NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity made its 12th Red Planet flight on Monday (Aug. 16), during which the little chopper served as eyes in the sky for its larger companion, the Perseverance rover.

The flight was designed to serve as reconnaissance for the rover's continuing explorations of a region dubbed South Stah, according to a flight plan NASA posted before the attempt that called the sortie "ambitious."

"Flying over Stah South carries substantial risk because of the varied terrain," Ingenuity scientists wrote in the plan. "When we choose to accept the risks associated with such a flight, it is because of the correspondingly high rewards. Knowing that we have the opportunity to help the Perseverance team with science planning by providing unique aerial footage is all the motivation needed."

Related:Watch NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity explore intriguing Raised Ridges

Unlike most of its recent flights, this sortie saw Ingenuity make a round trip. That choice matched the flight's purpose. While the helicopter had been focused on keeping ahead of Perseverance, this time Ingenuity was gathering detailed scouting information for the rover.

That's because while flying over South Stah is risky for the little chopper, driving through the region is also dangerous for the Perseverance rover. But the region is also full of intriguing rocks that Perseverance's science team would love to study up close.

So the 10 or so color photographs and the stereo scene that Ingenuity was directed to capture during its flight will guide Perseverance scientists as they decide where to point the rover. After Perseverance's first sampling attempt failed to capture any rock, the team is looking for a new target to try packing away for a future mission to ferry to Earth.

During its first 11 flights, Ingenuity had flown a total of about 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers) and spent nearly 19 minutes in the Martian skies, according to tallies provided by NASA. The 12th flight added nearly 1,500 feet (450 meters) and 169 seconds to that total.

Ingenuity has vastly exceeded its original directive, to make five flights around its initial deployment site over the course of a month to prove that flying a rotorcraft on Mars is possible.

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her on Twitter @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Mars helicopter Ingenuity soars through challenging 12th flight on Red Planet - Space.com

Spacecraft development is a risky and sometimes explosive business. SpaceX's Starship prototype spacecraft is an example of that. The fully reusable launch system for eventual moon-and-Mars trips is no stranger to explosions, ruptures and failed landings.

The supercut video above shows the main SpaceX failures (some intentional, others not so much) from Starship's early development. At 395 feet (120 meters) the stacked Starship and Super Heavy rocket is the world's tallest rocket, and Starship is designed to do complex flips and maneuvers upon landing.

Many of these failures happened, therefore, simply because Starship is a new system trying to do unusual things. All the same, the footage is clear (and entertaining) example of some of the challenges of spacecraft development. Learn more about each Starship failure and the "lessons learned" below.

Related: See the evolution of SpaceX's rockets in pictures

SpaceX's SN1 prototype burst apart during a pressure test on Feb. 28, 2020 at its launchpad near Boca Chica, Texas. At the time, the prototype was undergoing a liquid nitrogen pressure test. The midsection of the prototype buckled, then shot upward before smashing into the ground.

Video: Watch Starship SN1 burst apart in test

Company founder Elon Musk appeared to take the failure in stride and to be thinking ahead about strengthening SN2, according to a series of tweets posted shortly after the explosion. "So how was your night?" readone tweet, which accompanied a video of the prototype's death. This was followed by "It's fine, well just buff it out," and thenanother tweetthat said, "Where's Flextape when you need it!?"

Another cryogenic pressure test for prototype Starship SN3 (the SN2 test article was fine) did not go to plan, either. Starship SN3's prototype tank collapsed on April 2, 2020. SN3 was trying to show that it could withstand the high pressure of very cold fuel that is loaded in ahead of launch.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN3 collapse in test

In a tweet, Musk said that SN3 had passed an ambient temperature test the night before. "We will see what data review says in the morning, but this may have been a test configuration mistake," Musksaid in a follow-up post, adding in another tweet, "Some valves leaked at cryo temp. Fixing & will retest soon."

SpaceX's next prototype, Starship SN4, had a fiery explosion on May 29, 2020 very soon after a rocket engine test. The dramatic failure happened only a minute after a short test of its Raptor rocket engine, but immediately after the explosion it was unclear what caused the conflagration.Just like with past explosions, Musk kept saying the company keeps learning from each test and forging ahead.

Video: Watch Starship SN4 explode in a massive fireball

That said, the Starship SN4 was by far the longest-lived and most-tested Starship prototype at that time. SN4 survived five static-fire engine tests before exploding.

After the loss of Starship SN4, SpaceX developed the SN5 and SN6 prototypes before moving on to SN7, which the company intentionally pushed to failure.

The Starship SN7 prototype tank rupturedduring a pressure test on June 23, 2020 but this one was a planned failure. SN7 had finished another pressure test just a week before, resulting in a leak; the second test was far more showy given the planned explosion.

Video: Watch SpaceX pop the Starship SN7 tank on purpose

The first test of the SN7 Starship tank, which leaked but did not explode, was a promising sign for the program's development, Musk said in comments on June 15, 2020.The company is shifting from 301 stainless steel to 304L, he added.

The SN8 prototype made a dramatic flight on Dec. 9, 2020, successfully hitting several milestones before failing to stick the landing and erupting in a fireball. The prototype launched to an altitude of about 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) using itsthree Raptor engines.

At peak altitude, the rocketshut down its engines and performed a "belly flop"for a glide to the launch pad.After firing its engines once more before touchdown to attempt an upright landing, though, the rocket landed too fast due to lower than expected fuel tank header pressure.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN8 launch and explode on landing

Musk was pleased with the progress. "SN8 did great!" Muskwrote on Twitter on Dec. 9. "Even reaching apogee would've been great, so controlling all the way to putting the crater in the right spot was epic."

SpaceX's Starship SN9 managed to climb even higher than SN8 on Feb. 2, 2021 before experiencing its own fiery explosion upon landing. It reached its target altitude of about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) and did a complex horizontal flip to simulate re-entry to Earth's atmosphere. But it hit the landing site too hard after 6.5 minutes of flight, resulting in a catastrophic end.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN9 crash hard in landing

"Again, we've just got to work on that landing a little bit,"SpaceXprincipal integration engineer John Insprucker saidduring SpaceX's launch webcast."We got a lot of good data, and the primary objective to demonstrate control of the vehicle in the subsonic re-entry looked to be very good, and we will take a lot out of that," he added.

Doing one better over its predecessor SN9, the prototype Starship SN10 soared to its planned altitude of 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) on March 7, 2021, did the horizontal re-entry flip practice, and came back to the ground for a smooth touchdown. Unfortunately, some flames were visible near SN10's base shortly after landing and the vehicle soon exploded on the launch pad.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN10 ace its landing, then explode

Musk later said on Twitter that the spacecraft came in a little too fast for the landing, due to low thrust likely caused by an issue in the fuel header tank. The hard landing crushed the legs of the landing system, along with part of the engine skirt. The resulting damage led to the explosion a few minutes later.

On March 30, 2021, SpaceX's Starship SN11 lifted off in thick fog only to meet a similar fate of its SN10 predecessor.

Like SN10, Starship SN11 flew to an altitude of 6.2 miles (10 km) and then returned to Earth for a landing attempt. Six minutes into the flight, its onboard cameras cut out. Apparently, it exploded above the landing pad before making it back to Earth.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN11 launch in fog

"Looks like we've had another exciting test of Starship Number 11," John Insprucker, launch commentator for SpaceX, said during the broadcast. "Starship 11 is not coming back, do not wait for the landing."

Elon Musk later wrote that engine 2 of the three Raptor engines on Starship SN11 experienced problems during ascent that only got worse when it reignited for the landing burn. "Something significant happened shortly after landing burn start. Should know what it was once we can examine the bits later today," Musk wrote at the time on Twitter.

After the failure of Starship SN11, SpaceX stood down from launches for a time as it worked through several more iterations. Then, a breakthrough.

On May 5, 2021, SpaceX made a Starship triumph when its Starship SN15 prototype launched and landed safely, and didn't explode afterwards.

The test flight, which occurred on the 60th anniversary of the launch of Alan Shepard, the first American in space, showed off all the lessons SpaceX had learned to that point while developing Starship.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN15 launch and land safely

"SN15 has vehicle improvements across structures, avionics and software, and the engines that will allow more speed and efficiency throughout production and flight: specifically, a new enhanced avionics suite, updated propellant architecture in the aft skirt, and a new Raptor engine design and configuration," SpaceX representatives wrote in a description of the flight.

SpaceX has since moved on to more Starship prototypes and its booster, the Super Heavy, as it aims for a potential orbital flight. In August 2021, SpaceX stacked its Starship SN20 atop a Super Heavy for the first time, making the world's tallest rocket.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Every SpaceX Starship explosion and what Elon Musk and team learned from them (video) - Space.com

Virgin Orbit has announced plans to go public on the Nasdaq stock exchange through a special purpose acquisitions company (SPAC) merger. The deal with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II values Virgin Orbit at $3.2 billion.

The combined company is expected to pull in up to $483 million in cash when the deal closes, which Virgin Orbit believes will happen by the end of this year. Around $383 million of that is expected to come from funds NextGen holds in trust, and the other $100 million from a common stock PIPE (private investment in public equity) offering at $10 per share. Virgin Orbit's existing stakeholders will own around 85 percent of the combined company, with NextGen shareholders owning about 10 percent, PIPE investors (which will include Boeing) holding roughly three percent and the SPAC sponsor owning the remaining two percent or so.

Virgin Orbit will use the funds to scale up its rocket manufacturing endeavors and bolster the company's space solutions business and Virgin Orbits ongoing product development initiatives. An SPAC merger with a company (usually a shell corporation) that's already listed on a stock exchange allows a business to go public without going through the usual initial public offering process.

The first spaceflight company to go public through an SPAC, and the company that really kicked off the SPAC trend, was Virgin Galactic back in 2019, which sought to fund its tourist trips to space. Virgin Galactic spun out Virgin Orbit as a separate company in 2017 so they could respectively focus on space tourism and small satellite launches. Virgin Galactic held its first fully crewed flight in July (with founder Richard Branson on board), while Virgin Orbit had its first successful satellite deployment in January.

