It seems like the inSight probe on Mars ( Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) mission has given up on the drilling, or rather burrowing on Mars.
The soil appears to not provide enough friction for the burrowing action to work, although still plenty of good science done with the other probes.
That’s a shame.
In other negative space news, NASA’s SLS static fire test was aborted after just over minute rather than seven or so minutes they had planned for. NASA have not explained the reasons yet but the Artemis program has a tight schedule so this could be a serious setback to those hoping for a launch before the end of the year.
There’s a new player in the game!
Still very, very small but I like seeing that people see economic viability in private space companies. I thought this was cool too and hope that someone more knowledgable will expound on their fuel type:
Fresh news on the decision to run a second test with some info on why the first was cut short.:
Conclusion: not very far, but still extremely impressive considering Shepard was wearing a pressurised spacesuit and was hitting it out of the mother of all bunkers.
UAE Mars mission about to go into orbit (in next ten minutes from time of posting). Its job will be to examine the Martian atmosphere. This is a big moment for the UAE.
There’s an official live stream here but not sure what they hope to show. Pictures from mission control I suppose…
And it’s in! Well done UAE.
Success!
Brian
Ddamn this an awesome year already for space exploration!
Indeed.
We (that is, the human race) have a whole flotilla arriving at Mars this week. Excellent! Our plans are proceeding smoothly! Mwah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah!
I mean, uh, it’s great to see all these different countries, all engaged together in the peaceful exploration of the cosmos.
This is more on the political side, but it will have profound consequences for NASA going forward:
By pushing for the SLS and other Shuttle-derived launchers, I’m not sure anyone has done more damage to NASA than Shelby. He also made every attempt at disrupting the Commercial Crew program (which has been remarkably successful in spite of Boeing being late). Good riddance.
[Farnsworth]
Good news, everyone!
[/Farnsworth]
How did you people get to the moon???!
SpaceX have just been awarded a large contract to launch elements of NASA’s lunar gateway:
NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the agency’s Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), the foundational elements of the Gateway. As the first long-term orbiting outpost around the Moon, the Gateway is critical to supporting sustainable astronauts missions under the agency’s Artemis program.
After integration on Earth, the PPE and HALO are targeted to launch together no earlier than May 2024 on a Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The total cost to NASA is approximately $331.8 million, including the launch service and other mission-related costs.
How many times can we reuse the acronyms PPE and HALO? XD
The Shelby-style approach works great with an Apollo-style program. Apollo could not have happened unless NASA spread the wealth around to the different states, and there was enough work that everyone got a cut. All the senators walk away happy, having gotten quality jobs for their constituents. That approach just happens to be a very inefficient way of doing things. Apollo was right at the limit of what was financially possible. Further manned exploration, whether a permanent lunar colony or going to Mars, needs to cost less. Impossible as long as NASA was forced into using the SLS, though.
Although my comment was tongue in cheek that is actually quite an informative response.
Heck, if you’d changed your handle to @Alabamish_Astronaut a few years ago you might be heading to the ISS or training for the Moon by now.
China got there:
We can shout back at Voyager II again after upgrades were completed on a radio in Australia.
Going to be a sad day when we finally lose them.
Well ok sad is an overstatement, slightly poignant?