Rockets from Cassiopeia

Archive for the ‘Rockets’ Category

Down to Earth

Some recent crew assignment changes for the ISS have been receiving a lot of press, including the replacement of Jeanette Epps with Serena Aunon-Chancellor for a launch this summer. NASA has not provided specific details on the reason for the change.

As of Saturday morning, the US federal government has no official funding and must shutdown many services. This shutdown affects NASA and its field centers. The specific impacts to NASA operations will become more clear if the shutdown extends into the work week on Monday morning. In the meantime, NASA will press forward with the ISS spacewalk on Tuesday.

There was a lot of talk last week about an update on the schedule for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which has slipped according to a report from the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP). There was also a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the same topic.. The reports outline a few issues that the commercial providers – SpaceX and Boeing – both need to work through before their rockets and capsules can be certified to flight NASA astronauts to the ISS. Both companies answered questions at a congressional hearing following the report on Wednesday.

SpaceX still has not conducted a static fire of the Falcon Heavy rocket on Pad 39A. They are expected to try again this coming week with a potential launch before the end of the month.

In Orbit

The following rocket launches occurred last week:

• Jan 17 – Japan launched an Epsilon rocket carrying an Earth observing satellite.
• Jan 19 – China launched a Long March 11 rocket carrying several small satellites.
• Jan 20 – ULA launched an Atlas V rocket carrying a missile warning satellite for the US government.
• Jan 21 – Rocket Lab finally reached orbit with their second rocket, Still Testing, delivering some small satellites.

Out There

A detailed study of Fast Radio Burst (FRB) 121102, one of the few repeating signals, has yielded a new hypothesis that these highly energetic events are caused by massive black holes.

NASA has demonstrated the concept of deep space navigation using neutron stars with the NICER payload onboard the ISS.

Down to Earth

Virgin Galactic conducted their first glide flight of SpaceShipTwo since last August.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy has been attempting to conduct a static fire test ahead of launch, but has scrubbed three days in a row. It has been rescheduled for Monday.

#FalconHeavy static fire update: Looks like static fire is moving to Monday with an approximate target time of 1600 EST (2100 UTC) for the opening of the test window.

— Chris G – NSF (@ChrisG_NSF) January 13, 2018

In Orbit

Launches this past week included:

• Jan 8 – SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a classified payload for the US government.
• Jan 9 – China launched a Long March 2D rocket carrying two earth-observing satellites.
• Jan 11 – China launched a Long March 3B rocket carrying two global navigation satellites.
• Jan 12 – India launched a PSLV rocket carrying an Earth observing satellite.
• Jan 12 – ULA launched a Delta IV rocket carrying a classified payload for the NRO.
• Jan 13 – China launched a Long March 2D rocket carrying a native Earth observing satellite and a satellite for Saudi Arabia (this was early this morning, so no news reports yet other than the tweet below).

Long March 2D successfully launched Land Survey Satellite 3 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center today. pic.twitter.com/jSMCTPy95Y

— CGWIC (@CGWIC) January 13, 2018

In the case of the SpaceX launch, there have been many reports from reliable journalists over the past week that the classified Zuma payload perhaps did not reach orbit. However, no official statement has yet been forthcoming.

Upcoming launches of interest include a ULA Atlas V from Florida on Jan 19, the next Rocket Lab Electron launch attempt on Jan 20, and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy test flight (possibly on Jan 25?).

On the ISS, the 13th SpaceX Dragon mission ended successfully with release and splashdown. SpaceX ships are currently retrieving the capsule to return its science samples.

ドラゴン宇宙船が、大切な貨物を積んで出発しました。
この1ヶ月は、このドラゴン宇宙船で地上から届けられたさまざまな実験に追われて大忙しでしたが、期限どおりに送り出せて、ホッと一安心です。 pic.twitter.com/L2XKjCGbAZ

— 金井 宣茂 (@Astro_Kanai) January 13, 2018

The year of 2017 will be remembered by most of my readers for reasons totally unrelated to spaceflight. It was a tumultuous year with political turmoil, social strife, acts of violence, and devastating natural disasters. Unfortunately, it is these negative stories that tend to embed themselves in our memories as we witness the arc of history unfold. Even when we zoom out to a wide angle view of decades or centuries, it is violence and conflict we remember. What were the biggest events of the 20th century? Wars, economic collapse, threats of annihilation, and social strife. I don’t have to remind you though, as a space fan, that most of the world shares at least one bright memory of the difficult last century: Apollo 11.