Virgin Orbit launches its satellites from a custom Boeing 747, with the LauncherOne rocket taking payloads into space. The company says this approach offers a "significant performance advantage" over traditional ground launches (an approach adopted by the likes of SpaceX) while lowering "local carbon emissions and acoustic impacts" at launch sites.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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Virgin Orbit is going public to fund its space satellite program - Engadget

Laurence R. Young '57, SM '59, ScD '62, the Apollo Program Professor Emeritus of Astronautics and professor of health sciences and technology at MIT, died peacefully at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Aug. 4 after a long illness. He was 85.

A longtime member of the MIT community, Young was widely regarded for his pioneering role in the field of bioastronautics, the study of the impact of the space environment on living organisms, focusing in particular on the human factors of spaceflight. Many biological systems processes that comprise and govern the human body from bones and muscles to cardiovascular regulation and sensory-motor control depend on Earth's gravity to function properly. To protect astronauts from potentially negative effects of weightlessness, radiation, and psychological stress encountered in space, developing artificial life support systems for human protection is vital for future missions.

Young joined the faculty in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) at MIT in 1962. There, he co-founded the Man-Vehicle Laboratory (now the Human-Systems Laboratory) with Y.T. Li to conduct his research on the visual and vestibular systems, visual-vestibular interaction, flight simulation, space motion sickness, and manual control and displays.

"Larry was one of the first engineers to introduce math modeling techniques to aerospace-relevant areas of physiology and human factors. He knew that the quantitative approach would lead to new insights, so he started with eye movements and then moved on to perception," says Charles Oman, senior research engineer of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT and longtime colleague of Young. "I still remember in those days, some skeptics said perceptions were too complicated to model, but he proved them all wrong, and in the process, revolutionized the fields of vestibular physiology and flight simulation. His success and enthusiasm for his work were infectious."

Young was born in New York City on December 19, 1935 to Benjamin and Bess Young. After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science in 1952, Young received a BA from Amherst College in 1957; a certificate in applied mathematics from the Sorbonne, Paris as a French Government Fellow in 1958; BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering and an ScD in instrumentation from MIT in 1962.

Young's career extended beyond MIT to the national and international stage; he consulted with NASAs Marshall Spaceflight Center on the Apollo project and later became a qualified payload specialist for the U.S. space shuttle's Spacelab biological laboratory in 1993. While he never flew a space mission, he served as backup crew (alternate payload specialist) on Spacelab Life Sciences-2 (STS-58) and was principal or co-investigator on seven shuttle missions conducting human orientation experiments.

Throughout various points during his career, Young held visiting professor positions at ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology); the Zurich Kantonsspital; the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers in Paris; the College de France, Paris; the Universite de Provence, Marseille; and Stanford University. Notably, Young also founded National Space Biomedical Research Institute, serving as director from 1997 to 2001.

Closer to home, Young served as director of the Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium; launched the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST) doctoral program in bioastronautics; and after retiring in 2013, remained active in AeroAstro, serving as a senior advisor lending his expertise on the departments 2020 strategic plan committee. The MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) is HSTs home at MIT.

Larry was amazing at everything he did he loved MIT in practice and in concept, always promoting his students above himself and forever asking what would make our school better able to change the world. As founding member of HST and bedrock of IMES, his ideas have forever changed how we teach and how we bridge engineering and medicine, says Elazer Edelman, the Edward J. Poitras Professor in Medical Engineering and Science, director of IMES, and a practicing cardiologist at Brigham and Womens Hospital. His scientific and educational reforms made the universe more accessible and our world safer and healthier, creating new communities of scholars, new fields of studies like biomedical engineering and new leaders. His life affected every living person and at the same time touched each of those he met personally on an individual level.

In tandem with his extensive contributions to research, Young is remembered for the widespread dissemination of his knowledge through his impact as a teacher. Young mentored many colleagues when they were students, including (but not limited to) Oman, Edelman, and Professor David Mindell with whom he would later develop the highly popular course STS.471J / 16.895J / ESD.30J (Engineering Apollo). Many of Young's mentees would become influential members of aerospace academia and industry in their own right; these include NASA astronaut and moonwalker Charlie Duke.

"I literally can't count the thousands of students and alumni that Larry touched, myself among them. Recently, Larry led the charge to compose a handbook of bioastronautics, leaving us with the encyclopedic knowledge so future generations will continue with this work," says Dava Newman, the Apollo Professor of Astronautics, director of the MIT Media Lab, HST affiliate, and former Young mentee. "With all of the science we've learned and through all his years of mentoring, the moonshot Larry leaves with us is to never think about any constraints and boundaries, to literally always shoot for the moon, to Mars and beyond that's the big dream that he inspired in me and all of his colleagues."

Throughout his career, Young received extensive recognition for his contributions, service, and leadership to the aerospace field. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and a full member of the International Academy of Astronautics. He served on numerous academy committees and chaired NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts External Council. He held fellowships with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Explorers Club. In 1992, he was among the recipients recognized with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Jeffries Award "for outstanding contributions to space biology and medicine as a principal investigator on the Spacelab Life Sciences 1 mission." In 1995, NASA recognized his achievements with a Space Act Award for his development of an expert system for astronauts. In 1998, he received the prestigious Koetser Foundation Prize in Zurich for his contributions to neuroscience. In 2013, he received the Pioneer Award from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. In 2018, he received the AIAA de Florez Award for Flight Simulation, and the Aerospace Medical Association's Professional Excellence Award for Lifetime Contributions.

Outside of his career as an engineer, Young was an avid skier, which led him to become active in ski injury research. He was a director of the International Society for Skiing Safety and chaired the Ski Injury Statistics Subcommittee of the American Society for Testing and Materials Committee on Snow Skiing before being elected committee chair in 1987. He received the United States Ski Association Award of Merit and the Best Research Paper Award from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.

In addition to countless alumni, colleagues, and friends, Young is survived by his beloved wife Vicki Goldberg; his sister Ellen Rosenberg; children Eliot Young SM 87, SM 90, ScD 93; Leslie Young PhD 94; and Robert Young; his first wife and the mother of his children Jody Williams; and grandchildren Joshua Young, Evan Young, David Young, Alexander Young, and Rachel Young.

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Laurence Young, professor emeritus of astronautics and renowned expert in bioastronautics, dies at 85 - MIT News

AUSTIN, Texas & EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Slingshot Aerospace, Inc., a company building world-class space simulation and analytics solutions, announced today that Dan Berkenstock, Founder and former CEO, Skybox; Dr. Kathleen Howell, Hsu Lo Distinguished Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University; Kevin OConnell, Former Director, Office of Space Commerce; and Mandy Vaughn, Former President of VOX Space (a Virgin Orbit subsidiary), have joined Slingshot Aerospaces advisory board, effective immediately. Additionally, the company has hired Dr. Belinda Marchand, formerly a member of the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin and founder of Progalaxia, LLC, to serve as Director of Astrodynamics and Space Systems R&D, and former U.S. Space Force Deputy Chief of the Space and Missile Systems Centers Rapid Development Division, Alonso Segura, to serve as Senior Director, Space Systems Accounts, effective immediately.

All these individuals bring a wealth of experience and knowledge that will accelerate our vision to create space sustainability for a safer, more connected world, said Melanie Stricklan, Co-founder and CEO, Slingshot Aerospace. Space is the most complex environment and organizations are making high-risk decisions without access to complete, accurate, real-time, interoperable information. Each person will be invaluable to our team as we build technologies that provide a full, dynamic picture of the space domain, allowing our customers to make decisions at the speed of relevance.

Slingshot Aerospace Advisors

Dan Berkenstock, Former Product Manager at Google; Founder and former CEO of Skybox; Former Research Associate at NASA

Berkenstock is an entrepreneur and engineer with more than 20 years of industry experience. He co-founded Skybox Imaging, which was acquired by Google, where he led the vision, implementation, and delivery of revolutionary information, products, and services derived from timely satellite imagery as CEO. After the companys acquisition, he served as Head of Product and Partner Development at Google. Previously, he served as a Research Associate at NASA where he developed advanced methods for aerodynamic shape optimization on surfaces.

Today, Berkenstock is working to complete a PhD at Stanford University focused on using convex optimization techniques in multidisciplinary shape optimization, and serves on the boards of several early stage aerospace startups. He was named Satellite Executive of the Year by Via Satellite magazine in 2014. In 2011, Dan was named to the MIT Technology Review list of 35 Innovators under 35.

Dr. Kathleen Howell, Hsu Lo Distinguished Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University

Dr. Howell is a scientist and aerospace engineer with nearly four decades of experience. Her distinguished career is highlighted by her contributions to dynamical systems theory applied to spacecraft trajectory design, which led to the use of halo orbits in multiple NASA space missions. Today, she is a Hsu Lo Distinguished Professor at Purdue University in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

In 2017, Dr. Howell was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for contributions in dynamical systems theory and invariant manifolds culminating in optimal interplanetary trajectories and the Interplanetary Superhighway." She was elected as a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics in 2020. Dr. Howell was awarded the 1984 Presidential Young Investigator Award, which was presented to her from the White House by Ronald Reagan. In 2002, she was named one of the 50 most important women in science by Discover Magazine, and in 2004, she was the recipient of the Dirk Brouwer Award from the American Astronautical Society.

Dr. Howell earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State University. She went on to receive her MS and PhD degrees from Stanford University in 1977 and 1983, respectively. Dr. Howell started as an assistant professor at Purdue University School of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1982 and is the school's first female tenured professor.

Kevin OConnell, Former Director, Officer of Space Commerce

OConnell has over 35 years of experience in the U.S. government, research organizations, and as an entrepreneur and business leader. Most notably, he was Director of the Office of Space Commerce, the principal organization for space commerce policy activities within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Its mission is to foster the conditions for the economic growth and technological advancement of the U.S. commercial space industry. OConnell has also researched and written extensively on the policy, security, and global market issues related to commercialization of remote sensing, or the science of obtaining information about objects or areas from a distance, typically from aircraft or satellites. He served as the Executive Secretary and Staff Director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency Commission, and was a member, and later Chair, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations federal advisory committee on remote sensing. Previously, OConnell served as a senior consultant to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and as an independent advisor to the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.

OConnells background also includes extensive experience in national security and intelligence matters, including assignments in the Department of Defense, Department of State, National Security Council, and the Office of the Vice President. He spent a decade conducting and managing research in these areas at the RAND Corporation, including as the first director of RANDs Intelligence Policy Center, and was a long-standing Adjunct Professor of comparative intelligence at Georgetown Universitys School of Foreign Service, Security Studies Program. Most recently, he founded Space Economy Rising, LLC, where he works with clients and partners worldwide on all aspects of the growing space economy.

