Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 17, 2024
T-Mobile has launched registration for its beta program of T-Mobile Starlink, a new direct-to-cell satellite service set to eliminate cellular dead zones by covering the 500,000 square miles in the U.S. without ground-based network access. The beta program follows recent FCC approval and marks a key step in integrating Starlink's satellite technology with T-Mobile's terrestrial network. "T

Baltimore MD (SPX) Dec 23, 2024
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is in good health and operating normally as it speeds toward its closest-ever flight around the Sun on Christmas Eve. Mission operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, received a beacon transmission from Parker, through NASA's Deep Space Network complex in Canberra, Australia, indicating all spacecraft systems were operat

Boston MA (SPX) Dec 17, 2024
As seen across North America at sometimes surprisingly low latitudes, brilliant auroral displays provide evidence of solar activity in the night sky. More is going on than the familiar visible light shows during these events, though: When aurora appear, the Earth's ionosphere is experiencing an increase in ionization and total electron content (TEC) due to energetic electrons and ions precipitat

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 17, 2024
NASA's DAVINCI - Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging - mission embodies the spirit of innovation and exploration that its namesake, Leonardo da Vinci, was famous for. Scheduled to launch in the early 2030s, DAVINCI will explore Venus with both a spacecraft and a descent probe. DAVINCI's probe will be the first in the 21st century to brave Venus' atmos

Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 23, 2024
I have always loved the mountains. Growing up on the flat plains of Midwestern USA, every summer I looked forward to spending a few days on alpine trails while on vacation. Climbing upward from the trailhead, the views changed constantly. After climbing a short distance, the best views were often had by looking back down on where we had started. As we climbed higher, views of the valleys below e

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 17, 2024
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) recently captured an image of the retired InSight lander, offering insights into dust accumulation on Mars. Taken on Oct. 23 using the orbiter's High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, the image reveals InSight's solar panels now share the same reddish-brown hue as the Martian surface. InSight, which landed in November 2018, was

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 23, 2024
The Moon's surface is coated in a gritty layer known as lunar regolith, composed of gravel, pebbles, and fine dust. Astronauts during the Apollo missions discovered that this fine, powdery dust - electromagnetically charged due to solar and cosmic radiation - clings stubbornly to surfaces, including gloves, boots, and spacecraft, and is highly abrasive. This poses a significant challenge for NAS

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 23, 2024
Galactic Energy, a Beijing-based private rocket manufacturer, successfully conducted its fourth sea-based launch of the Ceres 1 carrier rocket on Thursday. According to the company, the rocket lifted off at 6:18 pm from a mobile launch platform in the Yellow Sea near Shandong province. The mission placed four satellites into a low-Earth orbit approximately 850 kilometers above the Earth.

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 23, 2024
Vast has announced an agreement with SpaceX to conduct two human spaceflight missions to the International Space Station (ISS) using SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. The missions, dependent on NASA's selection of Vast for private astronaut missions (PAM), will mark the fifth and sixth PAMs ever awarded by NASA, further positioning Vast as a key player in commercial space explorati

Washington DC (UPI) Dec 21, 2024
One of two scheduled Falcon 9 rocket launches lifted off early Saturday with one going up in California but aborted in Florida. The launch of four Astranis satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station originally was scheduled for about midnight Friday, with backup opportunities until 2:28 a.m. But just as the rocket's nine engines fired, SpaceX officials announced that it would be