August 23, 2025
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Breaking News
  • [ August 22, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB Falcon 9
  • [ August 22, 2025 ] SpaceX launches Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane to demo laser communications, quantum navigation Falcon 9
  • [ August 20, 2025 ] Launch preview: SpaceX to launch X-37B military spaceplane on Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center Falcon 9
  • [ August 20, 2025 ] Firefly Aerospace explores launching its Alpha rocket from Japan Alpha
  • [ August 17, 2025 ] SpaceX flies 24 Starlink satellites on its 100th Falcon 9 rocket launch of 2025 Falcon 9

Department of Energy

Atlas 5

Plutonium power source installed on NASA’s next Mars rover

July 22, 2020 Stephen Clark

The nuclear power generator for NASA’s Perseverance rover has been installed on the spacecraft atop an Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral, and mission managers gave a green light Wednesday to continue preparations for the rover’s July 30 launch toward Mars.

Antares Launcher

Repair equipment for particle physics experiment aboard next station cargo launch

November 1, 2019 Stephen Clark

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus supply ship set for liftoff Saturday will deliver to the International Space Station the final hardware for a series of ambitious spacewalks later this month to install a new coolant system on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a $2 billion particle physics experiment seeking the cosmic signatures of dark matter and antimatter.

News

U.S. lab generates first space-grade plutonium sample since 1980s

January 7, 2016 Stephen Clark

For the first time in nearly 30 years, the U.S. Department of Energy has produced a sample of plutonium-238, the radioactive isotope used to power deep space missions, good news for future NASA space probes heading to destinations starved of sunlight.

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News Headlines

  • SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB
    August 22, 2025
  • SpaceX launches Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane to demo laser communications, quantum navigation
    August 22, 2025
  • Launch preview: SpaceX to launch X-37B military spaceplane on Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center
    August 20, 2025
  • Firefly Aerospace explores launching its Alpha rocket from Japan
    August 20, 2025
  • SpaceX flies 24 Starlink satellites on its 100th Falcon 9 rocket launch of 2025
    August 17, 2025
  • SpaceX schedules 10th test flight for Starship, details recent setbacks
    August 16, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
    August 14, 2025
  • ULA launches Vulcan rocket on first Space Force mission
    August 13, 2025
  • Launch preview: ULA to launch first national security mission on a Vulcan rocket
    August 12, 2025
  • SpaceX launches Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites on fifth scheduled attempt
    August 10, 2025
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