On November 18, the SpaceX Starship completed its second orbital flight (IFT-2 mission) – the test of the most powerful reusable space launch system in history can be considered partially successful despite the fact that it ended in a double explosion (first, a rapid unplanned disassembly occurred with Super Heavy, and then Starship suffered the […]
After months of waiting, SpaceX has received partial approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to begin deploying the Starlink cellular system – but only for short tests. The FCC has decided to “partially grant, partially deny” the company’s application to operate a satellite service that is being developed to provide connectivity to T-Mobile smartphones.
It’s getting closer to showtime for NASA‘s cutting-edge mission to unveil an unfiltered universe and redefine the whimsy of “looking up at the stars.” After a successful journey thus far — having breezed through steps like traveling a million miles from Earth and aligning its 18 hexagonal, gold-plated mirrors — the James Webb Space Telescope is just “weeks away”
Over the past few years, the night sky has changed faster than at any time in human history, and the trend will continue in 2022 as our relationship with the space beyond our planet’s atmosphere grows more intimate. But changing relationships come with consequences. This holds true even for something as seemingly benign as how
A Falcon 9 rocket sends a new observatory called IXPE into space to study the most mysterious forces in the universe. SpaceX broke its own record for most commercial rocket launches in a year once again late Wednesday after a Falcon 9 rocket lofted a new NASA spacecraft into orbit from Florida. In 2020, Elon Musk’s space outfit
Very soon, aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, NASA’s DART spacecraft will blast off into the cosmos. But this isn’t any old spacecraft. Unlike beloved robotic explorers Lucy and the Parker Solar Probe, DART isn’t going to send back scientific secrets of the universe. It’s programmed to crash. DART, which stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, is NASA’s test
Elon Musk says SpaceX is now aiming to send its next-generation Starship rocket on its first orbital flight as early as January or February of next year. Musk updated the timeframe for the next launch of the latest prototype of the spacecraft during a virtual meeting of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on Wednesday. “We’ll do
The largest planet in the solar system is home to some mind-bogglingly massive storms. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is even more of a towering tempest than astronomers previously suspected. Images and other data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft released this week show that the solar system’s most famous roiling storm extends over 200 miles (350 kilometers) below the
The Hubble Space Telescope is sending some seriously spooky Halloween vibes out into the universe with an eerie image of dying star CW Leonis. The star looks like a cosmic cobweb, though there’s a very grounded science explanation for its appearance. In keeping with the season, NASA likened the star to a hypnotizing vortex, a peek into a witch’s
It posed no danger, but was the third-closest fly-by of our planet. A sneaky space rock sped by Antarctica on Sunday without any advance warning and narrowly avoided being fully incinerated by Earth’s atmosphere. Asteroid 2021 UA1 goes down as the third-closest fly-by of our planet by a near-Earth object that didn’t end in an impact.
