NASA has not reestablished contact with its MAVEN Mars orbiter since a planned communications blackout ended Jan. 16. As SPACE reports, an “analysis of a fragment of tracking data from the day contact was lost suggests MAVEN was rotating in an unexpected manner as it emerged from behind Mars and was no longer in its planned orbit, according to NASA.”
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Tag: Astronautics
ESA Plans Dedicated Crew Dragon Mission to ISS in 2028
Space News reports, “The European Space Agency plans to charter a SpaceX Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station to give more flight opportunities for its astronauts. At the conclusion of a meeting of the ESA Council on March 19, the agency said member states endorsed a project called ESA Provided Institutional Crew, or EPIC, to send a European crew to the ISS on a Crew Dragon in early 2028.”
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NASA Seeks SmallSat Mission Concepts Using Adaptive Sensing and Edge AI
Military Aerospace reports NASA’s “Earth Science Technology Office is seeking submissions for the agency’s Space to Soil Challenge, an initiative focused on advancing adaptive sensing and onboard processing technologies for small satellite (SmallSat) missions supporting land resilience applications.”
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Artemis Moon Missions Take Center Stage at Wichita Engineers Week Banquet
FROM THE INSTITUTE
It’s the first mission to bring humans to the moon in more than fifty years, and Alicia Dwyer Cianciolo is leading a team that will ensure the astronauts with the Artemis program land safely and precisely on the moon’s surface. Cianciolo, an AIAA Associate Fellow, spoke with engineers representing a number of societies at the annual Wichita Council of Engineering Societies Engineers Week Banquet in February. The speech detailed the Artemis project, the various missions, and her team’s role in setting the requirements and ensuring the human landing systems meet those requirements.
SpaceX Tests V3 Starship Booster in Key Pre-Launch Milestone
SPACE reports SpaceX “conducted a static fire test” with the first stage of its V3 Starship on Monday (March 16), a milestone moment for this bigger, more powerful megarocket. “It was the first-ever static fire for a Version 3 (V3) vehicle — the latest iteration of Starship, which SpaceX is developing to help humanity put boots on the moon and Mars.”
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Firefly’s Alpha Rocket Resumes Flights, Successfully Reaches Orbit
Aviation Week reports, “Firefly Aerospace has returned to flight after nearly one year, ready to resume its mission to bring additional launch capacity to hungry U.S. government and commercial space customers. The Alpha launch vehicle took off March 11 from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg SFB in California at 5:50 p.m. PDT, following several attempts scrubbed due to high winds and atypical sensor readings. But with the weather and sensors finally cooperating, the small-lift rocket carried its cargo to orbit at last.”
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Video
Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket returns to flight. (Launch takes place at the 00:29 mark)
VideoFromSpace; YouTube
Goddard’s Legacy at 100: Liquid Propulsion Still Driving NASA’s Artemis Ambitions
SPACE reports, “100 years ago, a liquid-fueled rocket flew into the sky for the very first time. The unlikely contraption was designed by Clark University physics professor Robbert Goddard, and launched from a cabbage field in Auburn, Massachusetts on March 16, 1926.”
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NASA Begins Assembly of Nuclear-Powered Dragonfly Drone for 2028 Titan Mission
SPACE reports, “NASA is one step closer to sending a drone mission to another world. Technicians at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland have begun building and testing the nuclear-powered Dragonfly rotorcraft, which will launch toward the huge Saturn moon Titan in 2028.”
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Podcast: Axiom CEO Discusses the Next Wave of Commercial Activity in LEO
Space News reports, “In this episode of the Space News Space Minds podcast, host David Ariosto talks with Jonathan Cirtain, CEO and President of Axiom Space. They discuss the challenges — and wonders — of launching a career in an evolving space industry; a key financial sign that the space economy is maturing; and how a commercial presence in low Earth orbit can prepare humanity to explore farther into space.”
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Firefly Alpha Returns to Flight With Successful Orbital Launch
SPACE reports, “Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket launched for the seventh time ever today (March 11), bouncing back from two explosive mishaps in 2025.”
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Video
Firefly’s Alpha rocket launches from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. (Launch occurs at the 00:29 mark)
VideoFromSpace; YouTube