Two years ago, a NASA spacecraft crashed into a small asteroid millions of miles from Earth to test a technology that could one day prove useful in deflecting an object off a collision course with Earth. The European Space Agency returned to the crash site on Monday and began a follow-up mission to assess the…
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted approval for the Falcon 9 rocket to launch the European Space Agency’s Hera asteroid mission, but it remains grounded for other missions for the time being. On October 6, the FAA issued a statement confirming the authorization of the Falcon 9’s return to flight, specifically for the Hera…
SpaceX has added another mission to its already crowded launch list. Elon Musk’s company has received a contract to launch the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite JPSS-4. If all goes according to plan, JPSS-4 is scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in 2027. The…
SpaceX plans to use a powerful, enhanced capsule to deorbit the International Space Station (ISS) once its operational life concludes. On Wednesday, NASA and Elon Musk’s company outlined their strategy to incinerate the station on reentry, with the remnants ideally falling into the ocean around early 2031, marking 32 years of service. Other options, such…
On Monday, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched Turkey’s first domestically-built communications satellite, a powerful relay station designed to ensure secure military traffic within Turkey’s borders while providing expanded commercial services in India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. “We have just launched our domestic communication satellite Türksat 6A into space,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğa said on…
After another mission was aborted in Florida, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket loaded with wideband Starlink satellites into orbit from California on Tuesday. Elon Musk’s private space company announced it had successfully placed 20 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit after lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 11:40 p.m. ET. “On orbit,…
Rocket launches are exciting to watch, but the past two SpaceX Starship launches gave viewers more than they expected. Both starships exploded after launch. Nevertheless, the company considered the mission a success thanks to the data and information collected. And it doesn’t stop. SpaceX on Tuesday announced plans to launch its third Starship mission on…
Tuesday saw the launch of SpaceX’s 16th Falcon 9 rocket of the year, carrying a potent Indonesian communications satellite into orbit. At 3:11 p.m. EST, the Falcon 9 rocket launched from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, using a first stage on its 17th flight. The first stage boosted the rocket…
A step closer to its historic moonshot, a private lunar lander has made progress. Today, January 31, the robotic Nova-C spacecraft got prepared for liftoff by being enclosed inside the payload fairing of its SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. In a call with reporters this afternoon, Trent Martin, vice president for space systems at the Houston-based…
The Internet giant said on Friday that it had purchased three rocket launches from SpaceX for its Project Kuiper internet satellites. Amazon’s decision is unexpected considering that their Kuiper system is meant to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink in the satellite broadband space. Both Starlink and Kuiper are multibillion-dollar efforts aimed at building networks with thousands…