Extra! Extra! 'Daily Minor Planet' Offers Asteroid Alerts
Good news, asteroid junkies: You can now get a daily space-rock fix. A new service called the Daily Minor Planet informs the public about cosmic debris and the risks associated with asteroids zooming near Earth . Scientists from the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and volunteers from the Oracle Corporation created […]
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Space Capsule Aces Dramatic In-Flight Escape Test
Blue Origin just took another big step toward flying people to space. The private spaceflight company, which is run by billionaire Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, conducted a critical “in-flight escape test” of its crew-carrying New Shepard system today (Oct. 5) — and everything appears to have worked just as expected. New Shepard consists of a rocket […]
Blue Origin's Crucial 'In-Flight Escape Test' Today: What to Expect
Blue Origin, the private spaceflight company led by billionaire Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, plans to launch a critical safety test of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle today (Oct. 5). If all goes according to plan, the New Shepard capsule will zoom away from its rocket shortly after liftoff from Blue Origin’s west Texas test site, […]
In Pictures: Blue Origin's New Shepard Capsule Tests In-Flight Abort System
On Oct. 5, 2016, the private spaceflight company Blue Origin launched its New Shepard rocket and crew capsule to test a novel “pusher” escape system for the suborbital crew capsule. During the test, the space capsule separated from the reusable rocket mid-air. See photos of the launch, which occurred at Blue Origin’s West Texas proving […]
Blue Origin Crew Capsule Escape Test Goes Flawlessly | Video
By Steve Spaleta | October 5, 2016 11:50am ET The private spaceflight company’s New Shepard rocket and its capsule were both returned to the ground after a successful test of its in-flight escape system. An engine aboard the capsule blasted it away from rocket 45 seconds after launch. (Full Story) credit : Blue Origin […]
Hurricane Matthew Hits Haiti
On October 4, 2016, Hurricane Matthew made landfall on southwestern Haiti as a category-4 storm—the strongest storm to hit the Caribbean nation in more than 50 years. Just hours after landfall, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this natural-color image. To source
'Dustbuster' Telescope Uncovers Hidden Stars
Interstellar dust that blocks astronomers’ view of space is no match for the European Southern Observatory’s “dustbuster” telescope, which just revealed this dazzling view of several stars that have hidden in the cosmic dust until now. The Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), located at ESO’s Cerro Paranal Observatory in Chile, took this […]
'Alien Megastructure' Star Keeps Getting Stranger
Artist’s illustration showing a cloud of comet fragments blocking light from a star — one of the possible explanations for the strange, occasional dimming of KIC 8462852, also known as “Tabby’s Star.” The more scientists learn about “Tabby’s Star,” the more mysterious the bizarre object gets. Newly analyzed observations by NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope […]
Firefly Space Systems Furloughs Staff After Investor Backs Out
Firefly Space Systems started testing engines for its Alpha small launch vehicle last September. WASHINGTON — Firefly Space Systems, a Texas company developing a small launch vehicle, has furloughed its entire staff after an investor backed out, forcing the firm to consider alternative vehicle concepts or even a sale of the company. In a brief […]
ESTEC Open Day highlights
A look back at ESA’s Open Day in the Netherlands on Sunday 2 October – in pictures To source
Parachute for Mars
Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Engineering model of the ExoMars Schiaparelli lander at ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands To source
Astronaut Mike Massimino's New Mission: Launching His Book 'Spaceman'
Mike Massimino writes about becoming an astronaut and repairing the Hubble Telescope in “Spaceman.” Mike Massimino is launching on his third, or maybe his fourth, mission — sort of. Massimino’s first two missions were as a NASA astronaut aboard the space shuttle. He launched twice to service the Hubble Space Telescope (his second mission was […]
Rover's Panorama Taken Amid 'Murray Buttes' on Mars
This 360-degree panorama was acquired by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover . To source