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Such blackouts happen, for instance, when SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule returns to Earth from the International Space Station with its complement of four astronauts. Mission controllers must wait with bated breath to be reassured that the spacecraft’s heat shield has held up and protected the crew during atmospheric re-entry. Until Starship succumbed to the intense forces of re-entry on Thursday, SpaceX used its Starlink internet satellites to relay the live video feed. The Starlink satellites are in higher orbits, and sending signals upward — away from the plasma — is easier than trying to communicate through it to antennas on the ground. Before it parachuted to the ground, its Winnebago capsule recorded a day-glow re-entry.

Persons: Varda Organizations: International, SpaceX

☆ What Is SpaceX’s Starship? It’s Really a Mars Ship.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket, which made its first flight in November 2022, holds the current record for the maximum thrust of a rocket: 8.8 million pounds. The maximum thrust of the Saturn V rocket that took NASA astronauts to the moon during the Apollo program was relatively paltry: 7.6 million pounds. An even more transformative feature of Starship is that it is designed to be entirely reusable. That means all of the really expensive pieces — like the 33 Raptor engines in the Super Heavy booster and six additional Raptors in Starship itself — will be used over and over instead of thrown away into the ocean after one flight. Starship and Super Heavy are shiny because SpaceX made them out of stainless steel, which is cheaper than using other materials like carbon composites.

Persons: Musk Organizations: Saturn, NASA, Super, Raptors, SpaceX

☆ Odysseus Moon Lander to Power Down, With Aim to Extend Time on Surface
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Odysseus is not dead yet. But it will soon be time to say, “Good night, moon lander.”Last week, Odysseus, a privately built robotic lunar lander, became the first American spacecraft to set down on the moon in more than 50 years, and the first nongovernmental effort ever to accomplish that feat. But like the Homeric Greek hero it was named after, the lander has not had an easy journey with a neat happy ending. In a news conference on Wednesday, Intuitive Machines, the Houston-based company that built Odysseus, said the spacecraft continued to operate, but that it would be put into a planned shutdown later on Wednesday. “We’ve conducted a very successful mission,” said Steve Altemus, the chief executive of Intuitive Machines.

Persons: Odysseus, “ We’ve, ”, Steve Altemus Locations: Houston

☆ Moon Lander Is Lying on Its Side but Still Functional, Officials Say
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

One day after its historic landing, the first private spacecraft on the moon is in good condition but has toppled over, the company that built it reported on Friday. The spacecraft, named Odysseus, set down in the moon’s south pole region on Thursday evening, the first U.S. vehicle to land softly on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Initially, Intuitive Machines, which built Odysseus, said that the craft had landed upright, but a subsequent analysis of data showed that it had come to rest at an angle. That means the spacecraft’s antennas are not pointed at Earth, limiting the amount of data that can be sent back and forth. Engineers at Intuitive are still trying to extract more information from the spacecraft.

Persons: Odysseus Organizations: Engineers Locations: U.S

☆ American Company’s Moon Lander Disintegrates in Earth’s Atmosphere
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-18 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A spacecraft that was headed to the surface of the moon has ended up back at Earth instead, burning up in the planet’s atmosphere on Thursday afternoon. But the spacecraft never got close to its landing destination on the near side of the moon. The main payloads on the spacecraft were from NASA, part of an effort to put experiments on the moon at a lower cost by using commercial companies. Astrobotic’s launch was the first in the program, known as Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS. NASA paid Astrobotic $108 million to transport five experiments.

Organizations: Astrobotic Technology, Pittsburgh, NASA, Payload Services

☆ Axiom Launch Shows How Government Astronauts Now Fly Commercial
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-18 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A private mission launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on Thursday. Unlike on earlier such flights, none of the passengers are wealthy space tourists paying their own way to orbit. The private astronaut mission, Ax-3, is the third for Axiom, which is also developing its own space station and making new spacesuits for NASA. In 2019, NASA opened up its part of the space station to visitors, a reversal from earlier policies. (Russia has hosted a series of space tourists on the International Space Station since 2001.)

Persons: NASA’s Organizations: International, Space, SpaceX, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, NASA Locations: Italy, Sweden, Turkey, Houston, Florida, Russia

☆ Japan Becomes the Latest Country to Land on the Moon
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-12 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Japanese robotic spacecraft successfully set down on the moon on Friday — but its solar panels were not generating power, which will cut the length of time it will be able to operate to a few hours. With this achievement, Japan is now the fifth country to send a spacecraft that made a soft landing on the moon. The spacecraft, the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, was intended to demonstrate precision landing, within a football field of a targeted destination rather than an uncertainty of miles that most landers are capable of. The technology could also be useful for future missions like those in NASA’s Artemis program . Japan is a partner in that program, which will send astronauts back to the moon in the coming years.