In a similar way, I’m hoping that through all the difficult times we face as a society in the 21st century, that spaceflight can be one of those bright spots that is a source of optimism and hope (although, surely not the only source). As Bill Nye is fond of saying “space brings out the best in us.” Spaceflight is an outlet for positive creative energy. Spaceflight applies technology in new ways, often leading to new inventions and sometimes entire industries. Spaceflight allows us to conduct important research that applies directly to the interests and concerns of everyone on Earth – from medical studies onboard the ISS to weather and climate satellites to space telescopes looking out for Near Earth Objects (NEOs).

Spaceflight is a bipartisan endeavor universally loved by young and old alike because it taps into something innate in us. Whether it’s the love of exploration and discovery or just the appeal of astronauts as wholesome hometown heroes, space has always been an easy sell to the public. Very few other uses of time and money are as generally noncontroversial (although we like to argue over specifics). There was a chance for space to get swallowed up in the political turmoil in Washington, DC this past year. Luckily, that didn’t happen. Instead, the space industry had another great year with very few setbacks.

Some readers may take issue with that statement and want to argue that it was not a great year for space. After all, NASA still has no confirmed administrator, XCOR went out of business, several programs slipped their launch dates (JWST, SLS, Orion), and Cassini ended its mission at Saturn (leaving us with a dearth of outer solar system probes). But if we look at those space programs or missions that are active and flying, we see lots of success in 2017 with few failures. The loss of Cassini should probably be spun as a positive story anyway – the planned retirement of a historic program of exploration – 13 years in Saturn orbit.

Other than the few things I listed above, the only other major setbacks of 2017 would be the five complete launch failures shown below (there were one or two other partial failures). Both Japan and New Zealand (Rocket Lab) lost rockets on their maiden launch. India, China, and Russia all lost one rocket each. The two remaining major space powers – ESA and USA – did not have any launch failures.

2017 actually had the lowest launch success rate since 2011 and yet overall it felt like a very successful year (launch success was about 93% instead of the usual 95%). A few things contribute to this being a good year for rockets. First of course, is that 2 of the failures were test launches. If you remove them from the accounting, we are back at 95%. The second big reason is that none of the other failures led to an interruption in logistical support for the ISS. From 2014 to 2016, ISS operations lost four uncrewed logistical support rockets. After a string that bad, the last 13 months of successful flights (ten missions in all) feels positively blissful.

The third, and maybe most important reason this was a great year for rockets, was that SpaceX had no failures this year. In 2015 they lost an ISS resupply mission on ascent. In 2016 their year was cut short at 8 missions when a rocket blew up on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral. The backlog of customers was looming for a long 6 months while SpaceX worked on recovering from that latest failure. Then, last January they returned to flight with a launch for Iridium and haven’t let up since. Their accomplishments include: no launch failures, a record 18 launches, a record 15 first stage recoveries, and first reuse of a first stage. The other American providers, ULA and Orbital ATK, also had good years with 8 and 3 successful launches each with no failures.

As long as we get to space with chemically propelled rockets, everything hinges on how well our rockets are flying. We can’t really do a retrospective on the year without looking at these numbers. This has always been true, but what is particularly poignant from 2017 are those 18 launches from SpaceX. That’s fully 20% of all launches. Not only that, but they flew a lot of important missions. In 2017 alone they launched four times to the ISS and at least twice for the US military. In 2018 they plan to launch several times for NASA, including to the ISS as well as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). At this point, it’s pretty clear that when SpaceX has a good year, the space industry has a good year.

In addition to the 10 successful cargo launches to the ISS this year, there were also 4 flawless crew launches to keep the record of 17 straight years of crewed operations going. NASA stepped up to 4 full-time USOS crew (which includes Japanese, Canadian, and European flyers), enabling even more research. NASA is now in full utilization mode of the ISS. Hundreds of experiments are being conducted each year – from physical science to medicine to biology to botany to astronomy – and each SpaceX Dragon brings up more externally mounted autonomous payloads such as last year’s aerosol monitoring payload (SAGE III) and a neutron star telescope (NICER), among others. The ISS has become an important platform for efficiently deploying small satellites, with dozens launched from the Japanese robotic arm last year.

