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NASA Delays Launch of its Next Mars Rover

Launch of next Mars rover slips to July 30 as planetary launch window extended.

NASA is pushing back the launch of its next Mars rover, called Perseverance, by a week, due to a problem with the rocket.  An Atlas 5 rocket is going to send the spacecraft to the Red Planet. However, due to possible trouble with an oxygen sensor NASA and United Launch Alliance are prompted to delay the launch to no earlier than July 30, the space agency announced Tuesday. The agency’s $2.4 billion Perseverance Mars rover is scheduled to launch from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Set for Sunday Now Delayed

SpaceX postpones Falcon 9 launch to conduct nose cone checks.

SpaceX has delayed its weekend launch of the Spanish communications satellite Hispasat 30W-6 to allow time for extra tests on the Falcon 9 rocket.

The Falcon 9 was scheduled to launch the satellite Sunday (Feb. 25) at 12:35 a.m. EST (0535 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. But on Saturday, SpaceX said it needed extra time to test the rocket’s payload fairing, the nose cone that protects satellites during flight. A new launch date has not been officially announced yet.

A SpaceX spokesman said they will try to land the rocket on their “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Continue reading “SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Set for Sunday Now Delayed”

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SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch Successful. Boosters Land

SpaceX finally blasted off the Falcon Heavy from Florida’s Space Coast in a historic launch.

The Falcon Heavy sent a next-generation, heavy-lift rocket toward space from Cape Canaveral Tuesday afternoon.

The three rocket boosters fired up and sent the craft into the sky at 3:45 p.m., about 2 hours and 15 minutes after the company had originally planned.

 

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SpaceX to Launch Korean Satellite on Monday

SpaceX is getting ready to launch a Koreasat 5A into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket.
The 2-hour, 24-minute launch window for the South Korean communications satellite opens at 3:34 p.m. This is the 16th flight that the Hawthorne, California-based company will perform in 2017.
If the liftoff from seaside Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral goes off without a hitch, it will mark the third time this month that SpaceX launches a rocket, twice from Florida.
According to the 45th Weather Squadron, which is based at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the probability of weather causing a delay is almost nonexistent with less than a 10 percent chance of violating mission rules and primary concern for strong winds at liftoff. Continue reading “SpaceX to Launch Korean Satellite on Monday”

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NASA Tests to Rumble Space Coast in August

NASA’s research to advance supersonic flight will produce loud booms along Canaveral National Seashore on Space Coast. Residents near the area around Kennedy and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station could hear more than 30 booms during flights next month, NASA officials said Monday.
Researchers from Langley Research Center in Virginia and Armstrong Flight Research Center, NASA’s primary center for atmospheric flight research and operations, are planning to conduct a series of tests. The two-week investigation is starting in August at Kennedy Space Center. The tests are part of the Sonic Booms in Atmospheric Turbulence flights, called SonicBAT. They will help researchers understand how atmospheric turbulence affects the sonic booms residents hear when aircraft fly faster than the speed of sound. Continue reading “NASA Tests to Rumble Space Coast in August”

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SpaceX Launches Once-Used Cargo Spacecraft

The company is making history again- for the first time, SpaceX reuses one of its Dragon cargo capsules.
This evening, SpaceX is launching another one of its Falcon 9 rockets. It is the 100th launch from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida and the spacecraft is sending cargo and supplies to the International Space Station for NASA.
However, this will be the first time that SpaceX will send a once-used cargo spacecraft. The Dragon cargo capsule launching tonight was first used to deliver supplies to the International Space Station in 2014. The Dragon stayed about a month at the station then landed with the help of parachutes in the Pacific Ocean. Afterward, it was inspected and refurbished by Space X. A few components have been swapped out, mostly those that came in contact with sea water when the spacecraft splashed down into the ocean. Moreover, a new heat shield was added.
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The Kennedy Space Center May Soon Be Underwater

571px-Spaceship_one2NASA’s Kennedy Space Center could soon be under water due to global warming.
Sea levels are rising and the multi-billion dollar complex is already seeing the effects of climate change. It appears, the land under the center is slowly sinking into the ocean. The Space Center in Florida may have to abandon some of its launchpads and facilities within a decade.
NASA partnering with the U.S. Geological Survey has been doing research on erosion happening along a 6-mile stretch of beach between the iconic launch pads 39A and 39B which have been used for the Apollo missions to the moon and many space shuttle flights.
The majority of NASA’s facilities are located at the edge of the sea for logistical reasons. If failures happened, they would be less dangerous to the public when launching rockets or testing spacecrafts over water. Continue reading “The Kennedy Space Center May Soon Be Underwater”

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SpaceX to Launch Facebook’s Internet Satellite This Week

800px-Launch_pad_40_ready_for_Falcon_9_rocketFacebook’s first satellite, which would beam Internet service from space is scheduled to blast into orbit from Cape Canaveral September 3.

Facebook’s first satellite which aims to beam Internet service from Space to rural parts of sub-Saharan Africa is scheduled to blast off September 3 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The spacecraft will be launched by Space X, Elon Musk’s space launch company. Continue reading “SpaceX to Launch Facebook’s Internet Satellite This Week”