Persons: landers Organizations: JAXA, Smart Locations: Japan

☆ SpaceX Makes Progress in 2nd Launch of Giant Moon and Mars Rocket
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

SpaceX, Elon Musk's spaceflight company, launched its Starship rocket from the coast of South Texas on Saturday, a mammoth vehicle that could alter the future of space transportation and help NASA return astronauts to the moon. Saturday’s flight of Starship, a powerful vehicle designed to carry NASA astronauts to the moon, was not a complete success. SpaceX did not achieve the test launch’s ultimate objective — a partial trip around the world ending in a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. But the test flight, the vehicle’s second, did show that the company had fixed key issues that arose during the earlier test operation in April. All 33 engines in the vehicle’s lower booster stage fired, and the rocket made it through stage separation — when the booster falls away and the six engines of the upper stage light up to carry the vehicle to space.

Organizations: SpaceX, Elon Musk's, NASA Locations: South Texas

☆ SpaceX Is Ready for the 2nd Launch of Its Starship Moon and Mars Rocket
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

SpaceX is preparing for the second test flight of Starship, the giant rocket that is being built to carry NASA’s astronauts to the surface of the moon and Elon Musk’s ambitions to Mars. The Federal Aviation Administration granted regulatory approval for the launch on Wednesday, setting up an attempt on Friday morning. SpaceX will stream the launch live on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter that is also owned by Mr. Musk. There is a two-hour window during which SpaceX could launch. Test missions frequently lift off later in a launch window as flight managers work to assure that systems are functioning as designed.

Persons: Elon Musk’s Organizations: SpaceX, Federal Aviation Administration, Boca, Mr Locations: Boca Chica , Texas, Gulf of Mexico, Brownsville

☆ Start-Ups With Laser Beams: The Companies Trying to Ignite Fusion Energy
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In December last year, after years of trying, the National Ignition Facility, or NIF, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reported that it had finally lived up to its middle name: ignition. For the first time anywhere, a laser-induced burst of fusion produced more energy than that supplied by the incoming lasers. “We’re really excited by the NIF results,” said Kramer Akli, who manages the fusion energy sciences program at the United States Department of Energy. A decade ago, a report by the National Academy of Sciences found much to like in the energy potential of laser fusion but recommended that the United States hold off major investments until ignition was achieved. The sun generates heat and light by jamming — fusing — hydrogen atoms together into helium.

Persons: We’re, ”, Kramer Akli, arth, ould Organizations: National Ignition Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, United States Department of Energy, National Academy of Sciences Locations: United States

☆ Room-Temperature Superconductor Discovery Is Retracted
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

First discovered in 1911, superconductors can seem almost magical — they conduct electricity without resistance. Most require ultracold temperatures, and recent advances toward superconductors that function at higher temperatures require crushing pressures. A superconductor that works at everyday temperatures and pressures could find use in M.R.I. Superconductors unexpectedly became a viral topic on social networks over the summer when a different group of scientists, in South Korea, also claimed to have discovered a room-temperature superconductor, named LK-99. Even though it was published in a high-profile journal, Dr. Dias’s claim of a room-temperature superconductor did not set off euphoria like LK-99 did because many scientists in the field already regarded his work with doubt.

Persons: Dias’s, . Dias, Dias Locations: South Korea

☆ A Laser Fusion Breakthrough Gets a Bigger Burst of Energy
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

“We expected a similar yield,” Dr. Town said. The better-than-predicted result indicates that with a few tweaks, laser fusion can become markedly more efficient. “It was a little bit surprising that we did not achieve ignition on all of them,” Dr. Town said. Instead of laser energy arriving perfectly balanced to compress the hydrogen fuel capsule, a slight imbalance nudges the capsule off in one direction. “If you can couple effectively more energy to the hot spot, you should get more yield,” Dr. Town said.

Persons: “, ”, Siegfried Glenzer Organizations: TNT, Livermore, Accelerator Laboratory Locations: Menlo Park, Calif, Livermore

☆ NASA Announces New Job: U.F.O. Research Director
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A report released on Thursday by a panel convened by NASA does not attempt to provide a definitive answer to that question. Instead, it proposes a bigger role for the space agency in collecting and interpreting data on “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or U.A.P. In response, the space agency announced that it had appointed a director of U.A.P. “NASA will do this work transparently for the benefit of humanity,” Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator, said in a news release. NASA officials said that part of the reason for keeping the identity secret was the harassment and threats received by panel members during the period of the study.

