October 2017 – Page 3 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX, ULA win NASA contracts to launch Earth observation satellites

October 23, 2017 Stephen Clark

NASA has selected SpaceX and United Launch Alliance to deliver to orbit a joint U.S.-European oceanography mission and the next land imaging satellite in the Landsat series on Falcon 9 and Atlas 5 rockets.

Detector trouble expected to delay ESA’s Euclid dark energy mission

October 23, 2017 Stephen Clark

Technical problems discovered during ground testing of U.S.-built detectors for the European Space Agency’s Euclid astronomy mission will delay the completion of the telescope’s scientific payload, jeopardizing the observatory’s 2020 launch target, the head of NASA’s astrophysics division said last week.

Iridium swaps two new Falcon 9 rockets for “flight-proven” boosters

October 20, 2017 Stephen Clark

Citing schedule concerns over price benefits, Iridium announced Thursday it will launch its next 20 satellites on a pair of previously-flown Falcon 9 boosters from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, beginning with a Dec. 22 mission.

Astronauts wrap up spacewalk, accomplishing all primary tasks

October 20, 2017 William Harwood

Staging NASA’s third spacewalk in 15 days, two astronauts floated outside the International Space Station Friday and installed a new high definition camera, replaced a degraded camera on a recently attached robot arm grapple fixture, finished lubricating the mechanism and carried out a variety of other “get-ahead” tasks.

NASA’s Dawn mission gears up for close look at Ceres

October 20, 2017 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft will remain at Ceres for the rest of its mission, heading closer to the asteroid belt’s largest resident than ever before to obtain new measurements of ice, salts and a tenuous intermittent atmosphere detected around the dwarf planet, the space agency announced Thursday.

World’s largest methane-fueled rocket engine test-fired by Blue Origin

October 20, 2017 Stephen Clark

Blue Origin has conducted the first hotfire test of its BE-4 rocket engine in West Texas, a powerplant fueled by liquified natural gas and liquid oxygen that will power the company’s heavy-lift New Glenn rocket and perhaps United Launch Alliance’s next-generation Vulcan launcher, officials announced Thursday.

Cassini results still keeping scientists busy

October 19, 2017 Stephen Clark

Scientists examining data from the Cassini mission’s final months reported this week unexpected measurements of Saturn’s gravity field and outer atmosphere, suggesting they may have to revisit theories about the planet’s rings and the forces that generate magnetic fields.

Neutron star collision an astronomical gold mine

October 17, 2017 William Harwood

On Aug. 17, gravity waves rippled through the solar system, slightly squeezing and stretching the space Earth occupies, the result of a catastrophic collision of two compact-but-massive neutron stars, producing a so-called “kilonova” explosion that seeded the local environment with a flood of heavy elements ranging from gold and platinum to uranium and beyond, scientists said Monday.

Photos: Converted Russian ballistic missile fires into space with satellite

October 16, 2017 Stephen Clark

A decommissioned missile originally built in Russia to deliver nuclear weapons to intercontinental targets in the United States vaulted out of a vertical canister Friday and fired into space with a European satellite to monitor global air pollution.

Progress supply ship completes space station delivery

October 16, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Russian Progress resupply freighter docked with the International Space Station on Monday, delivering fuel, food and supplies to the orbiting research lab’s six-person crew.