Space Explored

Today, NASA’s latest Moon rocket, SLS, will be rolling to the launchpad. After the sun sets, the crawler will begin to carry the rocket over out to LC-39B, and the rocket is scheduled to launch for the Artemis I on the morning of August 29 for an uncrewed flight around the Moon.

The launch of Artemis I has been a long-anticipated (and delayed) event. At last, the rocket is nearing its launch. With barely more than two weeks until the planned launch, the rocket is now set to head for the launchpad on Tuesday evening.

Both Booster 7 and Ship 24 were static fired for the first time this week as a second Starbase surge appeared to begin. Over in Florida, the completion of the orbital launch tower grows ever closer. 

On Tuesday, SpaceX conducted two static fires at its Starbase site in South Texas. The spacecraft being tested, Ship 24 and Booster 7, are believed to be the first SpaceX will use to launch Starship’s Orbital Flight Test as soon as this year, if you believe Elon Musk.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, we have been following how it will affect Northrop Grumman’s capability to launch its Antares rocket. Northrop Grumman has finally announced its solution to unavailable components in a partnership with Firefly Aerospace to supply engines and a new first stage to the Antares 330 rocket.

While Cape Canaveral is no stranger to a high launch cadence, last week the Cape saw something it hasn’t seen in decades – two launches on the same day. On the early morning of August 4, ULA launched SBIRS GEO-6, then in the evening, SpaceX launched KPLO.

Coby Cotton, one of the five members of Dude Perfect, launched on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket early Thursday morning. Cotton’s participation is part of a partnership between the trick shooting YouTubers and a crypto company called MoonDAO.

Rocket Lab, the leader of the SmallSat launch market, has completed its “Back to Back” launch campaign for the National Reconnaissance Office. This marks a major cadence milestone for the company working to become the SpaceX of SmallSat launches.

Back when Tesla still had its vehicle referral program, one of the perks was the ability to launch a photo to space with another one of Elon Musk’s company’s – SpaceX. Now, for many of the Tesla owners who have waited years, that time has actually come. Tomorrow, as SpaceX launches a Moon-bound South Korean satellite, many Tesla customers will have their photos tag along. Here’s everything you should know about the launch.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has already blown the minds of humans across the globe with its original set of color images. Now Webb has a new image, one of the chaotic Cartwheel galaxy.

Surprising probably no one, the timeframe SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has given for a successful orbital Starship mission is anywhere from next month to next year.

Announced in February, Jared Issacman’s Polaris Program crew has been training for a flight on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft this year. At EAA’s AirVenture airshow this weekend, Issacman announced that the launch date for Polaris Dawn could be as soon as the end of this year.

Barnard Propulsion Systems (BPS) has been working towards landing a model rocket like SpaceX lands its Falcon 9 boosters, but this presents a challenge. Unlike the Falcon 9 with its liquid rocket engines, model rockets typically use solid propellant motors that have essentially no throttle control. Joe Barnard of BPS has spent the past seven years working towards this goal, and it has finally been achieved.

SpaceX just released a new paper detailing how the company is reducing the brightness of its Starlink Gen 2 satellites. As a part of their effort to protect the night sky, they will also be offering the reflective film they developed to other satellite manufacturers at cost.

A farmer in New South Wales, Australia, made an unusual discovery on his sheep farm after two large pieces of space debris and several smaller ones crashed down the Earth. The debris seems to have come from the trunk of Crew-1’s Dragon Capsule.

In the company’s second quarterly earnings report, Boeing has absorbed a $96 million charge in relation to its Starliner spacecraft program. This brings Boeing’s Starliner cost overrun tally to $688 million due to numerous problems.

NASA and the European Space Agency are on track to bring the first-ever Mars soil and atmosphere samples back to Earth. Today both space agencies shared an update on exactly how they plan to do that thanks to the Mars helicopter Ingenuity.