Persons: ” Bill Nelson, Nicola Fox, “, ” Dr, Fox Organizations: NASA, Washington , D.C, YouTube Locations: Washington ,

☆ F.A.A. Spells Out Needed Fixes for SpaceX’s Starship Rocket
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

A Number That Sums It Up: 63 Corrective ActionsThe first Starship test flight successfully lifted off on April 20. said the 63 corrective actions described in the final investigation report included redesigns of the rocket to prevent leaks and fires and additional analysis and testing of safety systems including the flight termination system. The investigation report is not being released publicly because it includes propriety information belonging to SpaceX and also data restricted by United States export controls, the F.A.A. reviewed the SpaceX report and concurred with the company’s findings and closed the investigation. What the Last Launch Looked LikeVideo by SpaceX captured the massive rocket’s liftoff and the moment when the rocket began to tumble out of control before it blew up.

Organizations: SpaceX, Super, United Locations: of Mexico, United States

JAXA, the Japanese space agency, is gearing up to launch two very different space missions from one rocket: a new X-ray telescope that will spy on some of the hottest spots in our universe, and a small experimental robotic moon lander. The telescope is called X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM for short (pronounced like the word “chrism”). The lunar mission is called Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM. XRISM and SLIM are expected to launch from an H-IIA rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center on Sunday at 8:26 p.m. Eastern time (it will be Monday at 9:26 a.m. in Japan). JAXA is providing a livestream in both Japanese and English on the agency’s YouTube channel which started around 7:55 p.m. Eastern time.

Persons: Lander, SLIM Organizations: JAXA, Imaging, YouTube Locations: Japan

The Indian mission launched in July, taking a slower, fuel-conscious route toward the moon. Vikram out-endured its Russian counterpart, Luna-25, which launched 12 days. Luna-25 was scheduled to land on the moon on Monday in the same general vicinity as the Indian craft but crashed on Saturday following an engine malfunction. India’s recent efforts in space exploration closely mirror the country’s diplomatic push as an ambitious power on the rise. Indian officials have been advocating in favor of a multipolar world order in which New Delhi is seen as indispensable to global solutions.

Persons: Vikram, Narendra Modi’s Organizations: Soviet Union Locations: India, Russia, Soviet, New Delhi

A Russian robotic spacecraft that was headed to the lunar surface has crashed into the moon, Russia’s space agency said on Sunday, citing the results of a preliminary investigation a day after it lost contact with the vehicle. The Luna-25 lander, Russia’s first space launch to the moon’s surface since the 1970s, entered lunar orbit last Wednesday and was supposed to land as early as Monday. On Saturday afternoon Moscow time, according to Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, the spacecraft received orders to enter an orbit that would set it up for a lunar landing. But an unexplained “emergency situation” occurred, and the orbital adjustment did not occur. On Sunday, Roscosmos said that measures to find and re-establish contact with the craft had failed, and that it calculated the failure of the adjustment meant that Luna-25 had deviated from its planned orbit and “ceased its existence as a result of a collision with the lunar surface.”

Persons: Luna, Roscosmos Organizations: “ Locations: Russian, Soviet Union

☆ Days on Mars Are Getting Shorter
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For reasons unknown, the spin of Mars is speeding up. But scientists continue to sift through the four years’ worth of data it gathered, learning more about what is deep inside the red planet. In a paper published in June in the journal Nature, scientists working on the mission reported additional findings gleaned from tiny shifts in the frequencies of radio transmissions between Earth and InSight on Mars. When InSight’s location on Mars was moving toward Earth, a phenomenon known as the Doppler effect compressed the radio waves slightly, shortening the wavelength and increasing the frequency. When InSight was in motion away from the receiving antenna on Earth, the wavelength lengthened and the frequency decreased.

Persons: Mars

☆ Superconductor Scientist Faces Investigation as a Paper Is Retracted
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Many other scientists greeted the announcement with skepticism because an earlier Nature paper by Dr. Dias describing a different and less practical superconducting material had already been retracted. The university had previously conducted three preliminary inquiries into Dr. Dias’s research and decided the concerns did not warrant further scrutiny. On Tuesday, Dr. Hamlin said he was pleased that the journal had taken his concerns seriously. He said there were two additional instances of apparent data duplication in Dr. Dias’s work that he hoped would also be reviewed. One involves another Nature paper; the other is what Dr. Hamlin describes as a duplication of data in Dr. Dias’s thesis.