The ISS looks well positioned for the future, with a healthy manifest of crew and payloads coming up as well as the exciting prospect of even larger crews, once Boeing and SpaceX successfully demonstrate flight of their new crew transportation systems. In the meantime, important maintenance has been ongoing to ensure that ISS can operate well into the 2020s. Early in the year a Japanese cargo vehicle, an HTV, brought up a new set of lithium ion batteries, the first in a series of battery replacements over the next few years that will keep the solar power flowing. The batteries were replaced in a series of 3 spacewalks last January. Ultimately, ISS astronauts would complete 10 successful spacewalks last year with no major issues.

The year in ISS was underscored by Peggy Whitson’s amazing flight. At 57 years old, Whitson now holds the record for most days in space of any American astronaut in history (665) as well as an impressive 60 hours of EVA time that puts her number 3 all time behind Anatoly Solovyev and Michael Lopez-Alegria. Peggy’s 289 day mission was almost entirely unprecedented. Not only was Whitson praised as a “space ninja” by her crew mates for her work onboard the ISS, but even made a wide impression outside of NASA and received a Woman of the Year award from Glamour Magazine. The crews aboard the ISS continue to bring the wonder of spaceflight home to us through their social media engagement and excellent educational outreach events. If you aren’t checking this link for the latest pictures from space every morning, you are missing out on a little bit of daily wonder.

The ISS is of course not the only game in town. NASA has very active planetary science and astronomy programs, not to mention similar missions from ESA, JAXA, and other agencies. 2017 saw no new launches of solar system probes (that’s right, zero) but many active missions made progress and the only “failure” being the end of Cassini. Mars is incredibly active with 8 missions. Two NASA rovers, Opportunity and Curiosity, are providing a wealth of insights into the wet history of Mars. The most exciting discoveries from those robots are likely yet to come. Two asteroid sample return missions, OSIRIS-Rex from NASA and Hayabusa 2 from JAXA, remain in interplanetary cruise phase. New Horizons is on its way to visit a Kuiper Belt Object next year, Juno remains in orbit at Jupiter, and Dawn continues to explore the largest asteroid, Ceres.

Some of these missions we heard big news from this year, such as Cassini’s analysis of the ocean plumes from icy Enceladus. We also gained a new understanding of the winds and storms of Jupiter from Juno. Not to mention the absolutely stunning images we have been treated to from JunoCam.

But overall, space exploration, especially planetary exploration, is a long game. Spacecraft take years to reach their targets and then spend sometimes months or years (at least for orbiters and rovers) slowly collecting the data they need to learn something new from our mysterious solar system neighbors. So there were no splashy launches or touchdowns in 2017. Instead, the hard work from years past continued to pay off with well built spacecraft going about their daily business. 2017 was a great year in this respect. Years like this lay the foundation for big discoveries to come; it’s just that we have to wait a bit for the papers to be published. The only real downer this year is probably that Curiosity’s drill is still out of commission.

There is of course, a lot more to cover. Spaceflight is a big industry that goes far beyond just the ISS or big planetary exploration missions. New Space, for instance, had a lot of interesting updates this year. In addition to Rocket Lab making their first launch attempt, Blue Origin demonstrated further progress on their New Shepard vehicle as well as their BE-4 engine, Virgin Orbit moved a few steps closer to their first test launch with several engine tests, and Sierra Nevada conducted their first free glide flight in several years.

Then there’s astronomy. So much is happening in astronomy these days that it deserves a lengthy retrospective all its own. Here are some highlights of last year in a quick paragraph. Many interesting exoplanets were discovered, such as the fascinating Trappist-1 system with three potentially habitable planets. But Ross 128b is my favorite potentially habitable planet, because it is less than 11 light years from Earth. Let’s go! Other exciting developments in astronomy included more neutron star collisions discovered via gravitational waves and also the fascinating cigar shaped something known as ‘Omuamua which flew through our solar system from somewhere this past October (more to come on this we hope).

As we look to the future, we can see that there is a lot to learn. The ISS has years of science to conduct – managers are furiously looking for more ways to maximize timelines and target the most likely breakthroughs. Meanwhile there are dozens of worlds here at home in our solar system yet to explore, not just with probes already launched but many to come (launches to Mars, Mercury, and the Moon in 2018). And most intriguing of all, there are thousands upon thousands of worlds to explore out there, beyond our own star.

