About the Author

Theresa Cross

Theresa Cross grew up on the Space Coast. It’s only natural that she would develop a passion for anything “Space” and its exploration. During these formative years, she also discovered that she possessed a talent and love for defining the unique quirks and intricacies that exist in mankind, nature, and machines.


Hailing from a family of photographers—including her father and her son, Theresa herself started documenting her world through pictures at a very early age. As an adult, she now exhibits an innate photographic ability to combine what appeals to her heart and her love of technology to deliver a diversified approach to her work and artistic presentations.


Theresa has a background in water chemistry, fluid dynamics, and industrial utility.

Beyond borders: Human spaceflight poses unique challenges for physician licensing

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NASA

With more people living and working in low Earth orbit, and eventually in deep space at the Moon or beyond, the need for a licensing framework for practicing medicine in space is becoming paramount.

The global space economy is forecast to be a trillion dollar industry by 2040, according to experts. As more people work or travel in space, the likelihood of accidents or other medical situations will increase.

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Stoke Space reusable rocket design acquires funding from Bill Gates’ venture fund

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SpaceflightStoke SpaceBill GatesLC-14

Small rocket startup Stoke Space recently received funding from Breakthrough Energy, an investment firm founded by Bill Gates.

Stoke Space was founded by Andy Lapsa and Tom Feldman in 2019 to develop a clean-fueled, fully-reusable two-stage rocket. Lapsa was formerly responsible for the development and operation of Blue Origin’s BE-3 and BE-4 engines.

The engines that are being developed for Stoke Space’s rocket utilize liquid oxygen and liquid natural gas, which burns cleaner than kerosene — one of the more common rocket propellant fuels, today.

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OneWeb constellation nearly complete despite 36 satellites still stuck in Baikonur

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OneWeb

OneWeb is nearing the completion of its broadband internet constellation, a project that’s overcome a number of setbacks over the years, including a global pandemic and Europe’s largest conflict since World War II.

The company’s most recent batch launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on March 9, 2023. A final dedicated launch from India is expected within the next week. However, the original plan was to fly all of the constellation’s satellites atop Russia’s Soyuz rocket.

That was before Russia’s war in Ukraine, which resulted in the suspension of all Soyuz launches for Western customers. That included OneWeb, which now has 36 spacecraft worth an estimated $50 million dollars stuck at Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site with no clear resolution for getting the satellites back.

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Virgin Orbit seeks cash infusion to reboost the company

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Virgin OrbitLauncherOneCosmic GirlSpaceport Cornwall

It’s been a turbulent week for Virgin Orbit, headquartered out of Long Beach California. The company suspended all operations and furloughed most of its workforce for a week as it sought relief by raising funds to rescue its rocket-flying business, according to sources close to the matter on March 15.

During a 5 p.m. EDT meeting that day, company higher-ups explained that employees could cash in their paid time off as the furlough would be unpaid with a small team remaining in place continuing to work.

LauncherOne is a two-stage rocket — powered by liquid oxygen and rocket grade kerosene — that can send small payloads into low Earth orbit after being air-launched by a modified 747 aircraft. Credit: Virgin Orbit

During the third quarter of 2022, Virgin Orbit reported a loss of $42.9 million as cash demands continued, with fourth quarter funding coming from an investment arm of its founder Richard Branson’s parent company, Virgin Group.

Notes in the amounts of $25 million, an unsecured convertible note secured in November of 2022, along with another $30 million in senior secured notes in December 2022 and January 2023 gives “first priority” access to assets by Branson’s parent company.

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SpaceX CRS-27 Dragon resupply mission launches toward the International Space Station

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SpaceflightSpaceXNASAInternational Space StationDragonCRS-27

Hot on the heels of the splashdown of the Crew-5 mission, SpaceX launched the uncrewed CRS-27 Dragon spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station.

Liftoff atop a Falcon 9 rocket came at 8:30 p.m. EDT March 14, 2023, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The autonomous spacecraft is set to dock to the ISS about a day later to deliver some 6,000 pounds (2,700 kilograms) of supplies to the seven-person Expedition 68 crew living aboard the orbiting laboratory.

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The Falcon 9 first stage that flew in support of this mission, B1073, successfully landed on the SpaceX drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” less than 10 minutes after launch, which was positioned downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. This was the seventh recovery for this booster.

Overall, this was SpaceX’s 17th launch of 2023 — the 16th for a Falcon 9 rocket. The company plans to fly as many as 100 missions this year.

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Ukraine reportedly upping FPV drone fleet for rumored offensive against Russian forces
EHang says air taxi is ‘more than 90%’ through China’s certification process
MIT automated drone trajectory tech posts100% collision-free trial results
Ford patent depicts drones jump-starting cars with flat batteries
DJI Avata FPV drone receives major new firmware update
DJI releases Fly app v1.9.8 – all you need to know
DJI’s OM 5 iPhone gimbal is an even better value with discount down to $130 (Reg. $159)
DJI releases Integra googles, RC Motion for Avata FPV drones
Flytrex reports enormous surge in 2022 drone delivery activity
AAM startup Ascendance gets $22.6 million for its ATEA VTOL

CRS-27 Dragon sending fresh science, hardware to Space Station

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SpaceflightSpaceXNASAInternational Space StationDragonCRS-27

SpaceX is set to deliver thousands of pounds of hardware and science experiments to the International Space Station as part of the uncrewed CRS-27 Dragon resupply mission.

Liftoff atop a Falcon 9 rocket is slated for 8:25 p.m. EDT March 14 (12:25 UTC March 15), 2023, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This will be the 27th resupply mission to the orbiting laboratory under the company’s Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.

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Moon o’clock?: Europe pushing for lunar ‘time zone’

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ScienceSpaceflightMoonESA

With humanity on the cusp of returning astronauts to deep space, one organization is attempting to garner support to give the Moon a time zone.

Spearheading this is the European Space Agency, which says space organizations agree “a common lunar reference time” for timekeeping is important for all lunar systems to reference, be they robotic missions or human surface stays.

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Inaugural Vulcan rocket launch gets a target date

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Space Explored Weekly

United Launch Alliance is targeting May 4 for the inaugural launch of its highly-anticipated Vulcan Centaur rocket.

The company has a planned window of four days to execute the launch once additional testing of the rocket and its main engines are satisfactory.

These final tests will occur at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. According to CEO Tory Bruno, the mega rocket will roll to the launch pad “a few days from now” for a wet dress rehearsal, as well as additional tanking tests.

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