Mandy Vaughn, Former President & CEO, VOX Space

Vaughn is a space industry expert with more than 20 years of experience. She is the former President and CEO of VOX Space, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Virgin Orbit, LLC that provides satellite launch services. She originally joined Virgin Group by way of Virgin Galactic, the worlds first commercial spaceline and vertically integrated aerospace company, and eventually transitioned to Virgin Orbit, a revolutionary service that provides launch solutions for small satellites. There, she was the Senior Director of Business Development and Mission Management where she supported customer missions including NASA. She worked her way up within Virgin Group and eventually spearheaded the creation and registration of VOX Space.

Prior to joining Virgin Galactic, Vaughn was a developmental engineer and program manager in the Air Force and a Director with Kinsey Technical Services. She primarily supported programs in the Space Superiority Systems Directorate. In the space superiority mission area, she was the ground segment lead and chief engineer on the space-based surveillance program, and then supported a variety of space and ground-based programs for the directorate. In that role, she supported multiple space situational awareness and command-and-control programs between the U.S. Department of Defense and the intelligence community. Today, she is the Founder and CEO of GXO Inc., where she provides strategic, management, and technical leadership to help deep tech and new space companies excel.

Vaughn is a member of NASAs National Space Councils User Advisory Group and advises on topics like international laws and regulations, national security space, and scientific and human space exploration priorities. She is also the Chair of Workforce Development for the National Security Space Association (NSSA) where she identifies, fosters, and mentors the next generation workforce to build a strong national security space community. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics, both from MIT.

Slingshot Aerospace New Hires

Belinda Marchand, Director of Astrodynamics and R&D, Slingshot Aerospace

Dr. Marchand brings nearly 30 years of experience in both industry and academia to the Slingshot Aerospace team. She began her career as an engineer for McDonnel Douglas Aerospace, later acquired by The Boeing Company. In this initial role, she led technical assessments, simulations, and software development in support of various defense projects. After completing her doctoral degree, Dr. Marchand transitioned from industry to academia, first as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Purdue University and later as an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). During this time she taught and led a research program rooted in astrodynamics and space vehicle guidance, navigation and control, supporting both space exploration and defense applications.

While on the faculty at UT Austin, Dr. Marchand also served as a senior member of the technical staff at The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and later The Aerospace Corporation, supporting research areas ranging from missile defense applications to lunar space flight. In 2011, she stepped away from academia to join Decisive Analytics Corporation as a Senior Engineer and later went on to start her own consulting company, Progalaxia, LLC, where she continued to apply her technical expertise to various problems in space vehicle trajectory design, guidance, navigation and control.

Over the course of her career, Dr. Marchands research activities have supported numerous NASA space mission concepts, including the areas of formation flight and libration point mission design. She was the recipient of the Air Force Young Investigator award and has been involved in many research subjects in the space domain, from mission design to space situational awareness.

Dr. Marchand holds a PhD from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, where she also completed a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering.

Alonso Segura, Sr. Director, Space Systems Accounts, Slingshot Aerospace

Segura is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with a twenty year record of innovative performance in government acquisitions across all levels of the Department of Defense (DoD). He has led multiple diverse inter-agency teams and managed large investment budgets across all classifications in order to deliver new capabilities in space control, cross-domain command and control, wargaming, foreign military sales, security cooperation, and intelligence surveillance and recognizance.

Most recently, Segura served as Deputy Chief, Rapid Development Division for the U.S. Space Force, where he built and led a diverse rapid prototyping team to plan and deliver multiple satellites to orbit including ride-share platforms, threat emulation platforms, and proliferated constellation proof-of-concept platforms. He also championed the growth of the U.S. space industrial base as a strong advocate for lowering the barriers of entry for non-traditional businesses into DoD acquisitions by advancing the use of innovative contracting methods.

Segura has also been assigned to the former U.S. Air Force Space Commands Space Superiority Directorate, where he led a team of space control experts in the pursuit of national space superiority. And hes also been assigned to U.S. Air Force Headquarters at the Pentagon, where he served as the Chief of Airborne Networks, leading a DoD-wide effort to advance sensor-to-user intelligence systems.

Over his career, Segura delivered innovative solutions to DoDs toughest technology challenges, with a passion for expanding the national industrial base. He holds a BS in Physics and Computer Science from the University of Southern California, and a Masters degree in Public Policy from New England College.

About Slingshot Aerospace

Slingshot Aerospace, Inc. is creating world-class space simulation and analytics solutions. The company brings the space domain into the digital environment and fuses data from different sources to provide a full, dynamic orbital picture. In doing so, Slingshot Aerospace customers can make decisions at the speed of relevance and achieve clarity in complex environments. Launched in 2017 and based in Austin, TX, and Los Angeles, CA, Slingshot Aerospace seeks to help government and commercial customers accelerate space sustainability to create a safer, more connected world. Visit slingshotaerospace.com and follow Slingshot Aerospace on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The Slingshot Aerospace media kit, including photos, can be found HERE.

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Slingshot Aerospace Adds 4 Space Experts to Advisory Board Including Former Virgin Group Executive; Former CEO of Skybox; Former Director of Space...

Tic Tac, the brand that sells small capsule-shaped breath fresheners, has capitalized on this summers UFO trend by sending a big mint-shaped vessel into space. The event took place earlier this month amid more pressing matters but caught the publics eye today when Tic Tac shared a video of its minty UFO with Earth as a backdrop.

It was only a matter of time before Tic Tac took advantage of the popular tictac nickname the public has used to describe a UFO witnessed by the US military. The UFO was given that name due to its alleged Tic Tac-shaped design, which paved the way for the Tic Tac brand to, you know, put its own mint-shaped UFO in space.

The launch took place between Ferrero, the company behind the Tic Tac brand, and UK-based aerospace firm Sent Into Space. The confectionery company first announced its plan to launch a custom space vessel packed full of mints in late July, later pulling off the stunt on August 4.

Customer-submitted messages about the breath fresheners were displayed on the vessels built-in screen, giving any aliens who may have been nearby the opportunity to find out what the small candies inside of the vessel were about. The UFO was filled with limited-edition Tic Tac packs, according to Ferrero.

Sent Into Space used high-altitude balloons to send the small capsule into space, resulting in the very amusing video Tic Tac shared on its Twitter account today. The space flight lasted just under three hours. Tic Tac says that 100 people have the chance to get one of the space Tic Tac packs by following instructions thatll be posted on the brands social media accounts.

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Tic Tac launched its own 'UFO' full of breath mints into space - SlashGear

Contract represents the fourth Lunar sensor award for MDA as the number of planned Moon missions grows

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Aug. 23, 2021 /CNW/ - MDA Ltd. (TSX: MDA), a leading provider of advanced technology and services to the rapidly-expanding global space industry, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Intuitive Machines, LLC to provide Lunar landing sensors to support its upcoming IM-1 and IM-2 missions. As a result, MDA landing sensors will support the first soft landing US mission to the Moon since 1972, scheduled for early 2022. MDA landing sensors will also support the first ever mining mission to the South pole of the Moon in late 2022.

Intuitive Machines was selected as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. These CLPS missions will help lay the foundation for future missions and a sustainable human presence on the Lunar surface. MDA is currently under contract to provide its Lunar landing sensors to three different commercial customers supporting four individual missions scheduled between 2022 and 2024.

With the space economy increasingly driven by commercial demand, MDA has developed a full suite of affordable sensor products that have been designed for use in Lunar landing, orbital debris removal, rendezvous and docking as well as Earth observation. The product line includes:

This standardized technology ideally positions MDA for further expansion into the rapidly emerging global marketfor space situational awareness sensors that are affordable and available.

QUOTE

"Every week there are major global developments in the commercialization of space that bring us closer and closer to making the vision of an active Lunar village with routine flights from Earth to the Moon a reality. Landing technology has been a critical component of successful flight since the dawn of aviation and now, working with partners like Intuitive Machines, we are commercializing that technology for space flight."

Mike Greenley, Chief Executive Officer, MDA

LINKS

http://www.mda.space

SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MDA_spaceFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/MDAspaceLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/mdaspaceYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/mdaspaceInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/MDA_space

ABOUT MDA

Serving the world from its Canadian home and global offices, MDA (TSX:MDA) is an international space mission partner and a robotics, satellite systems and geointelligence pioneer with a 50-year story of firsts on and above the Earth. With over 2,000 employees across Canada, the US and the UK, MDA is leading the charge towards viable Moon colonies, enhanced Earth observation, communication in a hyper-connected world, and more. With a track record of making space ambitions come true, MDA enables highly skilled people to continually push boundaries, tackle big challenges, and imagine solutions that inspire and endure to change the world for the better, on the ground and in the stars.

SOURCE MDA Ltd.

For further information: MEDIA CONTACT, Amy MacLeod, [emailprotected], 613-796-6937

http://www.mda.space

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Intuitive Machines selects MDA Lunar landing sensors to support first US mission to the Moon in 50 years - Canada NewsWire

Researchers in Japan are using microwaves to power free-flying drones, a project that could possibly pave the way for a new type of rocket.

Currently, most rockets generate thrust by using controlled explosions of a solid or liquid fuel source, which can make up 90% of their total weight. However, new research published in the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets demonstrates the potential of using an alternative source of fuel: microwaves.

Related: Future astronauts could make methane rocket fuel on Mars

Microwaves are a type of electromagnetic radiation. As such, they're jam-packed with energy that can be converted into electricity, much as sunlight can be converted to power by solar panels. In the new study, researchers generated electricity to fuel free-flying drones by beaming microwaves directly at them.

"In drone experiments, microwave power is sent from the antenna on the ground to the antenna on the drone. A rectifier is used to convert RF [radio frequency] to DC [direct current], and the DC power is used to drive the drone's motors. We call it "rectenna" (rectifier + antenna)," one of the new study's authors, Kohei Shimamura of the University of Tsukuba, told Space.com in an email.

Previous studies exploring microwave-powered propulsion used low-frequency waves but found that when the frequency is raised, the power transmission efficiency also increases. Taking this fact into account, the research team used high frequencies (28 gigahertz) to lift a 0.9-pound (0.4 kilograms) drone off the ground.

