May, it emerged that former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt…
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An in-space construction firm says it can help build massive data centers in orbit
There has been much discussion in the space community recently about building large data centers in orbit to avoid the environmental consequences of sprawling computing facilities on Earth. These space-based data centers could take advantage of the always-on, free fusion reactor at the center of the Solar System. Proponents say this represents a natural step…