Orbital manufacturing startup Varda Space Industries is moving fast. Only a few weeks after announcing a $42 million Series A, Varda has signed a deal with launch company Rocket Lab for three Photon spacecraft to support the startup’s initial missions. The first spacecraft will be delivered in the first quarter of 2023, with the second […]
Feds dismantle Blue Origin and Dynetics protests of NASA’s SpaceX lunar lander award
Blue Origin and Dynetics are still steaming over NASA’s decision to award only one contract — to SpaceX — to build a Human Landing System for the Artemis program. Their protest of the decision was recently rejected, and now the Government Accountability Office’s arguments, which Blue Origin publicly questioned, are available for all to read. […]
SpaceX to acquire satellite connectivity startup Swarm Technologies
SpaceX will be acquiring satellite connectivity startup Swarm Technologies, the first such deal for the 19-year-old space company headed by Elon Musk. Swarm operates a constellation of 120 sandwich-sized satellites as well as a ground station network. The deal would transfer control of Swarm’s ground and space licenses to SpaceX, in addition to any licenses […]
Dark matter: one last push to crack the biggest secret in the universe
Scientists are pinning hopes on elaborate detectors to track the elusive material that holds galaxies togetherDeep underground, scientists are closing in on one of the most elusive targets of modern science: dark matter. In subterranean laboratories in…
木星大気の異常高温の原因がオーロラであることを示す研究結果
aruto250 曰く、JAXAのジェームズ・オダナヒュー氏が主導する研究で、木星大気の高温状態を説明すると考えられる原因が特定された(JAXA の記事、
論文、
動画)。
木星の高層大気の平均温度は太陽光の入射量を基に推定すると約 200 K (-73 ℃) となるところ、観測される実際の温度は約 700 K (420 ℃)と大きな差異があり長年の謎となっていた。研究チームは木星高層大気の全球温度マップを最高分解能で作成することにより、木星大気の異常高温をもたらす熱源が強力なオーロラであると示す…
Virgin Galactic Says Trips To Space Aboard Its Rocket Plane Will Start At $450,000 Per Seat
After a successful sub-orbital test flight last month, Virgin Galactic re-opened ticket sales for rides to space starting at $450,000 per seat. CBS News reports: But Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic, said fully commercial flights are not expe…
科学とスピリチュアリティで火星に生命を探す：NASAの地球生物学者にして聖職者パメラ・コンラッドに訊く
人類は火星で生命を見たときに、それを生命として認識できるのだろうか？── そう問うのはNASAの火星探査車パーサヴィアランスのミッションに参加する地球生物学者にして聖職者でもあるパメラ・コンラッドだ。科学的な手法と神学的な洞察を用いることは、火星における有機物、生命、あるいは「聖霊」の発見にいかにつながるのか？ 人類が築き上げた科学と宗教というふたつの世界を橋渡しする彼女へのインタヴュー。
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$100M donation powers decade-long moonshot to create solar satellites that beam power to Earth
It sounds like a plan concocted by a supervillain, if that villain’s dastardly end was to provide cheap, clean power all over the world: launch a set of three-kilometer-wide solar arrays that beam the sun’s energy to the surface. Even the price tag seems gleaned from pop fiction: one hundred million dollars. But this is […]
Musk: ‘Dream Come True’ To See Fully Stacked SpaceX Starship Rocket During Prep for Orbital Launch
Elon Musk’s SpaceX stacked a Starship prototype rocket on top of a Super Heavy rocket booster for the first time on Friday morning, giving a look at the scale of the combined nearly 400-foot-tall vehicle. From a report: Musk, asked by CNBC what he thou…
SpaceX stacks the full Starship launch system for the first time, standing nearly 400 feet tall
SpaceX has achieved another major milestone in its Starship fully reusable launch system: It stacked the Starship spacecraft itself on top of a prototype of its Super Heavy booster, which itself is loaded up with a full complement of 29 Raptor rocket engines, and the Starship on top has six itself. The stacked spacecraft now […]