Sitting directly above the source of the microwave beam, the transmitted power enabled the drone to reach a height of around 2.6 feet (0.8 meters) for 30 seconds. "We used a sophisticated beam-tracking system to ensure that the drone received as much of the microwave power as possible," Shimamura said in a statement.

In the experiment, 30% of the emitted microwaves were captured by the drone, and 40% of those microwaves were converted to electricity for propulsion.

Related: Why a microwave-beam experiment will launch aboard the Air Forces secretive X-37B space plane

"These results show that more work is needed to improve the transmission efficiency and thoroughly evaluate the feasibility of this propulsion approach for aircraft, spacecraft and rockets, Shimamura said. "Future studies should also aim to refine the beam-tracking system and increase the transmission distance beyond that demonstrated in our experiment."

Although the new research showcases the potential of microwave-powered propulsion, the technology largely remains in its infancy, especially when considering its potential use for rocket flight.

"The big challenge is to track the microwave to the rocket until it reaches an altitude of 100 km [approximately 62 miles]. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to control the phase of the thruster and microwave with high accuracy. Also, aligning the phase of multiple microwave sources with high power is a future challenge," Shimamura told Space.com via email. "Cost is a major issue as well as a technical challenge. Building a high-power source of several MW [megawatts] is equivalent to building a nuclear fusion power plant, and the cost of launching a rocket is currently very high."

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A microwave-powered rocket? Drone project suggests it may be possible - Space.com

Intuitive Machines has partnered with Spaceflight Inc. to provide secondary rideshare services on the companys upcoming IM-2 South Pole Mission, scheduled to launch no earlier than December of 2022.

Using the excess capacity on Intuitive Machines Nova-C lunar lander, Spaceflight Inc. will offer rideshare opportunities onboard their next-gen Sherpa Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) for deployment into trans-lunar and low-lunar orbits and beyond to Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit (GEO).

IM-2 South Pole Mission includes a Nova-C class lander to land 130 kg of payloads on the lunar surface. It also has excess capacity on the launch vehicle that delivers 1,000 kg of payloads on an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) ring into a direct throw high energy orbit. This high-energy ESPA rideshare option allows customers to proceed to lunar capture quickly, redirect to points elsewhere in high Earth orbit, or depart for destinations in the solar system with less demand on their propulsion.

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Intuitive Machines Partners With SpaceFlight To Provide Secondary Rideshare Services On Their Upcoming IM-2 South Pole Mission SatNews - SatNews...

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced that it has successfully demonstrated the operation of a rocket engine technology for the first time in space. This experiment proved the efficiency of a rotating detonation engine (RDE) which converted the shock waves generated when a mixture of fuel and oxygen reacts explosively into thrust.

Now, JAXA has successfully demonstrated that it can also have potential in deep space exploration. By creating detonation and compression waves at extremely high frequencies (1 to 100 kHz), the detonation engine greatly enhances reaction speed, reducing the weight of the rocket engine and allowing it to generate thrust more efficiently, further boosting its performance.

This new engine system was installed on the No. 31 vehicle of the S-520 sounding rocket series operated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. The rocket took off from JAXA Uchinoura Space Center on July 27th at 5:30 JST. The rotary detonation engine produced about 500 N (112 lbf) of thrust once the first stage was separated, which is only a fraction of what conventional rocket engines can achieve in space.

The success of this space flight demonstration experiment has substantially enhanced the chances of the RDE being used in practical applications, including in rocket motors for deep space exploration, first-stage, and two-stage engines, and more.

In the future, JAXA plans to apply detonation engine technology not only for deep space exploration missions but for other scientific operations as well. Reducing the size and weight of spacecraft systems could thus significantly aid interplanetary journeys.

But JAXA is not the only agency working to develop detonation engine tech. Several U.S. organizations are also working on RDEs. The U.S. Navy is particularly interested in RDEs capability to reduce the fuel consumption in their heavy vehicles.

In May 2020, a group of U.S. Air Force engineers claimed to have created a highly experimental functioning model of RDE capable of delivering 200 lbf (about890 N) of thrust by using a hydrogen/oxygen fuel mix.

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Japan Tests Explosion-Powered Rocket for the First Time in Space, Is a Success - autoevolution

A stunning new satellite image captures four different storms churning in the skies above North America as the continent nears the peak of hurricane season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 16 (GOES-16) captured aerial views of hurricanes Grace and Linda, along with tropical storms Fred and Henri, on Wednesday (Aug. 18). The satellite image also shows swirling billows of smoke streaming across the western U.S. from several major fires in California.

"The pace of hurricane activity around North America often accelerates in mid-to-late summer as seas warm, making it easier for tropical cyclones to develop and intensify," NASA officials wrote in a statement. "August 2021 was no exception. In fact, more storm activity has happened earlier in the year than usual."

Related: GOES-R/GOES-16: A powerful weather satellite in pictures

Using its Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), GOES-16 captured this simulated natural-color image at 1:20 p.m. EDT (1720 GMT), revealing four different storms at various stages of development. Hurricane Grace, which appears in the lower right of the satellite image, on Tuesday (Aug. 17) brought heavy rainfall and flooding to Haiti still reeling from a magnitude 7.2 earthquake on Aug. 14 and the Dominican Republic. Then, it continued toward Mexico's Yucatan peninsula on Wednesday, moving west at 15 mph (24 kph), according to the statement.

Tropical Storm Fred, which made landfall in Florida's Panhandle region on Aug. 16, appears in the satellite image moving north along the East Coast of the U.S. The storm brought intense rainfall and strong winds, leaving flooding and tornadoes in its wake. When the storm touched down in Florida, winds were recorded at 65 mph (105 kph), followed by several inches of rain across parts of the state, as well as Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina as the storm moved inland, according to the NASA statement.

Henri, which is expected to reach hurricane status on Friday (Aug. 20), appears near Bermuda in the satellite image. Forecasters say that Henri is headed toward the Northeast U.S. and could impact the coast this weekend.

"Starting early last week, the large-scale conditions became especially favorable for tropical cyclone development in the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic basins," Patrick Duran, a hurricane expert based at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, said in the statement. "The Madden-Julian Oscillation, a global-scale phenomenon that plays a role in tropical convection, became favorable for thunderstorm formation. At the same time, a large atmospheric wave called an equatorial Kelvin wave moved across the Atlantic, making conditions even more favorable for storm development."

Linda, which has been identified as an intense variety of storm called an annular hurricane, is located in the Eastern Pacific, on the left side of the satellite image. The storm reached hurricane status on Aug. 12 and remained strong for several days. While the storm remained at sea, nowhere near land, its winds reached as high as 130 mph (209 kph), making it a Category 4 hurricane, according to the statement.

Annular hurricanes are generally characterized by large and symmetrical eyes and few rain bands spiraling outward, according to the statement. These types of hurricanes tend to be significantly stronger and maintain their peak intensities longer than other tropical cyclones because their "annular structure makes these storms more resistant to the negative impacts of unfavorable conditions, like low ocean temperatures or high wind shear," Charles Helms, a scientist based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said in the statement.

In addition to the active storms, the GOES-16 image also shows the effects of several California wildfires, with streams of smoke visible across the western U.S. In the satellite image, the smoke characterized by darker clouds can be seen across the top of the northwest U.S. Due to gusty winds and low humidity, the state of California has issued a warning of fire-prone conditions across much of Northern California, as well as areas of the North Bay Mountains and East Bay Hills, according to an Aug. 18 state announcement.

Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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North America is surrounded by 4 storms and wildfire smoke in this satellite view - Space.com

MONTGOMERY Governor Kay Ivey announced today that defense contractor KBR plans to expand its operations in Huntsville with a new headquarters facility and more than 160 additional jobs as it taps the talent pool in Alabamas Rocket City.

KBR will consolidate its presence in Huntsville at two buildings being developed at Redstone Gateway by Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) in partnership with Jim Wilson & Associates as part of a $65 million project. The growth plans will allow KBR to retain its workforce of over 1,100 people in the city.

KBR delivers a range of high-end services and expertise in systems engineering, data analytics and mission operations around the globe. Its in-depth portfolio spans defense modernization; military, civil and commercial space; intelligence; cyber; advanced logistics; and base operations.

Its always great to see a company like KBR that has a major presence in Alabama decide to expand its operation in the state, especially when the jobs being added are highly technical and well paying, Governor Ivey said. KBR is a world-class company, and I look forward to seeing it grow and thrive in Huntsvilles dynamic economy.

Houston-based KBR will provide engineering, scientific and technical services to the defense and aerospace industries at its new location just outside Redstone Arsenal, a sprawling government installation.

Recently named one of the Best Places to Live in the U.S., KBR is excited to enhance its presence in Huntsville, specifically at Redstone Gateway, said Byron Bright, KBR Government Solutions president. Whether were defending our nation or supporting the latest missions in space, we equip those on the frontline and those exploring a new frontier. As our capabilities in aerospace engineering, asset management and spaceflight operations continue to evolve and grow, maintaining offices in close proximity to both existing and future customers is the right thing to do.

KBR has executed two leases with the real estate partners to occupy 90% of a 172,500-square-foot office building and roughly half of a 45,000-square-foot R&D facility at Redstone Gateway. The facility is anticipated to be operational during the first quarter of 2023.

With capabilities that truly span the globe and a culture of innovation and problem-solving, KBR stands out as one of the most impressive companies in its field, said Greg Canfield, Secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. These qualities mean KBR shares the same kind of DNA as Huntsville, and I can think of no more perfect place for the company to execute growth plans.

Huntsville officials welcomed KBRs expansion plans.

Were glad to see KBR expanding in Huntsville where the companys best and the brightest engineers and innovators contribute to aerospace and defense industries, said Mayor Tommy Battle. Congratulations to KBR and to COPT on this exciting venture.

The new KBR headquarters represents a positive development for Redstone Gateway, a 486-acre mixed use development that is home to leading defense, aerospace and research companies.

We are thrilled to have this opportunity to support a world-class firm such as KBR at Redstone Gateway and are proud to develop their Huntsville home, said COPT Huntsville Asset Manager James Lomax said. This decision reaffirms Redstone Gateways unrivaled combination of efficiency, convenience, walkable amenities, and access to important commands at Redstone Arsenal as Huntsvilles modern office park.

