After a 25½ day journey to the Moon and back, NASA’s Artemis I mission Orion spacecraft successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California, at 1740 GMT on 11 December. In doing so, it tested out the guidance and thermal protection systems...
Having previously lost the original Human Landing System (HLS) contract to SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has announced a new “National Team” to build a second lunar lander. in the new “National Team” Boeing replaces Northrop Grumman....
The Canadian space start-up firm STELLS has announced that it is working on a rover to go to the Moon. The rover is called Mobile Power Rover-1 (MPR-1) which will be battery powered with its power recharged by solar arrays. The rover has also the ability to recharge...
Despite a feeling that Europe has been “left behind” in the race between China and the US – especially by firms such as SpaceX – it was nonetheless surprising in these difficult economic times that European nations managed to raise ESA’s budget by 17 per cent,...
After a series of delays, including one caused by Hurricane Nicole, Artemis I’s Orion spacecraft finally lifted off from Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, USA. The SLS (Space Launch System) rocket was launched at 0647 GMT on 16 November with its...
NASA’s CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) mission achieved its main objective when the 12U CubeSat spacecraft made a braking burn to enter a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) around the Moon. It completed...