The more we look, the more we find. And the more we find, the more questions we think to ask. This is the optimistic and worldview expanding impact of science. We are losing the explorers of the last century – Apollo legends Gene Cernan, Dick Gordon, and John Young all passed away in their 80s in the past year. But it’s hard not to see the vast opportunity available to the current generation of explorers in this century. Perhaps some day we will look back at this time period as a changing of the guard. It is hard to say without the benefit of hindsight. If nothing else, for those of us that are inspired by scientific discovery and exploration, 2017 showed us that spaceflight can be – and probably always will be – a candle in the dark.

Down to Earth

John Young – astronaut, moonwalker, space shuttle commander – died on Saturday, January 6th at 87 years old.

In Orbit

NASA installed two new external payloads on the ISS, brought up in the SpaceX Dragon: Space Debris Sensor (SDS) and Total Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS).

SpaceX will attempt the first orbital launch of the new year tonight at 8 PM ET. Follow the webcast of the launch at the link below.

Around the Solar System

NASA’s Curiosity rover has confirmed that the variation of methane in the Martian atmosphere appears to be seasonal.

Out There

Astronomer’s have some updated theories about KIC 8462852, or Tabby’s Star. Based on new analysis of recent data, the dimming of the star appears to vary by wavelength, leading researchers to place large clouds of dust at the top of their list.

New analysis of interstellar object ‘Omuamua reveals that it may be more icy than originally assumed.

Some other researchers are trying to determine ‘Omuamua’s origin. They have done some statistical analysis to show that it is likely it came from a white dwarf star system.

Looking Forward

Here is some information about what to expect in 2018 in spaceflight. For starter’s here is Universe Today’s top 2018 astronomy events.

What’s up in solar system exploration in 2018, from The Planetary Society.

NASA’s look at the year ahead:

ESA’s look at the year ahead:

Here’s my roundup of all of the year-end summaries posted by various space agencies and space reporters.

NASA’s year in review video:

ESA’s year in review video:

NASA headquarters photographers’ best images of 2017.

Space.com’s top space science stories of 2017.

Space.com’s top spaceflight stories of 2017.

Mashable’s top 5 space stories of 2017.

Parabolic Arc’s analysis of worldwide rocket launches for 2017.

Top planetary science stories of 2017, from The Planetary Society.

Or if you prefer audio, here’s The Planetary Radio’s year-end wrap-up show.

Top stargazing images of the year from EarthSky.

And for non-space context, here’s the year in pictures from around the world:

Boston Globe Year in Pictures: Part I

Boston Globe Year in Pictures: Part II

Washington Post’s year in photos

Down to Earth

Former astronaut Bruce McCandless II died at 80 years old. McCandless was selected as an astronaut in 1966 but didn’t fly until 1984 on STS-41-B. McCandless is probably best known as the first astronaut to do an untethered EVA using the MMU on that first flight. He flew again on STS-31 in 1990.

SpaceX released photos of the first Falcon Heavy rocket being readied for flight, as well as its payload.

Falcon Heavy at the Cape pic.twitter.com/hizfDVsU7X

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2017

Red Roadster for Mars!

Elon's car is ready for the maiden flight of the Falcon Heavy in January, taking a billion year elliptic Mars orbit. The cavernous carbon fiber fairing closes like a clam shell to form the bulbous nose of the Rocket. From Elon: https://t.co/ZBtF5GE7LF pic.twitter.com/lesBm62MrK

— Steve Jurvetson (@dfjsteve) December 22, 2017

The Falcon Heavy rocket was temporarily vertical on the launch pad for fit checks ahead of its January launch.

NASA completed a parachute drop test of the Orion spacecraft in Arizona. The test used only 2 of the 3 parachutes, to validate a parachute failure case.

NASA conducted a water suppression system test at launch pad 39B at KSC in preparation for SLS flights. Check out the video below:

NASA has selected two finalists for a new robotic planetary mission. The mission will either be a comet sample return or a Titan quadcopter.

The new American Girl doll will be an aspiring astronaut, with space suit and all.

In Orbit

There were five orbital rocket launches since my last post, two weeks ago:

• Dec 23 – SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg in California, carrying communications satellites for Iridium.
• Dec 23 – JAXA launched an H-IIA rocket carrying two scientific satellites.
• Dec 23 – The Chinese space agency launched a Long March 2D rocket carrying an Earth-observing payload.
• Dec 25 – The Chinese space agency launched a Long March 2C rocket carrying payloads for the Chinese military.
• Dec 26 – Roscosmos launched a Zenit rocket carrying a communications satellite for Angola.