This deal represents a consolidation and commitment for KBR in the Huntsville market that will allow KBR to take advantage of new workplace strategies and standards, maximize efficiency, while at the same time upgrade their facilities significantly for their workforce, added Thomas Birnbach, president and vice chairman of real estate firm Cresa, which represented KBR.

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Gov. Ivey Announces KBR to Expand Alabama Footprint with New Headquarters and 160 Additional Jobs - Office of the Governor of Alabama - Governor Kay...

A Falcon 9 rocket rolls out to pad 39A Thursday for the next launch of SpaceX Starlink satellites. Credit: Spaceflight Now

SpaceX plans to deploy the next group of Starlink internet relay spacecraft Sunday with a liftoff on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from NASAs Kennedy Space Center, the companys fourth satellite launch of the month.

The two-stage Falcon 9 launcher emerged from its hangar at the Florida spaceport Thursday and rolled up the ramp to pad 39A, where SpaceX will raise the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket vertical for a test-firing as soon as Friday.

The hold-down firing of the rockets nine Merlin 1D main engines will last several seconds.

The test, which SpaceX calls a static fire, was part of every Falcon 9 launch campaign for nearly a decade. But SpaceX did not perform a static fire before its last four missions as teams try to cut the time required between Falcon 9 flights from SpaceXs two launch pads on Floridas Space Coast.

Assuming a good test-firing Friday, SpaceX is expected to press ahead with launch of the Falcon 9 rocket Sunday. There is an instantaneous launch opportunity at 7:02 a.m. EST (1202 GMT), about 10 minutes before sunrise Sunday.

The Falcon 9 will launch with the next batch of approximately 60 Starlink satellites, adding more capacity and coverage to SpaceXs burgeoning broadband network.

Warning notices to pilots and mariners previously indicated the launch was scheduled Saturday morning, but sources said Thursday the flight was delayed to Sunday.

Forecasters from the U.S. Space Forces 45th Weather Squadron predict an 80% chance of good weather Sunday. The primary weather concern Sunday will be with the possibility of violating the cumulus cloud rule.

A high pressure ridge is forecast to begin moving away from Central Florida this weekend, allowing a low pressure system and a cold front to move into the Mid-Atlantic states north of Florida.

The spaceport will be within the warm, prefrontal regime during the launch window, the weather team wrote Thursday. Clouds will be thicker and more abundant than Saturday, but the vast majority will be too low-topped to create lightning launch commit criteria concerns. Southwesterly winds will increase to 15-20 miles per hour (up to 200 feet) in response to the tightening pressure gradient. The primary concern during the backup window will be the cumulus cloud rule.

If the Starlink mission takes off Sunday, SpaceX will close out January with four Falcon 9 launches, keeping pace with the companys goal of launching more than 40 Falcon flights in 2021.

A Falcon 9 rocket took off Jan. 7 from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with the Turkish-owned Turksat 5A communications satellite. SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites Jan. 20 from pad 39A, then launched a rideshare mission Sunday on a Falcon 9 with a record-setting payload of 143 small satellites from U.S. and international customers.

SpaceX, founded and led by billionaire Elon Musk, will have more than 1,000 Starlink nodes in orbit with the roughly 60 more Starlink spacecraft set to launch Sunday. The company has launched 1,025 Starlink satellites to date, but some of the spacecraft were either prototypes or failed after launch, and are no longer in orbit, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomerat theHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who tracks global satellite and launch activity.

SpaceX says the Starlink network is providing preliminary low-latency internet service to users in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom through a beta testing program. Commercial service will begin after SpaceX has its initial network of around 1,584 satellites in orbit, including spares.

The quarter-ton Starlink satellites are built by SpaceX technicians and engineers in Redmond, Washington.

The initial block of Starlink satellites, including the 60 launching this weekend, fly in mid-inclination orbits tilted 53 degrees to the equator. They fly at an altitude of 341 miles, or 550 kilometers, to provide broadband coverage over nearly all of the populated world.

SpaceX plans to launch more Starlink satellites into polar orbit to enable global coverage for maritime and aviation customers, including the U.S. military. The company has regulatory approval to launch around 12,000 Starlink satellites.

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Falcon 9 rocket arrives on pad 39A for sunrise Starlink launch this weekend Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

Jared Isaacman, a wealthy businessman and pilot, is chartering a four-seat SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule for what will be the first fully commercial, non-government piloted flight to orbit, SpaceX and the entrepreneur announced Monday. The mission will benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

The flight, named Inspiration4, will be commanded by Isaacman, 37, who is reserving two seats for St. Jude and one for an entrepreneur who will be selected in an independently judged competition.

One of the St. Jude seats will be awarded to a frontline health care worker and the other to the winner of a national fundraising campaign that will attempt to raise $200 million for the famed research center. Isaacman promised diversity, indicating a female health care worker has already been selected.

"St. Jude's mission is not about rockets or space exploration, it's about treating some of the most heart wrenching conditions that any parent could imagine," Isaacman said during a teleconference with SpaceX founder Elon Musk. "And if we're going to continue making advances up there in space, then we have an obligation to do the same down here on Earth.

"So one seat will go to a frontline health care worker and the other will be awarded through a national fundraising campaign that begins today and runs through the month of February. Our goal is to raise over $200 million, and I'm contributing the first $100 million to this great effort."

He also said he will cover applicable tax obligations for the selected health care worker.

Said Musk: "This is a stepping stone on the way towards providing access to space for all."

"Things necessarily start off real expensive, because it's new technology at low volume, low production rates," he said. "And so we actually need people who are willing and able to pay the high prices initially, in order to make it affordable, long term, for everyone."

Asked if he ever intends to fly in space aboard a Crew Dragon himself at some point, he said "I will be on a flight one day, but not this one."

The Inspiration4 mission will be unveiled to the public during the SuperBowl with a first quarter television commercial calling attention to St. Jude and the fund-raising initiative.

Unlike a mission announced last week in which Houston-based Axiom Space plans to send four private citizens to the International Space Station during an eight-day mission, Isaacman's flight has no destination other than low-Earth orbit.

After circling the globe for several days, the capsule is expected to plunge back to Earth and splash down in the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral. All four crew members will undergo medical screening and receive extensive training in spacecraft procedures and emergency operations.

"SpaceX is targeting no earlier than the fourth quarter of this year for Falcon 9's launch of Inspiration4, the world's first all-commercial astronaut mission to orbit from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center," SpaceX said on its website.

"Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, is donating the three seats alongside him aboard Dragon to individuals from the general public who will be announced in the weeks ahead."

Isaacman said the three seats he is donating will be given to crew members selected to represent the "mission pillars" of leadership, hope, generosity and prosperity.

"The big focus is what we aim to raise for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, but look at every one of the crew members and what they represent in terms of the mission pillars," Isaacman said.

The front-line health care worker will represent hope while someone making a significant donation to St. June will be showing generosity. An entrepreneur selected in a national competition will represent prosperity.

"The three crew members we're selecting come from everyday walks of life, including a front-line health care worker who's committed to helping kids fight cancer," Isaacman said. "Someone who visits our mission website and makes a donation, and an aspiring entrepreneur building a business. And what they don't know is that 30 days from now they're going to get fitted for a spacesuit."

SpaceX's ability to launch private space missions is rooted in NASA's drive to encourage development of commercial spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, ending the agency's sole reliance on Russia for post-shuttle space transportation.

In 2014, after a series of competitions, NASA announced that Boeing and SpaceX would share $6.8 billion to develop independent space taxis, the first new U.S. crewed spacecraft since the 1970s.

Under a $2.6 billion contract, SpaceX built a crewed version of its Dragon cargo ship that rides into orbit atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket. Boeing's Starliner was developed under a $4.2 billion contract and relies on United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets.

SpaceX launched a piloted test flight to the space station last May and the first operational flight last October. Boeing's first piloted mission is expected later this year.

Unlike past piloted spacecraft that were built to NASA specifications and were owned and operated by the government, Boeing and SpaceX retained ownership of the new "commercial crew" ships and both companies are free to launch non-government missions.

The cost of a non-NASA seat aboard the Crew Dragon has not been revealed, but it is reportedly in the neighborhood of $55 million per "ticket."

The Axiom flight to the space station will be commanded by former astronaut Mike Lopez-Alegria, now an Axiom vice president. His crewmates are American entrepreneur Larry Connor, Canadian businessman Mark Pathy and Israeli entrepreneur Eytan Stibbe.

Actor Tom Cruise is also rumored to be considering a space flight as part of a movie venture, but no details have emerged.

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SpaceX announces plans for first all-civilian space flight to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - CBS News

You can blame Microsoft Flight Simulator for the flight stick shortage were experiencing. Logitech, Thrustmaster, and many of the big name manufacturers are out of stock everywhere you look. What little product is actually available even used equipment is going for wildly inflated prices. Still other manufacturers are taking pre-orders, and then banging out new units as quickly as they can. So whats a budding flight or space sim enthusiast to do?

My advice, of course, is to give the scalpers a wide berth. If youre stuck on Microsoft Flight Simulator especially the big commercial airliners give Honeycomb Aeronautical a try. If youre playing a more hardcore flight simulator, like something from the DCS World portfolio, you probably already know about VKB. Its high-end equipment is currently in stock. But, if youre looking to spend a relatively modest amount of money on a more general purpose device something that might work with terrestrial and space flight I recommend you take a look at Virpil Controls, a small European company that is doing some really remarkable work.

And, just like everyone else, Virpils stuff is on backorder as well. Nevertheless, late last year Virpil sent along a selection of its most popular flight gear. Ive been taking it for a test drive on my custom-built flight rig. So far Im extremely impressed.

My favorite set of kit is called the Virpil Constellation Alpha, which, when coupled with a throttle, does an admirable job of controlling commercial aircraft. It has plenty of hat switches, plus an assortment of triggers that are perfect for games in the IL-2 Sturmovik family or other high-end simulations. Its also mostly plastic, but in a good way. It feels more robust than the Logitech X-52 and X-56, but lighter than the all-metal Thrustmaster Warthog.

The Virpil Constellation Alpha also comes in a left-handed variant. That means you can easily arrange for a much more complex dual-stick set-up. Also known as a hand-on-stick-and-stick (HOSAS) setup, I found that it completely changed the flight experience in both Star Citizens Persistent Universe and Elite Dangerous.

