2017 – Page 15 – Spaceflight Now

Israel’s Spacecom books launch with SpaceX using pre-paid Amos 6 credits

October 26, 2017 Stephen Clark

The Israeli satellite operator Spacecom has tapped a Falcon 9 rocket to deliver its next geostationary communications satellite to orbit in 2019 using approximately $50 million in credits the company paid SpaceX for a mission last year that ended in an explosion on the launch pad.

Live coverage: SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 moved to launch pad for hotfire test

October 26, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX launch crews rolled out the company’s next Falcon 9 rocket to pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, then lifted the two-stage launcher vertical for a hold-down engine firing Thursday in preparation for launch next week with a South Korean-owned commercial communications satellite.

Live coverage: SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket test-fired in Florida

October 26, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX launch crews rolled out the company’s next Falcon 9 rocket to pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, then lifted the two-stage launcher vertical for a hold-down engine firing Thursday in preparation for launch next week with a South Korean-owned commercial communications satellite.

Engineers hopeful Mars rover’s drill can return to service

October 25, 2017 Stephen Clark

Engineers have started testing a new way to use the Curiosity rover’s drill to bore into Martian rocks after a motor in the device stalled late last year, but ground teams are still months away from the first chance to resume drilling operations.

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.