This means SpaceX will break its own record for launching the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. And the company will do it again with the even larger Starship Version 3, which SpaceX says will have nine upper stage engines, instead of six, and will deliver up to 440,000 pounds (200 metric tons) of […]
After a long day of stops and starts that stretched well into the evening, and on what appeared to be the company’s fifth attempt Friday, Blue Origin successfully ignited the seven main engines on its massive New Glenn rocket. The test firing as fog built over the Florida coast marks the final major step in […]
This image made available by NASA shows an artist’s rendering of the Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. It’s designed to take solar punishment like never before, thanks to its revolutionary heat shield that’s capable of withstanding 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,370 degrees Celsius). Credit: Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA via AP, File A NASA spacecraft aims […]
Almost no one ever writes about the Parker Solar Probe anymore. Sure, the spacecraft got some attention when it launched. It is, after all, the fastest-moving object that humans have ever built. At its maximum speed, goosed by the gravitational pull of the sun, the probe reaches a velocity of 430,000 miles per hour, or […]
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Solar cycle, Not a sunspot was stirring, not even a burst; The stockings were all hung by the corona with care, In hopes that the Parker Solar Probe would soon be there. Almost no one ever writes about the Parker Solar Probe anymore. Sure, the spacecraft […]
NASA continues to advance its campaign to explore more of the Moon than ever before, awarding Firefly Aerospace $179 million to deliver six experiments to the lunar surface. This fourth task order for Firefly will target landing in the Gruithuisen Domes on the near side of the Moon in 2028. As part of the agency’s […]
Most airplanes in the world have vertical tails or rudders to prevent Dutch roll instabilities, a combination of yawing and sideways motions with rolling that looks a bit like the movements of a skater. Unfortunately, a vertical tail adds weight and generates drag, which reduces fuel efficiency in passenger airliners. It also increases the radar […]
She found herself wanting to build something more modern. Looking across the Atlantic, she drew inspiration from what SpaceX was doing with its reusable Falcon 9 rocket. She watched humans launch into space aboard Crew Dragon and saw that same vehicle fly again and again. “I have a huge admiration for what SpaceX has done,” […]
Scientists have developed a technique that could mitigate the effects of turbulence on dynamic structures and vehicles, with a particular focus on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Turbulence is the name we give to changes in air pressure that cause aircraft to shake. This is most apparent when an aircraft judders as it passes through changes […]
Welcome to Edition 7.17 of the Rocket Report! Next week marks 10 years since one of the more spectacular launch failures of this century. On October 28, 2014, an Antares rocket, then operated by Orbital Sciences, suffered an engine failure six seconds after liftoff from Virginia and crashed back onto the pad in a fiery […]