Explaining the difference is difficult to do with words. Previously I had played spaceflight simulation games with a single stick and throttle, which is known as a hands-on-throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) setup. Swapping out the throttle for another stick meant that I had to constantly hold the left-hand stick forward to maintain forward thrust. But, by pulling back on that stick I had easy access to reverse thrust, which makes slowing down and changing directions in space a lot snappier. The right-hand stick still has complete control of pitch and yaw, while rudder pedals handle roll. But now Im able to use the two sticks twist axes to handle strafing (right) and moving up and down (left). Previously, those functions sat on a tiny hat switch on my throttle.

After a few hours of HOSAS practice, I suddenly found myself with much more precise and immediate control over my virtual spaceships than ever before. Vectors which had previously been relegated to the keyboard or tiny hat switches were now integrated into the joysticks themselves. I could hit the gas on the main thruster to accelerate forward, rotate my ship in place, then roll left while also moving slightly down and sliding to the right all at the same time. The impact was especially prominent in Star Citizen, which has much faster ships and far more aggressive combat. HOSAS made me a harder target to hit, and helped to improve my own aim especially with fixed weapons.

Better still, the Constellations side-mounted thumbsticks mean that you can actually navigate on foot without ever taking your hands off the joysticks. That made the experience in Star Citizen, which features a surprising amount of walking, much more enjoyable. It will also likely have the same kind of impact when Elite Dangerous: Odyssey launches later this year, adding first-person, on-foot gameplay to that spacefaring game.

Another highlight for me were Virpils Ace Interceptor Rudder Pedals. Ive had a pretty good experience with the Thrustmaster TPR Pendular Rudder Pedals for the last few years, but they hang from a large central column that takes up a lot of space in my office. Virpil pedals are much, much lower to the floor and accommodate a wider stance which, as a 66 man, I greatly appreciate. Ace pedals also have a much better mounting solution, in my opinion, compared to the TPR pedals. Out of the box, Virpils large, grippy rubber feet stay put on most surfaces. You can also remove about an inch of height from the pedals, stripping off the rubber feet and the entire lower frame, to attach them directly to a custom flight seat.

While the input devices alone are excellent, Virpil also has a line of surprisingly affordable custom mounting solutions. For around $70 you can get the Virpil Desk Mount V3-S. It features a dead-simple clamp with an adjustable bite, which you can dial in to firmly grasp the edge of your desk surface and hold fast. They release quickly, making storage a breeze. Theyre also beautifully powder coated, and come with all the bolts you need to make the attachment to the Constellation. The V3-S also opens the door to additional customization options, including mounts that hang a keyboard, mouse pad, additional button boxes, and more all off of the same clamp.

Note that youll need two of the Desk Mount V3-S devices for a HOSAS solution using the Virpil Constellation sticks, which brings the price of accessories up to $140. If you go with a HOTAS solution instead, making use of one of Virpils fully-customizable throttle boxes, youll need a slightly larger version of the clamp and a special adapter plate. That brings the price for a full HOTAS mounting solution closer to $180.

Overall, Im smitten with these Virpil controls. They strike a good balance between price point and feature set, sitting comfortably in between classics like the Logitech X-52 and the Thrustmaster T16000, and higher end products from Thrustmaster and VKB. They also have just the right amount of heft to them, and feel like a substantial upgrade to the kinds of flight sticks Ive been using for the last decade.

There are a few caveats, however.

First, the documentation on these products ranges from awful to non-existent. Even basic assembly drove me out to YouTube where I spent hours freeze-framing foreign language unboxing videos to find out which screw goes where. When it comes to calibration and programming, you will similarly need to find your own way with the community of users on YouTube and on message boards as Virpil offers next to no help in getting things squared away.

Second, know that the current incarnation of the Virpil throttle box may simply be too much for most users. It has about twice as many buttons as Microsoft Windows recognizes on a game controller, which means youll need to take some extra time to get it tuned before you hop into a game. If youre going HOTAS, Id recommend getting something from Thrustmaster instead.

Also, I did notice some defective materials in the batch of products that I received. The non-marking pads on the mounting hardware, for instance, began to slide off after several weeks of continuous use. I also had several screw heads shatter as I attempted to remove them, either due to being made from weak metal or being gummed up with too much thread locking paste.

With those limitations in mind, I still cant help but recommend Virpil. After nearly a decade of watching modest, incremental improvements in the space its nice to see a manufacturer innovating with their flight sticks. Theres even a line of collective grips on the way, which will be perfect for the new helicopters coming to DCS World and Microsoft Flight Simulator in the not-to-distant future.

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Virpil Controls review: Theres a new challenger in the world of flight sticks and throttles - Polygon

Components for the Long March 5B rocket that will launch the core module of Chinas space station. Credit: CASC

The core section of Chinas space station is scheduled to launch in the next several months, the first of 11 missions carrying lab elements, cargo, and astronauts to the fledgling outpost over the next two years, according to Chinese space program officials.

The launch of the first element of the Chinese station is one of more than 40 missions scheduled this year by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., or CASC, Chinas largest state-owned aerospace contractor.

CASCs subsidiaries build Chinas Long March rockets, manufacture satellites, and oversee construction of the Chinese space station.

The China National Space Administration, the countrys space agency, said last month that the third phase of the Chinese human spaceflight program will begin in earnest in 2021, building on earlier missions testing out the human-rated Shenzhou space transport vehicle, spacewalk procedures, and docking systems needed for building the full-scale space station.

The heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket assigned to launch the space stations Tianhe core module has completed testing at its factory in Tianjin, China, and will soon be delivered by transport ship to the Wenchang launch base on Hainan Island.

At Wenchang, the Long March 5B rocket will be stacked on its mobile launch platform and mated with the Tianhe module, which measuresmore than 54.4 feet (16.6 meters) long, has a maximum diameter of around 13.8 feet (4.2 meters), and has a launch weight of roughly 49,600 pounds (22.5 metric tons).

Manufacturing and testing of the Tianhe module has also been completed in preparation for its launch this year.

Previous Long March 5 launch campaigns required about two months from the time of the rockets arrival at the Wenchang spaceport until liftoff. If Chinese teams follow that precedent, the Long March 5B launch with the Tianhe module could occur as soon as this spring.

The Long March 5B rocket is a variant of Chinas Long March 5 rocket family tailored to haul heavy payloads into low Earth orbit.

Flying without a second stage, the Long March 5B will carry its payloads into space using just its core stage and four strap-on liquid-fueled boosters. Large payloads will occupy the second stages volume on the Long March 5B, which can deliver up to 55,000 pounds (25 metric tons) of payload to low Earth orbit.

The Long March 5B configuration completed its first demonstration flight in May 2020, following delays stemming from a Long March 5 launch failure in 2017 that also pushed back the schedule for launching the first element of the Chinese space station.

The 11 missions to kick off assembly of Chinas space station include the three launch of three pressurized modules on Long March 5B rockets, resupply flights using Tianzhou cargo freighters launched on Long March 7 rockets from Wenchang, the Shenzhou crew capsules launched on Long March 2F rockets from Jiuquan, an inland spaceport in the Gobi Desert in Chinas Inner Mongolia region.

The fully-assembled outpost will be about one-sixth the mass of the International Space Station, and is closer in size to Russias retired Mir station than the ISS.

China launched two Tiangong prototype space labs in 2011 and 2016.

The Tiangong 1 space lab hosted two Shenzhou crew in 2012 and 2013, and Chinas most recent human spaceflight mission Shenzhou 11 docked with the Tiangong 2 module in 2016.

China also launched a test flight of the Tianzhou supply ship, similar in function to Russias Progress or SpaceXs Cargo Dragon capsule supporting the International Space Station. The first Tianzhou freighter took off on a Long March 7 rocket in 2017 and docked with the Tiangong 2 space lab, proving out automated docking and in-orbit refueling technology.

After the Tiangong pathfinders verified key technologies for the Chinese space station, officials are moving ahead with integrating the complex in low Earth orbit a few hundred miles above Earth.

The Long March 7 rocket for the Tianzhou 2 mission, the first cargo delivery flight to the Chinese station, is undergoing final assembly in its factory, according to CASC. The Long March 2F launcher for the Shenzhou 12 crew flight is undergoing final factory tests, which should be completed soon after the Chinese New Year in February, officials said.

A specific schedule for the launches of the Tianzhou 2 and Shenzhou 12 missions were not disclosed by Chinese sources.

Chinese officials have said they have selected crew members for the Shenzhou 12 mission, and astronaut training is underway. The astronauts will carry out multiple spacewalks on their mission to link up with the Tianhe module in orbit.

CASC described the space station missions as the top priority on the organizations schedule this year. Other major activities in Chinas space program this year include the arrival of the Tianwen 1 robotic mission in orbit around Mars in February, setting the stage for landing of a Chinese rover on the Red Planet in the May timeframe.

In a statement previewing Chinese space program in 2021, officials also hinted at further planning for exploration of the Moon by Chinese astronauts. But the statement offered no details on the lunar mission planning, which follows Chinas successful robotic sample return mission to the Moon in late 2020.

Other Chinese launches expected to add up to the more than 40 missions in CASCs schedule this year include Long March rocket flights to deploy weather satellites, research payloads, and Chinese military spacecraft in orbit.

There are also a handful of commercial launches in CASCs backlog, including missions to deliver batches of small Earth-imaging satellites for the Argentine company Satellogic.

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Artists concept of the Juno spacecraft at Jupiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In a pair of mission extensions, NASA has cleared the way for more seismic observations on Mars with the robotic InSight lander and approved plans for the Juno spacecraft to alter its orbit and perform close flybys of Jupiters icy moon Europa, Ganymede, and the volcanic moon Io.

The Juno mission, in orbit around Jupiter since July 4, 2016, has been approved for a four-year extension through September 2025, assuming the spacecraft is still operating. NASA also granted a two-year extension for the InSight mission, which landed on Mars on Nov. 26, 2018.

The Juno orbiter has focused on observations of Jupiter in its first four years at the giant planet, but the missions task list will grow in the coming years to include flybys and measurements of Jupiters rings and three of its largest moons.

Led by NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the InSight mission has been extended two years through December 2022. InSight will continue measuring seismic tremors on the Mars, producing data to help scientists unravel the internal structure of the Red Planet.

The solar-powered Mars lander will also continue operating a weather station, and ground teams will develop plans to bury a tether leading to InSights seismometer in hopes of eliminating data dropouts from the instrument.

