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☆ 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

☆ Moon Landing The Spacecraft Odysseus Prepares for Its Shot at the Moon
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

And whatever happens during Thursday’s landing attempt, expect more companies to race toward the moon in the years ahead. NASA is looking to send astronauts to the moon in the coming years, and robotic spacecraft will go there first. For NASA, buying rides on private spacecraft to take instruments and equipment to the moon is cheaper than building its own vehicles. Some of the companies that NASA had selected to bid for CLPS missions have already gone out of business. Among other ambitious business ideas: mining the moon for helium-3 for future fusion power plants on Earth.

Persons: Peregrine Organizations: NASA, Payload Services, International Space

☆ A U.S.-Built Spacecraft Lands on the Moon for the First Time Since 1972
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

For the first time in a half-century, an American-built spacecraft has landed on the moon. The robotic lander was the first U.S. vehicle on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, the closing chapter in humanity’s astonishing achievement of sending people to the moon and bringing them all back alive. The lander, named Odysseus and a bit bigger than a telephone booth, arrived in the south polar region of the moon at 6:23 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday. The landing time came and went in silence as flight controllers waited to hear confirmation of success. Then Tim Crain, the chief technology officer of Intuitive Machines, the Houston-based company that built Odysseus, reported that a faint signal from the spacecraft had been detected.

Persons: Odysseus, Tim Crain Locations: American, U.S, Houston

☆ U.S. Moon Landing: How to Watch and What to Know
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Wednesday morning, a robotic lunar lander launched by a Houston company got closer to reaching the moon. If all goes well, it will become the first private spacecraft ever to make a soft landing there and the first American mission to arrive there since Apollo 17 in 1972. When is the landing and how can I watch it? Although it is a private mission, the main customer is NASA, which paid $118 million for the delivery of six instruments to the moon. NASA TV will stream coverage of the landing beginning at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday.

Persons: Odysseus Organizations: Houston, NASA

☆ Jeff Bezos’s Big Rocket Moves Into View and Closer to Launch
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

There’s an easy knock against the space dreams of Jeff Bezos and his rocket company, Blue Origin: In its 24th year of existence, the company has yet to launch a single thing to orbit. Blue Origin’s accomplishments to date are modest — a small vehicle known as New Shepard that takes space tourists and experiments on brief suborbital jaunts. By contrast, SpaceX, the rocket company started by the other high-profile space billionaire, Elon Musk, today dominates the launch market. On Wednesday, Blue Origin hopes to change the narrative, holding a coming-out party of sorts for its new big rocket. The rocket, as tall as a 32-story building, lay horizontally on the trusses of a mobile launch platform.

Persons: Jeff Bezos, New Shepard, Elon Musk Organizations: SpaceX, Cape Canaveral Space Force Locations: Florida

☆ A Spacecraft Named Odysseus Prepares to Launch to the Moon, Again
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A robotic lunar lander is scheduled to launch in the early morning hours of Thursday, one day after a technical glitch postponed the first launch attempt. It is also the latest private effort to send spacecraft to the moon. But the company in charge of the latest effort, Intuitive Machines of Houston, is optimistic. “I feel fairly confident that we’re going to be successful softly touching down on the moon,” said Stephen Altemus, the president and chief executive of Intuitive Machines. We’ve tested and tested and tested.

Persons: ”, Stephen Altemus, We’ve Organizations: Houston

☆ It Started as Winter Break. It Ended With a Doomed Moon Mission.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A gaggle of students from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh traveled to Florida last month during their winter break. The students, many of them studying to be engineers and scientists, went there to watch a rocket launch that would send a small 4.8-pound robotic rover that they had helped build on its journey to the moon. Afterward, they hoped to have time for some sun and fun, renting a large house just three blocks from the beach. The rover, named Iris, headed toward the moon on schedule in a perfect inaugural flight of Vulcan, a brand-new rocket. “We had a mission,” said Connor Colombo, the chief engineer for Iris.

Persons: ”, Nikolai Stefanov, Iris, “, Connor Colombo, I’m Organizations: Carnegie Mellon University Locations: Pittsburgh, Florida

☆ Ingenuity, the NASA Helicopter Flying Over Mars, Ends Its Mission
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ingenuity, the little Mars helicopter that could, can’t anymore. At least one rotor broke during the robotic flying machine’s most recent flight last week, NASA officials announced on Thursday. Ingenuity remains in contact with its companion, the Perseverance rover, which has been exploring a dried-up riverbed for signs of extinct Martian life. Ingenuity arrived on Mars in the undercarriage of the Perseverance rover in February 2021. “They can rely on what we’ve accomplished,” Theodore Tzanetos, the Ingenuity project manager, said in a news conference on Thursday evening.

Persons: ‘, ” Bill Nelson, ” Theodore Tzanetos, ” Organizations: NASA Locations: Mars

☆ 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 Starship Launch Elon Musk’s Giant Moon and Mars Rocket Fuels Up for Its 2nd Launch
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Kenneth Chang | Michael Roston | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

“There are really a tremendous number of changes between the last Starship flight and this one,” Mr. Musk said. With hot staging, Starship’s upper-stage engines will ignite while the booster is still attached and some of the booster engines are still firing. Hot staging, which is commonly used on Russian rockets, could improve the performance of Starship by 10 percent, Mr. Musk said. Hot staging also “results in kind of blasting the booster,” Mr. Musk said. “We don’t know with accuracy what the most important thing is, because we’ve not yet reached orbit,” Mr. Musk said.

Persons: ” Elon Musk, Musk, ”, Mr, “ It’s, ” Mr, we’ve Organizations: SpaceX, Twitter, Federal Aviation Administration

☆ 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

Last week, India landed its spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 on the moon, becoming the first country to land such a craft near the south pole, where scientists believe vital reserves of water could be found frozen. The landing also revealed just how much the international space race has changed. Kenneth Chang, a science reporter for The Times, explains why a new set of players are dominating the space race and what is motivating their groundbreaking missions to the moon.

Persons: Kenneth Chang Organizations: The Times Locations: India

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

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