A problem with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft prevented it from visiting the ISS on its first flight to space Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2228665-boeings-starliner-hiccup-could-delay-us-plans-for-crewed-spaceflight/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Tag: Spaceflight
Could Spacecraft Catch the Solar Winds With ‘Electric Sails’?
RockDoctor (Slashdot reader #15,477) writes: For over a century, the “solar sail” has been a concept in theoretical spaceflight, in science fiction, and in the last few years, actual spaceflight. Recently, the Breakthrough Starshot project has been prompting and funding a lot of work to optimise and explore the operational possibilities of flying spacecraft to nearby stars, and this has produced…
Solving the challenges of long duration space flight with 3-D printing
The International Space Station has continuously been home to astronauts for more than nineteen years. Astronauts conduct scientific research using dozens of special facilities aboard the space station, which also provides them with a place to eat, sleep, relax and exercise. To make all of this possible requires sending more than 7,000 pounds of spare parts to the station annually. Another…
Image: Thermal enclosure for Orion
The Orion spacecraft with European Service Module at NASA’s Plum Brook Station. The first Orion will fly farther from Earth on the Artemis I mission than any human-rated vehicle has ever flown before—but first it will undergo testing to ensure the spacecraft withstands the extremes of spaceflight. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-12-image-thermal-enclosure-orion.html…
Jeff Bezos’ Plan to Save Earth? ‘Move All Heavy Industry into Space’
The world’s richest man made some interesting remarks Saturday when he became one of eight inductees into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame for founding the spaceflight services company Blue Origin in 2000. The Times of San Diego reports:
He described the origins of his space infatuation. Bezos said he told his high school paper he wanted to start a…
Curiosity’s ‘mind-boggling’ new Mars mystery: oxygen
Scientists are still trying to figure out where Mars’ methane comes from. Now there’s a new mystery that might be connected: unusual fluctuations of oxygen in Mars’ atmosphere, detected by the Curiosity rover. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/oxygen-methane-mystery-mars-curiosity-rover…
Ultima Thule renamed to avoid Nazi link
The distant Kuiper Belt object formerly known as 2014 MU69 – later known as Ultima Thule – has been renamed again. Its new name is Arrokoth. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/ultima-thule-renamed-to-avoid-nazi-link…
Spaceflight alters heart cells but they quickly recover back on Earth
Spaceflight causes thousands of changes in the ways heart cell genes are expressed, but these revert mostly to normal within weeks of being back on Earth Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2222698-spaceflight-alters-heart-cells-but-they-quickly-recover-back-on-earth/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Virgin Galactic goes public and leads space tourism race
Richard Branson rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on October 28 as Virgin Galactic became the first commercial spaceflight company to list on the stock market. It was valued at more than US$1 billion following its merger with publicly-listed holding firm Social Capital Hedosophia, then experienced a 20% drop in its share price after a week of…
NASA microgap-cooling technology immune to gravity effects and ready for spaceflight
A groundbreaking technology that would allow NASA to effectively cool tightly packed instrument electronics and other spaceflight gear is unaffected by weightlessness, and could be used on a future spaceflight mission. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-10-nasa-microgap-cooling-technology-immune-gravity.html…