A lower priority for the InSight team in the two-year extended mission will be to continue efforts using the landers robotic arm to help a heat probe hammer itself deeper into the Martian soil. The mole one of InSights two main instruments alongside the seismometer stalled in early 2019 before reaching a planned depth of at least 10 feet (3 meters) to measure the heat gradient inside the Red Planet.

Despite the problem with the heat probe, InSights seismic sensors have worked as designed. The seismometer instrument made the first detection of a marsquake soon after its deployment on the planets surface in 2019.

The Juno spacecraft hasprobed the Jupiters atmosphere and internal structure, revealing new insights about Jupiters cyclonic storms and detecting evidence for a large, potentially dissolved core at its center.

Scott Bolton, Junos principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said last year that the spacecraft could address a broader scope of science questions if NASA granted an extended mission.

It really becomes a full system explorer, not as focused as the prime mission was, Bolton said last year.We have multiple flybys of Io, Europa and Ganymede.

The solar-powered Juno spacecraft launched in August 2011, beginning a five-year cruise to Jupiter.

Junos nine scientific instruments include a microwave radiometer for atmospheric soundings, ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers, particle detectors, a magnetometer, and a radio and plasma waves experiment. The Jupiter orbiter also carries a color camera known as JunoCam, which collects image data for processing and analysis by an army of citizen scientists around the world.

NASA approved the extensions for the InSight and Juno missions after recommendations from a senior review, where a panel of independent scientists rank the meritsof continuing to operate NASAs robotic science missions beyond their original planned lifetimes.

When considering the senior review recommendations, NASA balances the scientific productivity of older missions with priorities to develop and launch new spacecraft. In 2020, InSight and Juno were up for extensions after reaching the end of their primary mission phases.

The senior review has validated that these two planetary science missions are likely to continue to bring new discoveries, and produce new questions about our solar system, said Lori Glaze, director of the planetary science division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. I thank the members of the senior review panel for their comprehensive analysis and thank the mission teams as well, who will now continue to provide exciting opportunities to refine our understanding of the dynamic science of Jupiter and Mars.

Junos primary mission cost around $1.1 billion, while InSight was developed, launched, and flown to Mars for about $1 billion, including contributions from European partners. The cost per year of operating each mission is significantly less than the cost of developing and launching the spacecraft.

The senior review panelists found InSight and Juno have produced exceptional science and recommended extending both missions. NASA approved the extensions Friday.

Lockheed Martin built the InSight and Juno spacecraft for NASA.

While InSights extension is largely about improving and extending datasets from the landers prime mission, Juno will take aim on new targets over the next four years.

The flybys of Jupiters moons will be enabled by Junos changing orbit. Jupiters asymmetric gravity field is gradually perturbing Junos trajectory and pulling the closest point of the spacecrafts elliptical, or egg-shaped, 53-day orbit northward over time, according to Bolton.

The northward migration of Junos perijove, or closest approach to Jupiter, will allow the spacecraft to get a closer look at the planets north pole. Juno was the first mission to glimpse Jupiters poles, and now the spacecraft could see the north pole and its cyclonic storms in greater detail.

This gives us close proximity to the northern parts of Jupiter, which is a new frontier, Bolton said. Weve seen a lot of activity there, so well be able to explore it very close up, whereas in the primary mission we were limited to the lower latitudes.

In an extended mission, the spacecraft will also be able to quantify how much water is bound up within Jupiters atmosphere, Bolton said.

Junos naturally evolving orbit is also what will permit the spacecraft to pass near Jupiters moons and rings.

The moon flybys could begin in mid-2021 with an encounter with Ganymede, Jupiters largest moon, at a distance of roughly 600 miles (1,000 kilometers), Bolton said last year.

After a series of distant passes, Juno will swoop just 200 miles (320 kilometers) above Europa in late 2022 for a high-speed flyby. Only NASAs Galileo spacecraft, which ended its mission in 2003, has come closer to Europa.

There are two encounters with Jupiters volcanic moon Io planned in 2024 at distances of about 900 miles (1,500 kilometers), according to the flight plan presented by Bolton last year. Juno will be able to look for changes on the surfaces of Jupiters moons since they were last seen up close by NASAs Voyager and Galileo probes.

At Ganymede, Juno will map the moons surface composition and investigate the 3D structure of Ganymedes magnetosphere. Ganymede is the only moon in the solar system known to have its own magnetic field.

Junos microwave radiometer will be able to probe the thickness of Europas global ice shell, which covers an ocean of liquid water. Well see where the ice is thin and where its thick, Bolton said.

Junos spectrometers will also map concentrations of water ice, carbon dioxide and organic molecules across 40 percent of Europas surface, Bolton said.

Imaging observations will search for changes since Voyager and Galileo, and observations with the spacecrafts microwave radiometer will explore Europas ice shell, NASA said. In situ measurements of Jupiters ring system will explore their structure and characterize their dust population.

The visit to Europa would give scientists a taste of whats to come with NASAs Europa Clipper mission, which could launch as soon as 2024. Europa Clipper will carry a more powerful radar among other instruments to measure the moons ice shell through a series of targeted flybys.

The JunoCam imager will take the sharpest pictures of Europa since the Galileo missions last encounter with the icy moon in 2000, allowing scientists tosearch for evidence of plumes erupting from Europas surface.

The spacecrafts other instruments will be tuned to look for particles lofted from Europa in the possible plumes. Signs of recurring eruptions from Europa were detected by the Hubble Space Telescope.

During its flybys with Io, Juno will look for evidence of a global magma ocean feeding Ios volcanoes. Juno might also be able to observe active volcanoes in Ios polar regions.

Juno is the second spacecraft to orbit Jupiter after the Galileo mission, which intentionally crashed into the giant planet in 2003. Galileos last close-up flyby of one of Jupiters moons, Io, occurred in 2002.

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NASA mission extension enables first flybys of Jupiter's moons in 20 years - Spaceflight Now

A Falcon 9 rocket soars into the sky with 60 Starlink internet satellites after liftoff Oct. 18 from pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: SpaceX

Leading all other nations, U.S. launch providers flew 44 missions in 2020 that aimed to place payloads in Earth orbit or deep space, with 40 successes. China followed with 35 successful orbital missions in 39 launch attempts.

Russias space program was in third place with 17 successful launches of Russian-built rockets in as many tries, including two Soyuz missions from the European-run spaceport in French Guiana. European-built launchers reached orbit four times in five attempts, and Japanese vehicles launched four times, all successfully.

Indias space program, grounded much of the year by the coronavirus pandemic, launched two successful orbital missions in as many attempts. Iran conducted two orbital launch attempts, with one success, and Israel launched a single mission to deliver a military spy satellite into orbit.

The most-flown type of space launchers in 2020 were SpaceXs Falcon 9 and the Russian Soyuz. Chinese Long March rockets flew 34 times more than Falcon 9s or Soyuz rockets but come in a range of configurations, making them difficult to classify into a single family.

The final tally for orbital launches worldwide in 2020 ended up at 104 successful flights in 114 attempts. The ten launch failures were more than global launch providers suffered in a single year since 1971.

Despite the global pandemic, the 114 launch attempts last year tied 2018 for the most orbital launches globally since 1990, when Cold War-era military budgets helped propel more missions into orbit.

In 2019, there were 102 orbital launch attempts around the world, with 97 missions that successfully reached Earth orbit.

SpaceX led all launch companies in 2020 with 25 orbital missions that sent up hundreds of satellites for the companys Starlink internet network, the first two flights with astronauts on SpaceXs Crew Dragon spaceship, two space station resupply missions, and three launches that delivered national security payloads into orbit for the U.S. government.

All 25 orbital missions used Falcon 9 rockets, with 20 of the launches powered by reused Falcon 9 boosters, a capability solely demonstrated by SpaceX. One first stage in SpaceXs fleet flew five times in 2020, the same number of missions performed by United Launch Alliances expendable Atlas 5 rockets or all European rockets last year.

ULA a 50-50 joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, accomplished six missions last year. Five flights with ULAs Atlas 5 rocket carried national security payloads into orbit, launched the European-built Solar Orbiter science mission, and sent NASAs Perseverance rover toward Mars.

A single Delta 4-Heavy launch in December deployed a top secret spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Rocket Lab, builder of the light-class Electron rocket family, conducted seven missions last year, with one failure. The company is headquartered in Long Beach, California, and builds engines and other components in the United States, but assembles and launches its rockets in New Zealand.

Electron rockets are set to begin flying from a new launch pad in Virginia this year. Because of Rocket Labs U.S. headquarters, its launch statistics are counted under the column of U.S. companies.

Northrop Grumman conducted three launches from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia last year, including two cargo launches to the International Space Station using Antares rockets, and a single flight of a solid-fueled Minotaur 4 rocket with satellites for the NRO.

Two newcomers to the U.S. small satellite launch business conducted their first orbital launch attempts in 2020.

Virgin Orbit, founded by billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, performed the first test flight of its airborne-launched LauncherOne rocket off the coast of Southern California in May. Astra, another startup smallsat launch company, launched two of its orbital-class rockets on test flights from Alaska.

The Virgin Orbit and Astra test flights all faltered before reaching orbit, but the companies say they gathered crucial data to set up for additional tries in 2021.

Chinas 39 orbital launch attempts last year ties a record level of Chinese launch activity set in 2018,but China achieved more successful space launches that year.

The four Chinese launch failures this year included a mishap during the debut launch of the Long March 7A rocket in March, a Long March 3B failure in April with the Indonesian Palapa N1 communications satellite, and problems during launches of Chinas light-class Kuaizhou 11 and Kuaizhou 1A rockets in July and September.

Major successes for Chinas space program in 2020 included launches of the Tianwen 1 rover toward Mars in July, and the launch, landing, and return of the Change 5 lunar sample collection mission in December.

Russian rockets delivered payloads into orbit 17 times in 2020, with the venerable Soyuz launcher conducting 15 of those flights. Russias heavier Proton and Angara launch vehicles each completed one mission last year.

In addition to launches with Russian military payloads, the Soyuz missions launched two crews to the International Space Station, two Progress logistics flights to the station, and three batches of more than 30 satellites for OneWebs commercial broadband network.