Persons: . Dias, James Hamlin, Dias, ”, Hamlin, Salamat, Keith V, Lawler, University of Rochester “, Dias’s Organizations: University of Florida, Adobe Illustrator, University of Rochester, University of Nevada, UNLV Locations: South Korea, Las Vegas

For the first time in nearly half a century, Russia has launched a spacecraft that is headed to the moon. On Friday morning at a spaceport in the far eastern part of Russia, a rocket lifted Luna-25, a robotic lander of moderate size, to Earth orbit. The Soyuz rocket began its flight under cloudy skies at the Vostochny launchpad. About 10 minutes into the flight, the spacecraft and a space tug propulsion unit separated from the rocket’s third stage. In about an hour, the space tug will push Luna-25 on a course to the moon.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Luna Organizations: Soyuz Locations: Russia, Ukraine

☆ LK-99 Is the Superconductor of the Summer
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Sinéad Griffin of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California had some new findings to share about a seemingly magical material that has made users of Twitter go gaga, she did not have to do much to gain a lot of attention. The unusual material, named LK-99, has been presented to the world as a superconductor that would carry electricity at room temperatures with zero resistance. On Twitter — or X, as Elon Musk has renamed it — “LK-99” has been a trending topic in recent days, and enthusiasts have hailed what they believe to be a long-sought holy grail of physics, one that would transform everyday life with new technologies to solve climate change and make levitating trains commonplace. On Monday evening, Dr. Griffin let the social media world know of her findings in a short post that contained only a link to her preliminary paper and an animated GIF of President Barack Obama dropping a microphone at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2016.

Persons: Sinéad Griffin, Lawrence, gaga, Elon Musk, Griffin, Barack Obama Organizations: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Twitter, Elon, White Locations: California

☆ NASA Seeks a Nuclear-Powered Rocket to Get to Mars in Half the Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

A Number That Sums It Up: 3 to 4 months to MarsWhat if a spacecraft could get to Mars in half the time it currently takes? Every 26 months or so, Mars and Earth are close enough for a shorter journey between the worlds. “The technical capabilities, including early safety protocols, remain viable today,” Tabitha Dodson, the DRACO project manager, said in a news briefing on Wednesday. A key difference between NERVA and DRACO is that NERVA used weapons-grade uranium for its reactors, while DRACO will use a less-enriched form of uranium. The demonstration spacecraft would most likely orbit at an altitude between 435 and 1,240 miles, Dr. Dodson said.

Persons: Agency —, NERVA, ” Tabitha Dodson, DRACO, ” Dr, Dodson, Kirk Shireman, Lockheed Martin Organizations: DARPA, Orion, NASA, Air Force, Research, Agency, Rover, Lockheed

☆ A Looming Retraction Casts a Shadow Over a Field of Physics
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A major physics journal is retracting a two-year-old scientific paper that described the transformations of a chemical compound as it was squeezed between two pieces of diamond. Such an esoteric finding — and retraction — would not typically garner much attention. But one of the leaders of this research is Ranga P. Dias, a professor in the physics and mechanical engineering departments at the University of Rochester in New York who made a much bigger scientific splash earlier this year, touting the discovery of a room-temperature superconductor. At the same time, accusations of research misconduct have swirled around Dr. Dias, and his superconductor findings remain largely unconfirmed. The retracted paper does not involve superconductivity but rather describes how a relatively mundane material, manganese sulfide, shifts its behavior from an insulator to a metal and then back to an insulator under increasing pressure.

Persons: Ranga P, Dias Organizations: University of Rochester Locations: New York

India’s first attempt at putting a robotic spacecraft on the surface of the moon three years ago ended in a crash and a crater. The mission, called Chandrayaan-3, comes amid a renewed interest in exploring the moon, but in the past decade, only China has succeeded in landing a spacecraft there in one piece. Chandrayaan-3 is the first of as many as six missions that could successfully land on the moon in the months ahead. The Indian Space Research Organization — India’s equivalent of NASA — will begin broadcasting coverage of the flight on its YouTube channel at 4:30 a.m.What is Chandrayaan-3? After the rocket carrying Chandrayaan-3 lifts off, a propulsion module will push the spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit and then allow the mission to enter orbit around the moon.

Persons: India’s, NASA — Organizations: Indian Space Research, NASA, YouTube Locations: China

☆ Scientists Have Found a Hot Spot on the Moon’s Far Side
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The rocks beneath an ancient volcano on the moon’s far side remain surprisingly warm, scientists have revealed using data from orbiting Chinese spacecraft. They point to a large slab of granite that solidified from magma in the geological plumbing beneath what is known as the Compton-Belkovich Volcanic Complex. “I would say we’re putting the nail in the coffin of this really is a volcanic feature,” said Matthew Siegler, a scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, headquartered in Tucson, Ariz., and who led the research. “But then what’s interesting is, it’s a very Earth-like volcanic feature.”The findings, which appeared last week in the journal Nature, help explain what happened long ago beneath an odd part of the moon. The study also highlights the scientific potential of data gathered by China’s space program, and how researchers in the United States have to circumvent obstacles to use that data.

Persons: Compton, ”, Matthew Siegler Organizations: Planetary Science Institute Locations: Tucson, Ariz, United States

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