Virgin to launch commercial spaceflights in June
Monday, 08 May 2023 19:19
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Space tourism company Virgin Galactic announced Monday that it is resuming flights with a mission this month, its first in nearly two years, and the launch of commercial trips in June.
The Unity 25 mission will take place in late May with four company employees on board, said Virgin Galactic, which was founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, who took part in the firm's last spaceflight in July 2021.
"Unity 25 is the final assessment of the full spaceflight system and astronaut experience before commercial service opens in late June," Virgin Galactic said in a statement.
Unity 25 will be the company's fifth trip into space, defined as 50 miles (80 kilometers) above sea level.
Unlike other companies that use vertical-launch rockets, Virgin Galactic uses a carrier aircraft that takes off from a runway, gains high altitude, and drops a rocket-powered plane that soars into space before gliding back to Earth.
Propelling ASCENT into commercial markets
Monday, 08 May 2023 19:13 Write a comment
Daniel Cavender has worked extensively with ASCENT, the non-toxic propellant developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory.
The post Propelling ASCENT into commercial markets appeared first on SpaceNews.
Thirsty on the moon? Just throw some regolith in the microwave
Monday, 08 May 2023 17:57 Write a comment
No matter where we go in the universe, we're going to need water. Thus far, human missions to Earth orbit and the moon have taken water with them. But while that works for short missions, it isn't practical in the long term. Water is heavy, and it would take far too much fuel to bring sufficient water to sustain long-term bases on the moon or Mars. So we'll have to use the water we can extract locally.
Fortunately, water is a common molecule in the universe. Even the moon has plenty of water to sustain a lunar colony. The only real challenge is how to extract it. As a recent study published in Acta Astronautica shows, that might be as easy as popping things into a microwave oven.
Although water is present in tiny quantities all over the moon, it is most concentrated in the polar regions.
Breaking out of the space echo chamber
Monday, 08 May 2023 17:49 Write a comment
As space advocates, we are simply terrible at communicating our perspective. Our collective dysphasia makes it harder for space companies to raise money and dramatically more difficult to sustain support in Washington.
The Euclid spacecraft will transform how we view the 'dark universe'
Monday, 08 May 2023 17:10 Write a comment
The European Space Agency's (ESA) Euclid satellite completed the first part of its long journey into space on May 1, 2023, when it arrived in Florida on a boat from Italy. It is scheduled to lift off on a Falcon 9 rocket, built by SpaceX, from Cape Canaveral in early July.
Euclid is designed to provide us with a better understanding of the "mysterious" components of our universe, known as dark matter and dark energy.
Unlike the normal matter we experience here on Earth, dark matter neither reflects nor emits light. It binds galaxies together and is thought to make up about 80% of all the mass in the universe.
Aeolus' fiery demise to set standard for safe reentry
Monday, 08 May 2023 15:02
Webb looks for Fomalhaut’s asteroid belt and finds much more
Monday, 08 May 2023 14:00 Write a comment
Astronomers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to image the warm dust around a nearby young star, Fomalhaut, in order to study the first asteroid belt ever seen outside of our Solar System in infrared light. But to their surprise, they found that the dusty structures are much more complex than the asteroid and Kuiper dust belts of our Solar System.
Maxar pursuing defense deals for its new line of small satellites
Monday, 08 May 2023 13:01 Write a comment
Maxar Technologies is set to deliver in early 2024 the first of 16 satellite buses ordered by L3Harris for a military constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO) run by the U.S.
Sizing up the 2023 GEO manufacturing battleground
Monday, 08 May 2023 12:48 Write a comment
Competition among builders of the world’s largest communications satellites is intensifying in a shrinking market.
The post Sizing up the 2023 GEO manufacturing battleground appeared first on SpaceNews.
Rocket Lab successfully launches 2 NASA storm-monitoring satellites
Monday, 08 May 2023 12:46 Write a comment
U.S.-based Rocket Lab Electron successfully launched a pair of NASA storm-monitoring satellites from New Zealand on Monday.
The Rocket Like A Hurricane mission with two CubeSats on board launched shortly after 1 p.m. Monday from Rocket Lab Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula on the archipelago nation's east coast.
"After 36 launches, we're still not sick of this view," Rocket Lab sa #CosmicMystery: Win a trip to Euclid mission control
Monday, 08 May 2023 11:34 Write a comment
Help us visualise how much of the Universe we know and don’t know and win a trip to mission control as ESA’s Euclid mission launches into space no earlier than July to unlock the mysteries of the Dark Universe.
Momentus tug raises orbit with water-fueled thruster
Monday, 08 May 2023 10:30 Write a comment
Momentus announced May 8 that it has successfully demonstrated the propulsion system on its Vigoride space tug, raising the vehicle’s orbit.
Aeolus’ fiery demise to set standard for safe reentry
Monday, 08 May 2023 10:08 Write a comment
ESA’s wind mission, Aeolus, will soon be lowered in orbit leading to its fiery reentry and burn-up through Earth’s atmosphere. ESA’s efforts to ensure a safe return go well beyond international standards and place the Agency in the lead for space safety.
How space will help football fans to celebrate sport
Monday, 08 May 2023 07:19 Write a comment
Millions of supporters avidly follow football clubs across Europe, from Manchester United to Bayern Munich. Now ESA is partnering with UEFA to use space to help ensure the safety of football fans and the sustainability of the sport – as well as exploring other ways in which space can help promote football.
From Japan to the Philippines: US expands SSA cooperation with Asian countries
Monday, 08 May 2023 07:13 Write a comment
The United States has agreed with the Philippines to strengthen cooperation on space situational awareness and space-based maritime domain awareness in the latest series of actions Washington has taken to strengthen ties with Asia-Pacific countries to counter China.