... and here's a decent written precis of it from NASA spaceflight.com, and another from Ars Technica, for those of you who prefer.
Sunday, 29 September 2019
Here's Elon Musk's Starship rocket update in full
... and here's a decent written precis of it from NASA spaceflight.com, and another from Ars Technica, for those of you who prefer.
Saturday, 28 September 2019
Space commercialisation, SpaceX's new rocket gets assembled, a prototype space gun being fired, and lots more...
Pick o' the podcasts
From the video store
Watch SpaceX's newest rocket prototype get assembled (it's freaking massive), before Elon Musks's big announcement tonight.
Huge meteor streaks across London skies
First United Arab Emirates astronaut lifts off
Japan launches cargo ship to the ISS
...and an explanation of how their payloads will survive the G forces...
Music inspired by space, incorporating 'sounds' from space...
Reading material
Friday, 20 September 2019
Brad Pitt interviews an ISS astronaut, commercial payloads to the Moon, and artificial gravity for SpaceX missions?
Pick o' the podcasts
From the video store:
Pegasus XL launches with CYGNSS satellite
Brad Pitt interviews astronaut Nick Hague... on the International Space Station:
Reading material:
Friday, 13 September 2019
A new interstellar comet, Bigelow aerospace shows off a new space station, and what happened to Apollo?
Guardian weekly science podcast: How to find life in space
Time to eat the dogs podcast: The expedition that tested Einstein's theory
Main engine cutoff: SpaceX and their smallsat program
Why did the Indian 'Vikram' lunar lander land so hard?
Universe today's weekly space hangout:
Universe today's weekly space hangout:
An eye on Neptune:
Reading material
Sunday, 8 September 2019
An update on India's lunar lander...
Update on the update: The (fairly reliable) word is that the Vikram lander has been located, and is in one piece - but is tilted on its side. The landing will undoubtedly have been hard, but wasn't a crash - or at least not enough of one to split the lander into fragments. That still potentially leaves Vikram far from 'intact' as some translations have it. Being optimistic, while the lander stands a chance of being operational, it being on one side may still prevent it getting the antenna angle it needs to communicate with Earth or the orbiter. On another note, a lot of fake twitter accounts and false images have confused the story here - 'The Quint' gives a brief breakdown of that here.
Sources:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/isro-not-losing-hope-continues-to-make-all-out-efforts-to-restore-link-with-lander-vikram/articleshow/71045854.cms
https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/chandrayaan-2-lander-vikram-intact-moon-isro-says-not-confirmed-1597265-2019-09-09
https://www.thequint.com/news/webqoof/fake-thermal-images-of-vikram-lander
https://twitter.com/isro/status/1170993695950172160
***
On Saturday India's Chandrayaan 2 lunar mission - consisting of an orbiter and a lander named Vikram, - attempted to land on the Lunar surface near the south pole. It's mission is/was to help learn about the amount and types of ices frozen into the soil … but, despite everything about the lander's descent looking good for most of the way down, contact with Vikram failed about 2km above the lunar surface.
The assumption has been that the lander is lost, smashed on the lunar surface.
However, the rumour mill has been grinding overtime today: The tale is that ISRO, the Indian space agency, has located Vikram intact - or at least something like intact - on the lunar surface. The lander does have a certain amount of autonomy, in that it can carry out pre-programmed commands without direct instruction from Earth. It's possible it could have continued to struggle for a landing after (for whatever reason) it lost contact with Earth, and partly or even wholly succeeded. Some claims of the lander being located seem to have been thoroughly debunked, but a more robust claim (and another here) has come from a reputable Indian news agencies: The lander has been located using the orbiter, appears to be in one piece (let's be clear: that's not the same as undamaged), and ISRO are attempting to contact it.
Now, until we get official word, all the above could just be rumour. But it seems that this story may not be played out yet, so keep watching...
Saturday, 7 September 2019
Martian helicopters, self assembling spacecraft, and India looses half its Moon mission....
Pick o' the podcasts
From the video store:
Contact with India's Moon lander lost just above the lunar surface - English segment starts around 12 minutes
MASCOT mini rover's tumbling descent to the asteroid Ryugu
New Star Wars trailer:
Reading material:
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