Bloomberg reported Firefly Aerospace Inc. has “launched its first rocket into orbit, advancing the private space startup’s bid to become a reliable partner for NASA.” Firefly’s Alpha rocket “took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California early Saturday and successfully put three small payloads into Earth orbit, including one for the US space agency. A previous launch attempt failed in September 2021 when the debut Alpha rocket veered off course and had to be exploded shortly after takeoff.” Saturday’s launch “follows years of engineering work, litigation and financial struggles for Cedar Park, Texas-based Firefly, one of several companies NASA selected to deliver science payloads to the moon as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.”
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Tag: Astronautical
DART Mission Successfully Crashes into Asteroid
The Conversation reports that NASA “has crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in an attempt to push the rocky traveler off its trajectory.” The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) successfully collided into Dimorphos’ center. The image “taken at 11 seconds before impact and 42 miles (68 kilometers) from Dimorphos shows the asteroid centered in the camera’s field of view.”
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Video
NASA’s Official Broadcast of DART’s Impact with Asteroid Dimorphos, September 26, 2022
(NASA; YouTube)
NASA to Crash DART into Asteroid Monday
SPACE reported that on Monday “at 7:14 p.m. EDT (2314 GMT), NASA will intentionally crash a spacecraft into an asteroid – and you might be able to see it live.” The test mission “is targeting the moonlet Dimorphos, a small celestial body orbiting the asteroid Didymos about 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) away from Earth.” The livestream “from the telescopes will begin on Monday at 6:30 p.m. EDT (2230 GMT) on the Virtual Telescope Project’s website.”
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Commercial Space Data Relays May be Used by NASA within a Decade
Via Satellite reports that NASA “could be using commercial services to enable its next-generation satellite communications constellation that will provide connectivity to the International Space Station (ISS), as well as various science missions,” within the next decade. NASA is “one of several government organizations that are investing in space data relay networks, and the Defense Department in particular is funding new efforts to launch proliferated LEO constellations for on-demand connectivity.” European and Canadian companies “are partnering with the European Space Agency (ESA) to take the next steps in optical communication via the High Throughput Optical Network project, also known as HyDRON.”
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NASA’s DART One Month Away from Impact
SPACE reported that NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) “will crash into the asteroid Dimorphos at approximately 15,000 mph (24,000 kph) in an attempt to alter the celestial body’s trajectory around a larger asteroid called Didymos” on September 26 at 7:14 p.m. EDT (2314 GMT). The DART mission is “a test to see if ‘kinetic impact technology’ would work to deflect any potential Earth-bound asteroids.” Members of the public “will be able to view live coverage of the impact on NASA TV, NASA’s website, and NASA social media pages beginning at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) on Sept. 26.”
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Ingenuity Makes 30th Flight
CNET News reports that NASA “announced Monday that Ingenuity successfully pulled off its 30th flight.” NASA JPL tweeted, “After a two-month hiatus, the rotorcraft did a short hop over the weekend so the team can check its vitals and knock some dust off the solar panel.”
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NASA to Dismantle Lunar Gantry Crane at Langley Research Center
Aerospace America reported that NASA plans to demolish the lunar gantry crane, citing “annual maintenance costs and pending corrosion repair.” NASA Office of Strategic Infrastructure Assistant Administrator Joel Carney “informed staff at Langley Research Center about the decision last week.”
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NASA to Consider Every Agency Astronaut for Artemis Missions
SPACE reports that NASA announced Friday that it is considering every agency astronaut for Artemis missions. The announcement “rolls back a 2020 announcement that selected 18 astronauts for these missions.” NASA Johnson Space Center Astronaut Office head Reid Wiseman said, “The way I look at it, any one of our 42 active astronauts is eligible for an Artemis mission. We want to assemble the right team for this mission.
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NASA Taps Private Companies to Develop New Low Earth Orbit Space Stations
SPACE reports space industry leaders “gathered in Washington, D.C. last week for NASA’s 11th annual International Space Station Research and Development Conference (ISSRDC).” A July 26 panel “included top representatives from four companies selected by NASA to design and develop commercial space stations in low Earth orbit (LEO).”
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Cygnus Boosts ISS Orbit, Departs for Earth after Booster Test
SPACE reports that the Northrop Grumman NG-17 Cygnus “spacecraft successfully reboosted the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time, raising the orbiting lab to its normal operating altitude of around 250 miles above Earth.” The reboost “took place on Saturday (June 25) and marks the first time a Cygnus spacecraft has performed a full reboost procedure.” Cygnus “fired its gimbaled engine in order to raise the space station’s altitude by a tenth of a mile (0.16 kilometers) at apogee and a half a mile (0.8 km) at perigee.”
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