by David Todd | Sep 9, 2019 | exploration, India, Science, Seradata News, Technology
Controllers at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) were licking their wounds after its unmanned landing attempt on the Moon ended in failure – and with India’s Prime Minister Modi looking on. Having journeyed to the Moon in a long-winded transfer...
by David Todd | Aug 14, 2019 | ESA, exploration, Russia, Satellites, Science
The complicated multi-parachute landing system for the European Space Agency’s ExoMars landing mission in 2020 is under scrutiny after it failed a second test. The test on 5 August, of the large 35 m diameter subsonic main parachute was deemed a failure. It...
by David Todd | Jul 25, 2019 | History, Military space, Science
While NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine appeared to have his own mini-version earlier in the month, the newly appointed UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has similarly been accused of having a “Night of the Long Knives” purge of his cabinet in a...
by David Todd | Jul 22, 2019 | exploration, India, Launches, Satellites, Science
India’s second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 was launched at 0913 GMT on 22 July 2019, from the Sriharikota launch site. The initial plan was to place the spacecraft into a low Earth orbit. From here it will slowly raise its orbit and then be injected into a...
by David Todd | Jul 15, 2019 | ESA, Russia, Science, Seradata News
The Spektr-Rontgen-Gamma X-ray astronomy observatory, better known as Spektr-RG, was launched at 1230 GMT on 13 July 2019, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam in Kazakstan. The first burn of the Block DM-03 upper stage placed it and Spektr-RG into an initial...
by David Todd | Jul 9, 2019 | Launches, NASA, Satellites, Science
NASA has formally awarded a contract for the launch of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission. This will take place on a Falcon 9 rocket flying from the Kennedy Space Centre on April 2021. The launch will use a preflown reusable first stage. The...
