Washington DC (UPI) Mar 31, 2023
SpaceX on Friday delayed the first launch of its Space Force Tranche 0 satellites for the second time in as many days. The company tweeted that it was now targeting a launch from California's Vandenberg Spae Force Base on Saturday "to allow more time for vehicle preparations." The launch had previously been scheduled for Thursday morning but had an auto abort just before the coun

Beijing, China (SPX) Apr 02, 2023
On March 30, 2023, at 18:50, the Long March 2D carrier rocket blasted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, successfully launching four satellites of Group 01 of Hongtu 1 into the predetermined orbit. The launch mission was a complete success. The Long March 2D carrier rocket used in this launch mission is a normal-temperature liquid secondary carrier rocket developed by the Genera

Washington (AFP) March 31, 2023
Virgin Orbit, the satellite launch company founded by Richard Branson, said it will lay off 85 percent of its employees, according to a filing to the US stock market regulator. The California-based company will lay off around 675 people to reduce expenses, "in light of (its) inability to secure meaningful funding", it said in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission dated Thursd

Madrid, Spain (SPX) Apr 02, 2023
GMV is leading one of the two Pre-Phase A studies of the European Moon Rover System (EMRS). This project focuses on finding the best solution for a potential future European rover, with the ability to carry out different missions in different places on the lunar surface. As such, the GMV's EMRS team (OHB, AVS, HTR, DLR) has selected a modular approach, allowing different capabilities to be

Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 02, 2023
MOXIE, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, is a Perseverance Rover payload on Mars. MOXIE uses a scroll pump to capture the thin, carbon-dioxide dominate air of Mars and flows it into a Solid Oxide Electrolysis (SOXE) stack. The SOXE performs an electrochemical process that strips oxygen atoms off the carbon dioxide. This oxygen is a valuable resource for rocket propellant o

Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 02, 2023
NASA's Perseverance rover cored and stored the first sample of the mission's newest science campaign on Thursday, March 30. With each campaign, the team explores and studies a new area. On this one, the rover is exploring the top of Jezero Crater's delta. Perseverance has collected a total of 19 samples and three witness tubes, and it recently deposited 10 tubes as a backup cache on the Martian

Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 02, 2023
NASA's Perseverance rover is now exploring the upper surface of the Western Fan in Jezero crater, having completed a very successful one Mars year Prime Mission. It has sealed 22 of the 43 sample tubes it brought to Mars and created the Three Forks Sample Depot where it deposited 10 of these samples. The Mars Sample Return mission aims to bring some of the samples that Perseverance collect

ESA is excited to announce a revolutionary new technology that could bring luck to people all over the world: four-leaf clover detection from space.