plan

Here’s the launch plan for NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions: ‘Liftoff is just the beginning’

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A conical spacecraft on top of other metal material. The two look to be attached and there are two giant white pieces of the capsule on either side of the payload, ready to close.

After more than a week of delays, two new NASA missions have been cleared for liftoff tonight (March 8). The space agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions, which are sharing a ride aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, are scheduled to lift off no earlier than 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) tonight from Launch Complex … Read more

Risks with current Artemis 3 moon landing plan ‘may be too high,’ NASA safety group says

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An astronaut in bulky white space suite kneels on the dark grey surface of the moon with a black sky above her.

An annual safety report to NASA has both praise for the agency and also underscores a number of cautionary woes, including the space agency’s undertaking of the Artemis back-to-the-moon with humans campaign. The annual report from the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) has been released. The report observes that NASA has made impressive progress. Challenges … Read more

Lightsails, and the audacious plan to reach the stars

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In recent decades, technological advances have opened up the possibility of light-powered space travel at a significant fraction of light speed. This involves a ground-based light beamer pushing ultra-light nanocrafts – miniature space probes attached to lightsails – to speeds of up to 100 million miles an hour (160 million kph). Such a system would … Read more