This week SpaceX is here with three launches, the biggest of the three being on Wednesday. Oh wait, all of SpaceX’s launches this week will be on Wednesday, fun day.
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With New Years coming up at the end of the week, we now know what will end up being the final rocket launches of 2023. SpaceX‘s Falcon Heavy is also set to return this week after a lengthly delay. Meanwhile, China is back with a flurry of more launches, but India looks to be taking the crown as the final launch of 2023.
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India has set its sights on an inspiring future in space exploration, with plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2040 and to construct a space station by the mid-2030s. These ambitious goals were revealed following a high-level meeting chaired by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, to assess the progress of the country’s Gaganyaan crew spacecraft.
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With the Sun now in view at their landing site, ISRO has yet to hear back from Chandrayaan-3’s lunar lander and rover. While ISRO will continues to ping the spacecraft, time is running out before another lunar night arrives.
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India’s lunar lander and rover have completed its main missions and have now moved on to secondary goals, one of which will see if it can survive the lunar night. The other was a bold hop across the surface to gather science in some slightly different pastures.
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It’s been an entire week since Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon, putting India in a small club of those who can do it. Since then ISRO has been sharing photos from its lander and rover, as well as some early science results. On Wednesday, ISRO treated us to a photo of the Chandrayaan-3 lander, on the surface of the Moon, courtesy of the small rover that tagged along for the ride.
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In a watershed moment for India’s space program, on Wednesday, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully touched down at the unexplored lunar south pole. This is the first time any country has visited this area of the Moon.
Update: The Pragyan rover has rolled off the Vikram lander. Due to the amount of dust kicked up upon the touchdown of the Vikram lander, the rollout of the rover was delayed.
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We have been watching two lunar missions as they progress towards the lunar surface. The first mission involves India’s Chandrayaan 3 lunar lander and rover, while the second pertains to Russia’s Luna 25 lander. Presently, one mission is experiencing a smoother journey compared to the other.
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This week Seth and Jared discuss the various issues that have plagued Blue Origin and ULA over recent weeks and other top stories.
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In the early hours here in the United States, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched its largest and most powerful rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Atop the rocket was the nation’s second attempt to land on the Moon, this time with an improved lander.
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This is a great week for those of us that are Starship fans since it could (maybe), possibly, make its maiden launch on its integrated flight test. Meanwhile, SpaceX is also launching its second batch of Gen 2 Starlink satellites later this week.
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We have another busy week ahead with four launches scheduled around the globe, all from different companies. Check out below to see what is launching.
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It’s not often that we discuss the launch of a mega constellation other than Starlink, but over the weekend, OneWeb became the first commercial launch on India’s largest rocket. This was also the company’s return to launching since it broke ties with Russia over the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
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