The Anogosat-1 payload initially had a problem and lost comm with ground control. However, reports in the past day or two indicate that communications have been restored.

#Angosat-1 developer confirms restoring communications with the spacecraft, says all systems work fine. (Let's hope it stays that way). Details: https://t.co/fh44NZsfta

— Anatoly Zak (@RussianSpaceWeb) December 29, 2017

The SpaceX launch was their 18th and last of the year – in 2016 they launched only 6 rockets. The launch was just after sunset and created spectacular views from the LA metro area. The video below from a drone is one of the best examples:

Meanwhile, the Soyuz rocket that launched on December 17th arrived at ISS successfully on Wednesday. The ISS crew has now returned to a full complement of 6. One of their Christmas treats was an onboard screening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Space Station movie night, complete with “bungee cord chairs”, drink bags, and a science fiction flick! pic.twitter.com/IPZ2thI8rw

— Mark T. Vande Hei (@Astro_Sabot) December 24, 2017

Also aboard the space station, the Progress 67P freighter undocked from the ISS this week and re-entered the earth’s atmosphere, carrying trash. The freighter will be replaced by 69P in February.

Here are some more pictures from the astronauts aboard the ISS the enjoy on your holiday weekend (as always, follow them on Twitter here).

Hello Little Rock, Memphis, Jackson, New Orleans, Birmingham, Miami, and many places in between! #SpaceIsCloserThanYouThink pic.twitter.com/SdVScsxWv2

— Mark T. Vande Hei (@Astro_Sabot) December 17, 2017

Hello to Jamaica from @Space_Station! pic.twitter.com/KKg63dW3ge

— Mark T. Vande Hei (@Astro_Sabot) December 23, 2017

Фотографии моей Родины: Балаклава, Севастополь и Крымский мост. Контролирую строительство моста из Космоса. 🚀Подтверждаю, все идет по графику! 😉

The images of my Homeland from space: Balaklava, Sevastopol and the Crimean bridge. pic.twitter.com/pDqTMbotaX

— Anton Shkaplerov (@Anton_Astrey) December 28, 2017

凍てついたカナダの大地。
宇宙ステーションのロボットアーム、通称「カナダアーム２」と、その子アーム「でくスター」が、一段と映えます。 pic.twitter.com/PIjnFx6EDn

— 金井 宣茂 (@Astro_Kanai) December 29, 2017

Down to Earth

Blue Origin conducted their first New Shepard test flight in over a year. Video below.

Rocket Lab has postponed their Electron test launch to next year.

The President of the United States signed a new space policy initiative.

The USPS will be releasing a stamp featuring an image of astronaut Sally Ride.

In Orbit

Three orbital rocket launches this week:

• Dec 12 – An ESA Ariane 5 rocket carrying four Galileo navigation satellites
• Dec 15 – A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon freighter to the ISS (the first launch from pad 40 since the accident last year)
• Dec 17 – A Soyuz rocket carrying the next crew of three to the ISS: Anton Shkaplerov, Scott tingle, and Norishige Kanai

ISS operations have been very busy! The Dragon cargo arrived this morning with no issues. But before this weekend’s launches, three astronauts left ISS and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere safely. Expedition 53 has come to a close with Randy Bresnik, Paolo Nespoli, and Sergey Ryazansky coming home.

Out There

NASA announced that the Kepler Space Telescope had discovered an 8th planet in the Kepler-90 system, making it tied with our own solar system for most known planets.

Astronomers with Breakthrough Listen are pointing their radio telescope at the interstellar rock ‘Oumuamua in the off-chance it is emitting alien signals.

Down to Earth

The United Arab Emirates has begun looking for astronaut candidates for their space program.

In Orbit

It’s been a quiet week: no orbital launches since my last post, although several were planned. Here’s the packed schedule coming up*:

• Dec 10 – Chinese launch of a communications satellite for Algeria (this occurred successfully this morning)
• Dec 11 – Rocket Lab test launch in New Zealand
• Dec 12 – SpaceX launch to ISS
• Dec 12 – ESA nav sat launch from French Guiana
• Dec 17 – Three astronauts launch to ISS from Kazakhstan

The Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo craft departed the ISS last week.

Godspeed S.S. Gene Cernan #Cygnus #OA8, thank you everyone @OrbitalATK for a stellar mission. pic.twitter.com/eZu3Sgsf9j

— Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) December 6, 2017

Cygnus will remain in orbit until December 18th, giving it enough time to deploy a payload of cubesats.

