Earlier this week, a new satellite launched to track methane as it emanates from oil and gas fields across the world, hoping to expose major producers of the greenhouse pollutant and hold them accountable for their commitment to lower emissions. Prime Day Ain’t That ‘Green’ MethaneSAT launched on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on … Read more
Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus landing during its descent towards the lunar surface. Image: Intuitive Machines It was a topsy-turvy month in spaceflight, with yet another lunar lander falling over and an upsetting new view showing NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter missing a rotor blade, among other memorable moments. February is the shortest month of the year, but it … Read more
Intuitive Machines landed its Odysseus spacecraft on the Moon on Thursday at 6:23 p.m. ET, becoming the first private company to pull off a soft landing on the lunar surface. China’s Plan to Land Astronauts on the Moon The IM-1 mission delivered 12 payloads near the Malapert A crater in the Moon’s South Pole region … Read more
This Valentine’s Day, there will be more than love in the air, with SpaceX scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 Moon lander. Should Odysseus successfully touch down on the lunar surface eight days later, Intuitive Machines will achieve a first in commercial space travel—a a feat that would follow a series … Read more
Astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) are about to make a new cyborg friend in the form of two short mechanical arms that will do their bidding in the cold, dark vacuum of low Earth orbit. Taking out the Trash (in Space) California-based startup GITAI is launching its 4.9-foot-long (1.5-meters) autonomous dual robotic … Read more
A Falcon 9 first-stage booster broke apart after completing its 19th mission, tipping over on the floating droneship in the Atlantic Ocean due to high winds. Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their View The SpaceX rocket launched on Saturday, December 23, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, while carrying 23 Starlink … Read more
With just 11 days left in the year, it’s clear that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will not reach his stated goal of achieving 100 Falcon 9 launches in 2023. Nonetheless, the company’s achievements during the calendar year are damn impressive, with 2024 poised to be even more remarkable. Tesla Investors Not Happy With Mr. Tweet’s … Read more
AFalcon 9 rocket awaiting launch for the Starlink 7-9 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base.Photo: SpaceX SpaceX is gearing up to launch the first batch of Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capability, with plans to test the technology in Earth orbit so that it can expand its reach on Earth beyond the range of cell towers. … Read more
A Martian moons mission, a plethora of private lunar landers, probes to Venus and Jupiter, and reusable heavy-lift rocket tests are among the many highlights we’ll be watching in the coming 12 months, in what looks to be an extraordinary year in spaceflight. Here’s your 2024 calendar. Zillow Says You’ll Buy Your Next House With… … Read more
Leading defense tech startup Anduril has developed a new product designed to take-on the proliferation of low-cost, high-powered aerial threats. The product is called Roadrunner, a modular, twin-jet powered autonomous vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) air vehicle that’s designed for low costs. Anduril has also developed a variant called Roadrunner-Munition, or Roadrunner-M, a “high-explosive interceptor,” … Read more