Soyuz rockets also launched on two missions with Emirati and French military reconnaissance satellites from the European-operated Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. Those flights were managed by Arianespace, the French launch services provider, but Russian engineers and technicians built and assembled the Soyuz boosters, and assisted in launch operations.

European rockets, also operated by Arianespace, launched from French Guiana five times in 2020. Three heavy-lift Ariane 5 rockets successfully took off from French Guiana with commercial communications satellites for Eutelsat, Intelsat, Sky Perfect JSAT, B-SAT, and the Indian Space Research Organization, a South Korean weather satellite, and a satellite servicing vehicle for Northrop Grummans subsidiary Space Logistics.

The smaller Italian-led Vega rocket program suffered one failure in two launch attempts last year.

Japans four orbital launch attempts last year all successful included three flights by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries workhorse H-2A rocket. The H-2A missions carried two Japanese defense-related satellites to orbit, and deployed the Hope Mars orbiter for the United Arab Emirates.

The ninth and final launch of the more powerful dual-engine H-2B rocket in May lofted Japans last first-generation HTV cargo freighter with several tons of supplies for the International Space Station.

India performed two missions with its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in November and December, following a months-long grounding caused by restrictions stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. Both delivered their payloads to orbit.

Iran tried to launch two satellites in February and April, but only the second attempt was successful. And Israels Shavit launcher successfully placed the countrys Ofek 16 military surveillance satellite into orbit, the first Israeli satellite launch since 2016.

Floridas Space Coast hosted more orbital launches than any other location last year, with 30 successful missions originating from launch facilities at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center.

Before 2020, the previous record for launches from the Space Coast that reached orbit was 29, a mark set in 1966. There were 31 orbital launch attempts from Cape Canaveral that year, plus two suborbital test flights of the Apollo-era Saturn 1B launcher, for a total of 33 space launches from Florida in 1966, according to a launch log maintained by Jonathan McDowell,an astronomer at theHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who tracks global satellite and launch activity.

A run at breaking that record will have to wait for another year.

Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station was the most-used launch pad worldwide in 2020, with 14 Falcon 9 missions taking off from there.

Chinas launch sites at Jiuquan and Xichang each hosted 13 satellite launches in 2020. The Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Russias Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Rocket Labs privately-operated launch site in New Zealand, and the Guiana Space Center in South America each had seven launches last year.

Here is the breakdown of orbital launch attempts from spaceports around the world, with numbers in parentheses representing failed missions:

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NASA plans to ignite the most powerful rocket it's ever built on Jan. 17 according to a statement from the agency.

It will be the first firing of the Space Launch System (SLS), the long-awaited (and delayed) rocket ship that NASA plans to use for non-commercial human space flight. It's the centerpiece of NASA's Artemis program, a crewed mission to land, in language NASA frequently uses, "the first woman and next man" on the moon.

However, during this first ignition, only the liquid fuel engines at the core of the rocket will be tested, without the solid fuel boosters that will one day help carry SLS into orbit.

When the SLS core test-fires, it will become the most powerful rocket ever ignited on Earth.

At 322 feet tall (98 meters), the SLS stands a head shorter than the 363-foot (110 m) Saturn V rockets that carried astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and '70s. But this rocket is substantially more powerful, producing 15% more thrust during liftoff and ascent.

Raw power doesn't translate neatly into how much mass the rocket can carry into space.

When complete, if everything goes right, the SLS will have the capacity to carry more than 27 tons (24,000 kilograms) to the moon much more than the 24 tons (22,000 kg) the Space Shuttle hauled into low-Earth orbit, though technically less than the Saturn V carried to the moon. (However, according to Live Science sister site Space.com, less of the SLS carrying capacity will be wasted on the different rocket stages and fuel, making the SLS an overall better cargo mover.)

The test will cap off an eight-part testing program NASA has dubbed the SLS "green run."

The seventh part, successfully completed Dec. 20, 2020, showed that the rocket could be loaded with 700,000 gallons (265,000 liters) of supercooled liquid fuel and then have that fuel removed without incident.

The hot fire will take place at at NASAs Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

"During our wet dress rehearsal Green Run test, the core stage, the stage controller, and the Green Run software all performed flawlessly, and there were no leaks when the tanks were fully loaded and replenished for approximately two hours," Julie Bassler, SLS Stages manager at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said in the statement. "Data from all the tests to date has given us the confidence to proceed with the hot fire."

The test will likely be streamed on NASA's YouTube channel.

Originally published on Live Science.

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NASA will soon fire up the most powerful rocket ever built - Livescience.com

ExoCube 2 is among 10 small satellites flying aboard Virgin Orbits LauncherOne rocket that takes off under the wing of a Boeing 747 before being dropped and fired into orbit

SAN LUIS OBISPO A Cal Poly CubeSat will ride on Wednesday Jan. 13 aboard Virgin Orbits LauncherOne rocket on its second attempt to reach space.

The rocket includes nine other NASA-sponsored small satellites on the space agencys next Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) mission. This is the first payload carried by Virgin Orbits rocket that will be carried aloft under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 to an altitude of 35,000 feet, released and fired into orbit.

The mothership jet, named Cosmic Girl, will take off from Mojave Air and Space Port, which will release the two-stage LauncherOne off the coast of Southern California. The launch window is 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with additional windows throughout January if needed, the company announced.

The mission includes ExoCube 2, a satellite about the size of a loaf of bread that was built over several years by a group of about 50 multidisciplinary Cal Poly students, said advisor Pauline Faure, an aerospace engineering assistant professor in the College of Engineering.

The mission is scientific in nature, Faure said, and aims to acquire data on ions mass and density in the exosphere, the uppermost region of Earths atmosphere as it gradually fades into the vacuum of space.

To execute the mission, Faure added, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center developed a spectrometer, and the Cal Poly CubeSat Laboratory team was tasked to design, develop, manufacture, assemble and test the supporting elements of the spacecraft system structure, power system, communication, flight software, etc. The students were definitely the driver of the project execution and deserve the full credit of the incredible work they achieved.

Once Cal Polys 12th CubeSat achieves orbit, a student team will use the campus CubeSat Lab groundstation to download scientific data from the spacecraft and share it with their counterparts at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Illinois who are responsible for its interpretation.

ExoCube 2s mission is to expand knowledge of the composition and the current state of activity in the thin exosphere atmosphere, some 600 km (370 miles) above sea level. The data will be useful in better predicting space weather phenomena in order to forecast potential effects of ions on satellite communications and spacecraft performance.

The three-unit CubeSat is a relaunch of the original ExoCube, which launched in early 2015 but suffered from antenna problems. ExoCube 2 underwent a complete redesign of the antenna deployment mechanisms.

This will also be Virgin Orbits second attempt to reach orbit. The Launch Demo 2 mission was delayed from mid-December, because COVID-19 contact tracing led to a round of precautionary quarantines of the companys personnel. Quarantines meant the company had fallen below the number of staff we feel we require to prudently and safely proceed with pre-launch operations, the company said in a release.

For the past few years, Virgin Orbit has been developing and testing its unique launch system, which involves using the refitted Virgin Atlantic 747 to carry a rocket nearly 7 miles high, where the rocket is released and its engine ignites following a 4-second drop.

After an engine burn and stage separations, LauncherOne will deliver its payload to orbit, while Cosmic Girl returns to the Mojave Air and Space Port airstrip. Its the same facility where Cal Poly alumnus Burt Rutan (aerospace engineering, 65) developed and launched SpaceShipOne the worlds first privately built aircraft to reach space in 2004.

This will also be the NASAs ELaNa mission No. 20. The Educational Launch of Nanosatellites program was started ion 2010 to attract and retain students in STEM science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. Managed by the Launch Services Program at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ELaNa introduces educational spaceflight to high schools and colleges across the nation.

Cal Polys last ELaNa satellite was LEO, or Launch Environment Observer, a two-unit CubeSat that launched in June of 2019 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket Monday night from NASAs historic Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A low-cost platform for agency missions, CubeSats and other small satellites are playing a larger role in space exploration, technology demonstration, scientific research, and educational investigations at NASA. The other nine CubeSats on this mission were designed and built by seven other universities in the United States, as well as one NASA center. They include:

--PolarCube, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado--MiTEE, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan--CACTUS-1, Capitol Technology University, Laurel, Maryland--Q-PACE, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida--TechEdSat-7, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California--RadFXSat-2, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee--CAPE-3, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana--PICS (two CubeSats), Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

NASA selected and sponsored Cal Poly and the other providers through the agencys CubeSat Launch Initiative. By offering small satellite developers a relatively low-cost avenue to conduct science investigations and technology demonstrations in space, NASA gives K-12 schools, universities and nonprofit organizations hands-on flight hardware development experience.

The journey to this launch has been long and challenging, said Scott Higginbotham, ELaNa 20 mission manager. Our CubeSat developers have invested much of themselves in their spacecraft, and I know theyll all be thrilled to see them fly later this month.

Arielle Cohen Electrical engineering major Arielle Cohen works on the ExoCube 2 CubeSat scheduled for launch aboard a Virgin Orbit rocket Wednesday. Cohen graduated in 2019 and works as a digital design electronics engineer at Northrop Grumman. ExoCube 2 is Cal Polys 12thCubeSat.

Aaron Fielden Mechanical engineering graduate student Aaron Fielden works with an unidentified student outside the Cal Poly clean room during testing of the ExoCube 2 satellite, a collaboration between the university and NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center. Fielden was a project manager in 2016-17 for the ExoCube 2 satellite that is designed to characterize ion densities in the exosphere, the thin atmosphere some 370 miles above sea level. ExoCube 2 is scheduled for launch aboard Virgin Orbits LauncherOne rocket between 7 to 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

Photos courtesy of Cal Poly PolySat

In the photo at the top,Virgin Orbit teammates complete a dry run of the payload encapsulation process last August inside its Nebula payload processing facility ahead of the companys Launch Demo 2 mission. The payload has 10 small satellites, called CubeSats, including Cal Polys 12th CubeSat, ExoCube 2. Virgin Orbit is gearing up for ELaNa 20, the Jan. 13 Launch Demo 2 flight from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.

Photo courtesy of Virgin Orbit/Greg Robinson

Contact: Pat Pemberton805-235-0555;ppembert@calpoly.edu

January 11, 2021

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Cal Polys 12th CubeSat Mission Will Wing Its Way Into Space on Jan. 13 in a Novel Way - Cal Poly San Luis Obispo News