Enough commercial activity is heading to the moon in the next few months to create a traffic jam. Firefly Aerospace, ispace and Intuitive Machines are all launching commercial lunar lander missions…
Great article. It was fascinating to watch how this market would play out.
Rocket Lab says it has signed the first customer for its Neutron launch vehicle as the company pushes towards a mid-2025 first launch of the vehicle.
Firefly Aerospace has raised $175 million in a round led by a new investor to support production of launch vehicles and spacecraft with an increased focus on responsive space capabilities.
All the major elements of NASA’s next flagship space telescope are now under one roof as NASA says its development remains on cost and schedule.
Work on the orbital launch mount and Pad B continues, the final Block 1 ship expected to fly is preparing for launch, and Booter 13 is expected to roll out for full-stack testing any day. Considerable changes have occurred in the short time since Starship flight 5, and those changes are beginning to...
Almost no one thought SpaceX would make the catch, at least not on the first try. On the fifth integrated test flight of Starship, launched Oct. 13 from the company’s Boca Chica, Texas, site, the S…
On this timeline Russia is nearly a decade and a half behind SpaceX.
Saddle up, space cowboys. It may get bumpy for a while.
LOUISVILLE, Colorado — The long-awaited inaugural cargo flight of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane has been delayed to no earlier than May 2025, pushing back a launch previously expected this…
Commercial space station developer Vast Space has signed an agreement with the government of the Czech Republic that could allow a Czech astronaut fly on a future mission by the company.
NASA says it still expects to make a recommendation on a new architecture for the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program by the end of the year despite a change in leadership of a key review committee.
Starship will launch during the late afternoon so its descent into Indian Ocean is visible.
Australian launch vehicle startup Gilmour Space has received a license for its first orbital launch, which could take place before the end of the year.
The company will submit a proposal to on-ramp its Neutron vehicle in the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program
cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/27631025
> > “We’re excited to bid this time round for NSSL Lane 1, and we think Neutron is a really good vehicle for it,” Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO Peter Beck told SpaceNews. > > > > The U.S. Space Force last week released a request for proposals from launch companies seeking to challenge SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin in the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program. > > > > The NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 program is structured as an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, enabling the Space Force to on-ramp providers on a yearly basis, and award individual task orders as needed. > > > > The Space Force requires the next round of Lane 1 bidders to be ready for a first launch by December 2025, a timeline Beck says Neutron can meet.
NASA expects to determine by early next year the next steps for a lunar rover mission it canceled in July amid some confusion over the timing of that decision.
cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/27630358
“A satellite is always coming over an area within a given reasonable amount of time.”…
Typically, most of the ISS propulsion comes from the Russian segment of the space station.
The Long March 9 gets flaps and a reusable upper stage.
>Chojnacki said SpaceX is looking at March 2025 to begin that fueling campaign and “hoping (the) first half of ’25 to be able to see that work.” He said two launch towers at the Starbase facility near Boca Chica Beach will be needed to do that work. > >In order to make this work long-term, Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will need to come into the picture. Chojnacki added that the pace of launch will have to greatly increase, potentially to a bi-weekly cadence.
Can't wait to see the final designs! These might be the next human-driven vehicles on the moon.
They just won't die lol. Best of luck
That was a fun read! I really like the Spaceport Readiness Level scale. Makes me excited for the future.
I keep thinking that it must have been half a meter and there was a mistake somewhere, but that's what the source tells us! Insane.
First crew dragon launch from SLC40!
I wish them best of luck! These are big projects which could truly transform our exploration around the earth/moon system.
It's time to start taking this stuff seriously. Glad to hear it's in the works.
I LOVE that already there are enough commercial space missions happening that it's easy to get confused which one is which! The more the merrier imo :)
Thanks for sharing the video! I'm always interested in seeing mainstream coverage of this stuff. However, they really don't know what they're talking about. For example, the host says they're going to higher altitudes than the Apollo program, which is just utterly baloney. Really throws a wrench into the credibility of this news outlet, in my view at least.
As for whether this mission is risky, yes it absolutely is. However, all manned space missions are risky and this one doesn't really have anything that makes it fundamentally unsafe.
Look, NASA sets objectives to accomplish its missions to the ISS, and they work with the engineers at SpaceX to figure out how to accomplish them as safely as possible. These Polaris missions are fascinating in that the objectives are set jointly between the SpaceX team and a paying customer.
The customer is interested in a few things, but it probably comes down to fame for doing new things. SpaceX is interested in developing the technologies and raising funds to get to Mars. Where their goals overlap is how we get the Polaris missions. I think that's pretty cool!
Just kidding...
https://x.com/rfa_space/status/1825634436794245548
On Monday evening, RFA conducted a hot fire of its first stage at their launch site at SaxaVord Spaceport.
This resulted in an anomaly that led to the loss of the stage. No one was injured in the process. The launch pad has been saved and is secured, the situation is under control and any immediate danger has been mitigated. We are now working closely with SaxaVord Spaceport and the authorities to gather data and info to eventually resolve what happened.
We will take our time to analyze and assess the situation.
We develop iteratively with an emphasis on real testing. This is part of our philosophy and we were aware of the higher risks attached to this approach. Our goal is to return to regular operations as soon as possible.
While the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is responsible for developing the satellite bus, Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) is in charge of the payloads.
SpaceX is just launching the satellites.
