About the Author
Nick has a love for technology, cars, and space. He currently lives in California with his girlfriend, where he enjoys watching races, taking photos, and going to air shows. The first rocket launch that he watched was a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched from Cape Canaveral back in January 2015. His first iPhone was the iPhone 3GS that he purchased back in 2010. He has used dozens of iPhones and Android phones since then. He’s currently using the iPhone 11 Pro Max with an Apple Watch Series 5.
Today
On Sunday, November 29, Japan launched a top-secret communications satellite manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). The new optical data relay satellite will be used to send data that is collected by Japan’s Information Gathering Satellites (IGS) back down to Earth.
November 27
Sandia National Laboratories recently released a video showcasing part of the United States’ future arsenal; the B61-12 nuclear bomb. The video also gave the public their first glimpse at the F-35A Dual Capable Aircraft.
LIGO is the world’s largest gravitational wave observatory in the world. It was here that the first gravitational waves were detected back in September 2015 using the facility’s two enormous laser interferometers. But how exactly is a feat as complex as detecting gravitational waves done?
For the first time ever, scientists at the Gran Sasso National Laboratories of the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics have detected neutrinos that were produced within the Sun by the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle. This was something that was theorized back in 1938, but until now, it remained just a theory.
November 25
NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California has been working on a project called “SCHAMROQ,” which involves creating tools and test techniques for the X-59 plane. The plane is hypothetically capable of producing very quiet sonic booms, but it can’t be tested until project SCHAMROQ makes progress. Unfortunately, the global pandemic has made this a monumental task.
A couple of weeks ago, it was discovered that SpaceX was likely paying much more to manufacture Starlink user terminals than it was charging users. Now, it looks like Business Insider has confirmed this assumption.
November 24
NASA begins booster stacking of SLS rocket in preparation for Artemis I
This afternoon, NASA announced that it had made progress in the preparation necessary for the upcoming Artemis I launch. More specifically, the first piece of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket has finally been stacked on the mobile launcher.
Rocket Lab has announced that its next Electron launch will take place on December 12 at 5:09 a.m. EST. The mission, named “The Owl’s Night Begins,” will mark Rocket Lab’s 17th overall mission.
A new physics simulator app recently hit the Apple App Store, called “X-Plane: Starship.” The app allows users to pilot SpaceX’s new Starship on either Earth or Mars with incredibly realistic physics.
November 23
JAXA astronauts Koichi Wakata and Satoshi Furukawa both scheduled for future long-term ISS missions
Two Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronauts are scheduled to embark on long-term ISS missions in the near future. Their tasks will involve conducting science experiments and performing various maintenance work.
Investors from Lockheed Martin Ventures and SpaceFund will be at TechCrunch Sessions: Space 2020
TechCrunch Sessions: Space 2020 is a two-day online event that will take place on December 16 and 17. During the event, TechCrunch will interview key figures from space technology companies as well as those who invest in them.
Tim Ellis, CEO of Relativity Space, announced that his company has gained $500 million from “top tier blue chip investors.” When talking with CNBC, Ellis called the new funding the company’s “war chest” for accomplishing its primary goal of revolutionizing how rockets are built and flown.
November 20
In August 2012, the Voyager 1 spacecraft made history by becoming the first manmade object to transverse the heliopause, meaning it had left the boundaries of our solar system. Since then, only one other spacecraft has done this, Voyager 2, and this is because it just takes too long to do so. Jason Benkoski wants to change this fact.
November 19
Today, the California-based company Rocket Lab will attempt its most ambitious launch yet. The company will be launching 30 satellites, a 3D-printed gnome, and attempting its first recovery of a first-stage booster.
Stratolaunch appears to have finally begun building its versatile hypersonic plane, the Talon-A. Looking at some recent tweets from the company, you can even get a sneak peek at the first prototype being assembled.
Today the National Science Foundation announced that, sadly, the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico would soon be decommissioned. This news comes after the telescope suffered damage from Hurricane Maria in 2017 and two snapped auxiliary cables.
November 18
On this day, back in 2017, the NOAA’s JPSS-1 satellite was launched into orbit onboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. Once the satellite reached polar orbit, its official name was changed to NOAA-20 in order to maintain the NOAA’s consistent naming conventions.
On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cleared the notorious Boeing 737 MAX for flight after a 20-month ban. The ban came after two fatal crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX in just five months, which sadly caused 346 passengers to lose their lives.
November 17
A giant 30-foot version of NASA’s classic logo has finally been installed on the side of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Yesterday, a Vega launch vehicle lifted off from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, France, at 8:52 pm EST. On board were two satellites, one for Spain and one for France. Initially, the launch was going according to plan, but things took a turn for the worst.
