All Space articles – Page 10
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NewsNASA Ikhana UAV to monitor Orion test module's descent
NASA will deploy its General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Ikhana unmanned air vehicle to survey the descent of the Lockheed Martin Orion Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1) module after its first planned 4.5h space mission that is expected to take place on 5 December.
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NewsComet update: Philae running on last scraps of battery power
Philae, the washing-machine-sized lander that the European Space Agency has successfully delivered to the surface of a comet, looks destined to complete just a fraction of its scientific agenda as it counts down the final hours before its batteries run out after an landing system malfunction left its solar panels ...
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NewsRobospace: Star moments in robotic space exploration
At the end of a week that saw the European Space Agency turn heads the world over by achieving the first-ever soft landing on a comet, we look at the most dazzling achievements in five decades of robotic space exploration.
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NewsScientific work on hold as ESA determines comet lander's condition
European Space Agency scientists have determined that their robotic lander Philae is on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, but it is not anchored as it should be and it is not sitting level. Philae, the washing machine-sized lander, may have come to rest on the steep rim of a crater ...
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NewsComet chaser peers deeper into origins of life with successful touchdown
European Space Agency scientists are attempting to determine exactly where their robotic lander Philae has come to rest on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, but have confirmed that the first-ever soft landing on a comet was a success.
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NewsSpaceShipTwo survivor unaware tail feathers unlocked
The surviving pilot of the SpaceShipTwo crash on 31 October has told investigators that he was unaware the co-pilot had unlocked a system that rotates the tail feathers of the vehicle moments before an in-flight break-up, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says.
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OpinionOPINION: Virgin Galactic crash shows that big dreams mean big risk
Tragedy has struck space tourism a most cruel blow. First, the 31 October crash of SpaceShipTwo took the life of test pilot Mike Alsbury. Then, images of the in-flight break-up cast a calamitous cloud over the industry’s biggest and most important player – the Virgin Galactic/Scaled Composites team.
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NewsEx-SpaceShipOne test pilot critical of hybrid motor in new video
Count the Ansari X-Prize-winning test pilot of SpaceShipOne, Brian Binnie, among the critics of SpaceShipTwo.
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NewsSpaceShipTwo broke up after tail feathers moved
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo telemetry data has offered a vital clue to investigators searching for the cause of the fatal 31 October crash while the wreckage appears to rule out an engine or fuel tank malfunction.
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NewsBranson hedges on SpaceShipTwo future
In his first live remarks since the Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo crash on 31 October, Richard Branson linked the future of the Virgin Galactic space tourism venture to the results of the investigation.
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NewsFew clues on cause of fatal SpaceShipTwo crash
One Scaled Composites test pilot died and another was injured severely after a powered flight of SpaceShipTwo ended in disaster near Mojave, California, for the commercial space tourism venture led by Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic on 31 October.
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NewsSpaceShipTwo crashes during powered test flight
Virgin Galactic confirms the Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo suborbital rocket crashed on 31 October during the first powered test flight in nearly 10 months.
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NewsUnforgiving void: Spaceflight tragedies remembered
A sobering week in spaceflight saw the first in-flight fatality in a commercial space programme, as Virgin Galactic lost a test pilot with the breakup of its SpaceShipTwo over the Nevada desert, along with a spectacular but non-fatal launch failure of an uncrewed International Space Station resupply mission. After that ...
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News
Lufthansa Technik adds SOFIA, zero gravity to special missions roster
Lufthansa Technik has added weightlessness and flying telescopes to the portfolio of special missions of large commercial aircraft now inducted in its overhaul or modification hangars.
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News'Stay with the Station', NASA boss urges international partners
NASA administrator Charles Bolden today called on Europe and the UK to stand behind their financial commitments to the International Space Station and work with the USA to keep it flying through 2020 and even 2024 – because the orbiting outpost is humankind’s “springboard” to Mars.
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OpinionOPINION: Will US have to look for an all-American alternative to Russian rockets?
War, as the saying goes, is the domain of chance. Business is usually more friendly to calculated manoeuvres, but when actual fighting intervenes all bets are off.
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NewsIndia triumphs with Mars arrival in busy week at red planet
India has joined a very exclusive club of spacefaring nations, with the successful arrival of its Mars Orbiter Mission. Named Mangalyaan – “Mars craft” in Sanskrit – India’s orbiter spent 300 days enroute and will now be readied for its scientific mission, to study the planet’s atmosphere and geology with ...
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Virgin Galactic 'close to reaching space'
Virgin Galactic has formally backed away from its pledge to put its first fare-paying passengers into suborbital space by the close of 2014 – but has made a very public declaration that suborbital operations from its purpose-built spaceport in New Mexico will begin in early 2015.
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NewsBoeing, SpaceX win NASA contracts for ISS space taxi
NASA has tapped Boeing’s CST-100 and SpaceX’s Falcon9/Crew Dragon spacecraft for transporting crews to the International Space Station (ISS) from 2017.
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Galileo 'on track' despite launch trouble
Europe’s bid to establish its own satellite navigation system suffered a setback with the failure of a Soyuz launcher to put into their assigned orbits the fifth and sixth spacecraft in what is to be a 30-satellite constellation. But both the European Space Agency and European Commission remain confident that ...