The modified passenger 747-400 will be used to carry the space company’s LauncherOne vehicle to 35,000-40,000-ft. altitude from which it will be air-dropped and launched into orbit.
Europe's LISA Pathfinder gravitational-wave-detection mission was successfully placed into orbit Dec. 3 after lifting off atop a Vega light launcher from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.
The FireSat system will result in revisit times about every 15 min., which begins to approach the warning an experienced firewatcher in a tower can provide firefighters by scanning forest treetops for smoke.
In November, ESA handed NASA the first tangible evidence of its contribution to the Orion development, a structural test article of the European Service Module (ESM) that in the coming months will undergo rigorous environmental trials.
Engineers and scientists are beginning to plan a program of robotic exploration over the next two decades to look for life on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Europa, the large icy moon of Jupiter, is first on the list.
Scientists believe they can take the “missing” out of the missing carbon mystery linked to a changing Martian environment that evolved from warmer, wetter conditions 3.8 billion years ago to the current cold, dry realm that persists today.
The test aimed to deploy the six-seat crew capsule into suborbit for a planned 4-min. weightless period, but attention was focused on whether the rocket stage could be successfully recovered using the tricky vertical-powered-landing technique.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket will fly again after achieving an intact powered vertical landing of the launch vehicle and parachute recovery of the unpiloted crew capsule to conclude a test flight.
Blue Origin has successfully launched and landed a reusable rocket for the first time. The New Shepard space vehicle flew to just over 329,000 feet before landing safety at its launch site in Texas. Check out Blue Origin's video of the rocket's test flight.
Flutter-suppression X-56 crashes; laser IDs target by vibrations; new venture to commercialize morphing structures; Airbus helo R&D in the U.K.; Iceye’s low-cost radar imaging from space.
Bomber lobby lays the groundwork for the kind of attack on its budget now threatening the F-35; new space bill allows citizens to mine the Moon for its water ice.
Airbus Defense and Space is facing schedule challenges as it develops a European service module that will power the NASA Orion crew capsule, including documentation issues for Shuttle-era propulsion systems and NASA safety concerns over redundancy.
Commercial space bill nears final passage; Middle East nations seek precision weapons; DHS pledges new security enhancements; and Ex-Im Bank reauthorization takes another step forward.
Delivering a staggering 1 terabits per second of throughput, ViaSat-3 will also comprise the first spacecraft in a three-satellite constellation designed to provide global broadband from geostationary orbit, feeding mobile demand from the U.S. government and commercial aeronautical markets.
NASA evaluators appear to have winnowed the field for future ISS cargo contractors to the commercial-cargo capsules already operated by CRS-1 contractors Orbital ATK and SpaceX and an unmanned cargo version of the Sierra Nevada Corp. Dream Chaser reusable lifting body.
NASA delays its CRS-2 contract, again. Italy is in line to become the next nation with armed Reapers. The FAA scrambles to create a UAV registration system. And the Ex-Im bank bill nears final passage.
