Northrop Grumman and Firefly to partner on upgraded Antares
Original Publication Date: 2022-08-08 17:04
Northrop Grumman and Firefly Aerospace announce partnership. Partnership would solve Northrop's reliance on Ukrainian and Russian suppliers. The new version of the Antares, called the Antares 330, will feature a first stage using seven Miranda engines. The company expects the Antares 330 to be ready as soon as 2024.
Beck: CAPSTONE demonstrates feasibility of low-cost interplanetary smallsats
Original Publication Date: 2022-08-08 21:10
Rocket Lab chief says company's work on small launch vehicles, spacecraft came together. June 28 launch of NASA's Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment. Rocket Lab provided the launch on its Electron rocket as well as the Lunar Photon kick stage.
Galactic Energy of China registers third consecutive successful launch
Original Publication Date: 2022-08-09 10:40
Chinese commercial launch service provider Galactic Energy maintained a 100 percent launch record with its third Ceres-1 solid rocket launch. The four-stage Ceres-1 rocket lifted off at 12:11 a.m. Eastern Aug. 9 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. Aboard were three small satellites.
TransAstra and Slooh to offer students asteroid detection tool
Original Publication Date: 2022-08-09 10:00
TransAstronautica announces partnership with online astronomy platform Slooh. TransAstra and Slooh will work together to install TransAstra’s Sutter telescopes. Slooh currently operates telescopes at Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics. Slooh plans to add telescope sites in the United Arab Emirates and India.
Launch startup SpaceRyde fortifies advisory board
Original Publication Date: 2022-08-08 21:21
Canadian launch startup SpaceRyde has added a second member to its advisory board. Mina Mitry, the CEO of small satellite operator Kepler Communications, joins. SpaceRyde said Mitry’s expertise will help the startup scale up operations. Founded in 2018, SpaceRyde is developing a small, three-stage rocket.
NASA looking for new launch of remaining TROPICS cubesats
Original Publication Date: 2022-08-08 18:43
NASA looking for alternative ways to launch four Earth science cubesats. Rocket 3 series of vehicles had reached orbit successfully on only two launches in seven attempts. First two TROPICS cubesats were lost in a June 12 launch failure on another Rocket 3.3. Astra announced Aug. 4 it was canceling all remaining Rocket 3.3 launches.
NASASpaceFlight.com
The SSLV or Small Satellite Launch Vehicle conducted its launch debut from Sriharikota, India on Sunday, August 7. An issue with the fourth stage resulted in the satellites being deployed in an unusable orbit. The SSLV program’s genesis was a December 2015 National Institute of Advanced Studies proposal to create a “Small Satellite Launch Vehicle-1”
Commercial Archives
SpaceX launches South Korea's first mission to the Moon. Danuri spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Danuri will be the first mission to the moon conducted by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), South Korea’s national space agency.
International Archives
Chinese commercial launch company Galactic Energy has launched a mission it has dubbed ‘White is the New Black’ The company launched its Ceres-1 launch vehicle from Site 95 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert of northwest China. The Ceres-1, painted white rather than black like previous rockets of its type, launched at 04:11 UTC on Tuesday, August 9.
Chinese Long March 3B Launches APStar-6C Communications Satellite – Spaceflight101
China launches rare commercial rocket with APStar-6C communications satellite. Long March 3B lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 16:06 UTC on a mission of under half an hour to lift the spacecraft into an elliptical Geostationary Transfer Orbit. Confirmation of launch success was provided by APT Satellite around 40 minutes after liftoff.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard Reaches new Heights in latest Test Flight – Spaceflight101
Blue Origin launched their reusable New Shepard launch system on Sunday. The mission was designed to expand the vehicle’s operational envelope by sending it to a peak altitude of 107 Kilometers. Sunday’s flight marked the second for this particular set of hardware, following up on the successful December 2017 mission.
News – Spaceflight101
A Russian Rockot booster is set to blast off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 17:57 UTC with the Sentinel-3B multi-function satellite. The rocket will carry the multi-function Sentinel-3B satellite into orbit. The launch is expected to take place on Wednesday.
ISS Updates – Spaceflight101 – International Space Station
A veteran NASA spacewalker and an EVA rookie from Japan ended their week with nearly six hours of work outside the International Space Station. The restoration of the Station’s Mobile Servicing System started last year and continued in January to provide Canadarm2 with a new pair of grappling hands.
Featured – Spaceflight101
SpaceX Falcon 9 takes to the skies over Florida’s Cape Canaveral Monday afternoon. The flight-proven Dragon spacecraft will deliver science gear, supplies and maintenance hardware to the International Space Station. It is the first of at least six cargo ships inbound to the U.S. Segment of ISS this year.
Re-Entry: Long March 11 Rocket Body – Spaceflight101
The CZ-11 fourth stage used leftover propellant for a partial de-orbit maneuver, lowering its perigee to 120 Kilometers to significantly accelerate its orbital decay. It lifted a cluster of five commercial Earth-imaging satellites into a 500-Kilometer orbit. Exact details on the fourth stage of China’s new Long March 11 launcher are not available.
Faces of Leadership: The Directors of JPL
JPL Director, 2001-2016 Charles Elachi was born in Lebanon and received a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Grenoble, France. He received a master's degree (1969) and doctorate (1971) in electrical sciences from Caltech. Dr. Elachi taught at Caltech, served in a variety of research and management positions at JPL beginning in 1971, specializing in remote sensing.
Documentary Series: JPL and the Space Age
JPL and the Space Age is a series of documentaries about NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The documentaries use rare archival footage and interviews with many of JPL’s pioneering engineers and scientists. Each episode was written, produced and directed by JPL Fellow and national Emmy Award-winning documentarian Blaine Baggett.
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My Favorite Martian Image: ‘Enchanted’ Rocks at Jezero Crater
The rocks of the crater floor are igneous in origin, having formed billions of years ago from molten rock. Over time, mud, silt, and sand brought into the lake that filled Jezero compressed and solidified into thin layers of sedimentary rock. If microscopic organisms were also present during sedimentary rock formation, they could have been captured within the layers.
10 Years Since Landing, NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Still Has Drive
Engineers catalog each and every crack in the wheels, test every line of computer code before it’s beamed into space. Curiosity’s robotic drilling process, for example, has been reinvented multiple times since landing. The team plans to spend the next few years exploring the sulfate-rich area.
NASA Data on Plant ‘Sweating’ Could Help Predict Wildfire Severity
NASA study finds relationship between intensity of a wildfire and water stress in plants measured in the months before the blaze. The correlations weren’t just a matter of dry plants burning more than hydrated ones. Some areas where vegetation had sufficient water burned more severely, possibly because fires had more fuel to consume.