Jeff Foust January 12, 2024 Vigoride tugs developed by Momentus change orbits using the company’s Microwave Electrothermal Thruster. Credit: Momentus ORLANDO, Fla. — In-space transportation company Momentus has postponed the next flight of its space tug and laid off
[12 Jan 2024] Japanese Mars mission launch delayed to 2026
JAXA’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission will now launch in 2026, two years later than previously planned. Credit: JAXA NEW ORLEANS — The launch of a Japanese mission to collect samples from the Martian moon Phobos and return them to
[12 Jan 2024] Orienspace breaks Chinese commercial launch records with Gravity-1 solid rocket
Launch preparations for Gravity-1 aboard the Defu-15002 sea platform. Credit: Orienspace HELSINKI — A young Chinese launch startup has reached orbit with its Gravity-1 all-solid launch vehicle, smashing the record for payload capacity for Chinese commercial rockets. Orienspace’s Gravity-1 rocket
[12 Jan 2024] Starlink’s first texts via “cellphone towers in space”
Starlink’s Direct to Cell satellites to fill in dead spots in T-Mobile network. JON BRODKIN – 1/11/2024, 1:03 PM Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capability. SpaceX is showing off the first text messages sent between T-Mobile phones via one of Starlink’s
[12 Jan 2024] SpaceX Third Starship Orbital Launch Test Tracking to February 2024
Jessica Jensen, vice president of customer operations and integration at SpaceX, said securing an updated Federal Aviation Administration launch license was the key factor driving the schedule for the third Starship test flight. The third flight should be sometime in
[12 Jan 2024] NASA and Lockheed Show Quiet Supersonic X-59 Quesst Jet
NASA’s rolled out the new X-59 Quesst supersonic aircraft live from Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. Quesst is NASA’s mission to demonstrate how the X-59 can fly supersonic without generating loud sonic booms, and then survey what
[12 Jan 2024] NASA Outlines the Pathway for Cost-competitive Space-Based Solar Power
Washington DC, January 12, 2024 – In a new report released yesterday, NASA outlined how developing Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) can provide a strategic clean energy source for the United States. Their analysis underscores the carbon reduction and economic growth
[11 Jan 2024] ESA Targets 15 November for Vega C Return to Flight Mission
Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique Video du CSG/S Martin The European Space Agency has announced that it is targeting 15 November for the return to flight of the grounded Avio-built Vega C launch vehicle. Vega C was grounded following a failed flight in
[11 Jan 2024] Swarming Proxima Centauri: Coherent Picospacecraft Swarms Over Interstellar Distances
Graphic depiction of Swarming Proxima Centauri: Coherent Picospacecraft Swarms Over Interstellar DistancesThomas Eubanks Thomas Eubanks Space Initiatives, Inc. Tiny gram-scale interstellar probes pushed by laser light are likely to be the only technology capable of reaching another star this century.
[11 Jan 2024] NASA’s Troubled Mars Sample Mission Has Scientists Seeing Red
NASA’s Mars Sample Return program is the agency’s highest priority in planetary science, but projected multibillion-dollar overruns have some calling the plan a “dumpster fire” BY LEONARD DAVID An artist’s impression of NASA’s Perseverance rover exploring Mars. As part of