Tag Archives: Spacecraft

A military spacecraft launched 56 years ago was moved from its orbit – and nobody is quite sure who did it, or why. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content. In 1969 the UK launched Skynet-1A, a military communications satellite placed in orbit above the east coast of …

A fleet of sentinel spacecraft, including one with a huge solar sail, could watch out for sneaky “space tornadoes” posing a threat to Earth during solar storms, a new study suggests. The proposal says that four deep-space spacecraft, collectively called Space Weather Investigation Frontier (SWIFT), could speed up “space weather” warnings by 40%. While three spacecraft would be powered by …

The case for a newborn ocean on Saturn’s moon Mimas continues to build. Research mapping the thickness of the world’s icy crust not only provides a window for how old an existing ocean might be but also probes where the crust might be at its thinnest — the perfect spot for future missions to detect the ocean. At the same …

Science & Exploration 09/10/2025 871 views 14 likes By fitting its sunshield and solar panels, engineers have completed the construction of Plato, the European Space Agency’s mission to discover Earth-like exoplanets. Plato is on track for the final key tests to confirm that it is fit for launch. The activities to complete Plato started soon after the spacecraft arrived at …

Japan prepares new ISS cargo vehicle as trio of cargo spacecraft deliver new experiments and hardware – NASASpaceFlight.com We use cookies to ensure that we give you the …

His Lab Tested Cutting-Edge Spacecraft  The New York Times Source link

Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images For decades, NASA has increasingly leaned on corporate contractors to develop the spacecraft it uses to explore the solar system. Triumphs have included SpaceX’s Dragon vehicles, which can now reliably shuttle astronauts to the International Space Station and beyond. The widely parroted idea is that players in the free market will …

A new private spacecraft aims to help the U.S. military get key supplies where they’re needed, and fast. On Wednesday (Oct. 1), the California-based company Inversion unveiled Arc, a vehicle designed to serve as an orbital storehouse and superfast delivery system for mission-critical gear, getting it anywhere on Earth in less than an hour. “With massive cross-range to cover great …

Smile! A spacecraft just caught you — and everyone else on our planet — on camera while snapping a selfie. China’s Tianwen 2 spacecraft took a picture of itself, as well as the Earth, while en route to a mysterious asteroid. The image, released Wednesday (Oct. 1), also shows the Chinese flag on the side of the China National Space …

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A comet from another star system will swing by Mars on Friday as a fleet of spacecraft trains its sights on the interstellar visitor. The comet known as 3I/Atlas will hurtle within 18 million miles (29 million kilometers) of the red planet, its closest approach during its trek through the inner solar system. Its breakneck speed: …