After 8 years travelling across the inner Solar System, BepiColombo has switched off its ion engines.
The ESA/JAXA mission is now entering its final approach to Mercury, with key arrival steps starting in September.
🔗 https://t.co/ejSO2EKsdB
@JAXA_en@esascience@esaoperations
Quite a sight to see the progress this team has made since May 28. Wreckage recovery from start to finish was completed in 9 days, and all debris has been cleared from Launch Complex 36. Huge shoutout to the team who have been working 7x24. We have started reconstruction and still plan to fly again this year. Will have more details on the new conop soon.
Photo finish! 🏁📸
On June 14, Perseverance completed a Martian “marathon” by surpassing 26.2 miles (42.195 kilometers) of travel. The day before, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped this view of the rover and its tracks from space.
Ship 40's launch readiness testing campaign at the Massey Outpost kicked off today, with a full LOX tank, a partial CH4 load and an igniter test of the V3 Raptor engines, before the Ship was de-tanked.
By providing both propulsion for delivery and Earth communications, Blue Ring MTO dramatically simplifies requirements for orbiters and landed assets at Mars, allowing them to focus on exploration, science, and scouting rather than basic infrastructure. Next-generation high-resolution imagery, weather and dust storm monitoring, and ice mapping for fuel resources and ice science are essential for enabling human landing and advancing Mars understanding. Blue Ring MTO’s infrastructure significantly reduces the complexity, cost, and risk of these missions, enabling swarms of lower-cost, smaller missions to perform next-generation science at Mars.
Excited to announce we flew our second mission, MicroBrew-2, on @SpaceX's Starfall Demo mission yesterday!
This launch carried a payload called the Brewery Archive Space Exposure Demonstrator which held dozens of different strains of brewing yeasts, distiller’s yeasts, and wine yeasts from around the world. (Hint: we miiiight be announcing some insanely cool new products soon...👀) We also included seeds from a bunch of native Texas plants, including Bluebonnets! Next we'll analyze the yeast strains and seeds to see how they adapted to the spaceflight environment.
This was the successor to our MicroBrew-1 and OASIS missions that were performed on the International Space Station last year. In MicroBrew-1, an astronaut combined wort and yeast (the same two ingredients using in brewing beer) so we could study alcohol fermentation in microgravity. The OASIS experiment successfully grew the first-ever crops in soil in space. Humanity is still in the early days of orbital manufacturing but we aim to stay at the forefront of it!
Huge shoutout to the SpaceX team for the incredible opportunity to fly on a new vehicle. And we have some more exciting announcements coming up related to this mission so stay tuned!
Before @NASAAdmin killed the Exploration Upper Stage, the space agency was on track to pay HALF A BILLION dollars for development of a simple stage adaptor between the upper stage and Orion.
https://t.co/HAMB7FDUa9
SpaceX has just announced that they have raised $25 billion in a debt sale, according to a new SEC filing.
The proceeds will primarily be used to repay borrowings under its bridge loan facility, with the remainder going toward fees, expenses, and general corporate purposes.
SpaceX raised the $25B across five tranches of senior unsecured notes:
• $7B due 2031 at 5.350%
• $6B due 2033 at 5.650%
• $6B due 2036 at 5.875%
• $2.5B due 2046 at 6.600%
• $3.5B due 2056 at 6.650%
BREAKING: FCC grants SpaceX approval to test Starlink-to-Starlink communications in orbit.
This will allow SpaceX to test how Starlink satellites can communicate directly with each other using specific radio frequencies.
• The biggest benefit is that it could help Starlink become more independent of ground stations.
• Faster routing of internet traffic through space
• Lower latency on long-distance connections
• Better coverage over oceans, polar regions, and remote areas
• More resilient communications during disasters or ground station outages
• Stronger military, aviation, maritime, and emergency communications capabilities
A step toward a fully space-based global communications network.
ESA has announced that it plans to continue developing most of its Gateway contributions while studying how the hardware could be repurposed.
https://t.co/5TjRJJpp7n
Today’s mission includes a demo of a new vehicle that will enable affordable, routine access to the microgravity environment for scientific research and in-space manufacturing. After demonstrating controlled flight, the spacecraft will splash down in the Pacific Ocean
Blue Origin mostró una prueba de despliegue de Power Tower, un sistema que viajará a la Luna a bordo de la nave de carga Blue Moon MK1. Una vez en la superficie, la estructura se eleva unos 26m y despliega paneles solares diseñados para aprovechar la luz casi continua presente en ciertas zonas de los polos lunares, proporcionando energía para futuras operaciones y bases lunares.