Archive for the ‘Australia’ Category
Weekly Links
Down to Earth
U.S. Vice President Pence visited NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama last week. Pence spoke to the crew onboard the ISS from the Payload Operations Center, as part of his tour.
Check out this amazing video of a Soyuz re-entry over Kazakhstan taken from onboard a nearby airplane.
NASA has announced that the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been delayed from late 2018 to early 2019.
NASA opened a new facility at the Langley Research Center named after Katherine Johnson, one of the central women profiled in the book and film Hidden Figures.
The latest crew of the HI-SEAS Mars simulation facility in Hawaii completed their 8-month mission.
In double Hawaii news this week, the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) approved the construction permit for the long-debated Thirty Meter Telescope to be built on Maunakea.
At the International Astronautical Congress, SpaceX CEO gave a 45 minute presentation updating the public on his company’s plans for future rocket designs and Mars exploration. Here is the full video of the talk:
In Orbit
Three orbital launches since my last post:
- September 28 – A Russian Proton rocket launched a communications satellite.
- September 29 – China launched a Long March 2C rocket with an unknown payload.
- September 29 – An Ariane 5 rocket launched two communications satellites.
Weekly Links
Not as much news as usual this week. To tide you over, don’t forget to check out all the tweets from the crew of the ISS from time to time! Here is a direct link to a feed of all of their tweets.
Down to Earth
Aerospace giant Northrop Grumman has purchased Orbital ATK in an enormous $9.2 billion deal.
Australia announced at the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide that they will be establishing their space agency.
https://twitter.com/exploreplanets/status/912108822663020544
In Orbit
Two orbital rocket launches since last week:
On September 22nd, a Russian Soyuz rocket launched carrying a new GLONASS navigation satellite.
On September 24th, a ULA Atlas V rocket launched from California carrying a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.
Around the Solar System
Check out this amazing image of Jupiter from NASA’s Juno probe.
NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex asteroid explorer conducted a close flyby of Earth to set up its orbital transit out to the asteroid belt, where it should reach its target next year.