Speaking of cubesats, a JPL-built cubesat was deployed from the ISS to prove that valuable astronomy can be done in a small orbital package.

The astronauts on the ISS have been taking some incredible pictures of the fires in Southern California:

#Fires in Southern #California…The smoke plume from the California wildfires as seen from the International Space Station. pic.twitter.com/sP40CO3tIl

— Сергей Рязанский (@SergeyISS) December 7, 2017

Today’s pass over SoCal unfortunately doesn’t look any better. The fires east of Camp Pendleton and in Baja are visible as well. #CaliforniaWildfires pic.twitter.com/khM9TK1u0F

— Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) December 7, 2017

Some new photos of forest #fires in Southern #California… pic.twitter.com/fb8qKZE2Sj

— Сергей Рязанский (@SergeyISS) December 8, 2017

From @Space_Station it looks like the winds have shifted and hopefully dying down, nice to see Point Mugu and Oxnard again, hopefully Ventura soon. #CaliforniaWildfires pic.twitter.com/7qN8u1M0Q6

— Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) December 8, 2017

Around the Solar System

Spring is coming to the northern hemisphere on Mars and Opportunity has survived another winter – nearly 14 years after landing.

The New Horizons spacecraft completed a course correction burn as it continues on its way to Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69.

Out There

Astronomers have confirmed an exoplanet system containing K2-18b and K2-18c, both large potentailly habitable rocky worlds orbiting a red dwarf star. Phil Plait has an interesting observation about what this news means for our perspective about our own solar system.

*Best references for upcoming launches are LaunchLibrary.net or 2017 in Spaceflight on Wikipedia

Down to Earth

In a spectacularly successful PR move last Friday, Elon Musk posted some provocative tweets (copied below) about the upcoming Falcon Heavy debut. The launch is hoped to be sometime in early 2018. The question the tweets seem to answer is where will the rocket go and what will it be carrying. The answer? Apparently a car – a Tesla Roadster. Apparently he is serious about it too.

Falcon Heavy to launch next month from Apollo 11 pad at the Cape. Will have double thrust of next largest rocket. Guaranteed to be exciting, one way or another.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2017

Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity. Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2017

The James Webb Space Telescope has finished up vacuum testing at Johnson Space Center and has recently come out of the vacuum chamber. It will be transported back to California for final processing before shipping to the launch site.

In Orbit

Here’s a quick summary of the rocket launch attempts of the last week (two successful, one failure):

• November 28 – A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying several satellites failed to reach orbit due to an apparent programming error
• December 2 – A Russian Soyuz rocket successfully placed a military satellite into orbit
• December 3 – A Chinese Long March 2D rocket successfully launched an Earth observing payload

In upcoming launches, two much anticipated attempts. On December 8th, Rocket Lab will attempt its second test flight from New Zealand while SpaceX will send another Dragon spacecraft on the way to ISS.

Out There

The Voyager 1 spacecraft fired up its backup attitude control thrusters for the first time in 37 years. NASA engineers wanted to checkout this extra set of thrusters to help determine how long the spacecraft can stay operational. It requires fine pointing with thrusters in order to communicate with home.

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has detected another black hole merger. This one was the lowest mass pair detected so far.

Down to Earth

NASA is working on an experimental compact nuclear reactor for use on larger Mars missions.

Check out this list of space books for kids and add some to your Christmas shopping list!

In Orbit

The only orbital rocket launches of the last week were from China. CNSA launched a Long March 6 rocket on November 21 carrying several Earth-observing satellites. Then on November 24 they launched a Long March 2C rocket carrying several reconnaissance satellites.

If you’re wondering about the next launch from US soil, it’s a planned SpaceX Dragon cargo resupply to the ISS, launching from Florida on December 4th. That launch will be the first NASA mission to use a “flight-proven” first stage booster.

One of the experiments onboard the Dragon spacecraft will be a package of barley seeds from Anheuser-Busch.

Around the Solar System

A new study finds that the Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL) on Mars may not be such good evidence for contemporary liquid water.

Because it’s just so darn beautiful, check out this full color mosaic of Saturn from Cassini (captured 2 days before Cassini’s demise).

Out There

NASA has announced some of the details of the early observing campaign of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), covering the first 5 months of its mission. Yes, exoplanets are included!