Category: Tech

SpaceX created a record in U.S. commercial space launch after launching a hat-trick of Falcon 9 rockets in just over 36 hours from California and Florida. The incredible spaceflight triple-header launches were carried out from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Space Force Station and placed communications, military, and Starlink satellites into orbit. According to a report from Space.com, the three launches in just 36 hours, makes it the quickest sequence of triple missions by any commercial launch company in history.

On Friday, June 17, SpaceX launched 53 of its Starlink internet satellites from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and kicked a radar satellite from Vandenberg Space station in California for the German military on Saturday (June 18).

The pace at which SpaceX has made launches in 2022, even before the triple launches, is remarkable. Sunday morning’s takeover was the company’s 26th this year, with over six months still to go.

The success of SpaceX has given a reason for excitement to space enthusiasts. It was in 2015 when the first Falcon 9 core made a successful landing, and now in just seven years, SpaceX has achieved three separate launches and retrieved boosters on land and at sea. That makes it commendable for a company that, not too long ago, was related mainly to unsuccessful rocket launches.

US space agency NASA will launch three research rockets into space from a remote Australian private space port for scientific research. This will be NASA’s first blast off from a non-American commercial space port and first from Australia since 1995.

The rockets will be launched from the Arnhem Space Center, near the mining town of Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory, between June 26 and July 12, said NASA and Equatorial Launch Australia, the owner of the launch pad.

The aim of the mission is to investigate heliophysics, astrophysics, and planetary science phenomena which are observable only from the southern hemisphere.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived in Darwin after a short visit to Indonesia on Wednesday night and will announce the rocket launch with the NT Chief Minister, Natasha Fyles, on Thursday. Albanese stated that this project would bring together the global and indigenous industries to take Australia’s space sector into new beginnings. He added that “This is a really exciting project” and is not just about the rocket launch but also about signaling a message to the next generation Australians and, indeed, Australians of any age, to understand how important science is for Australia’s future.

India placed its first order for indigenous air to air missiles worth Rs. 2,971 crore. The move was taken to cut the dependency on Russia by giving its fighter jets a fighting edge that lacked during the Balakot air engagements with Pakistan.

The order was signed with Bharat Dynamics Limited for ASTRA MK-I Beyond Visual Range (BVR) and Air to Air Missile (AAM) for an undisclosed number of missiles. They will be fitted in the Su 20 MKI fighter jets of the Indian Air Force and the naval MiG 29/KUB carrier-borne combat aircraft.

The Astra MK1 developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and outranges the current set of Russian-origin air-to-air missiles, which were used by the air force and were missing in the Balakot airstrikes in 2019.

The missiles developed by DRDO will have a range of over 100km allowing the air force more time to respond to threats from the other side of the border. In the future, these missiles are expected to gradually replace all Russian imports of long-range air-to-air missiles, and further variants are being designed that will extend their target range beyond 200 kilometers.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured images of two spiral galaxies. IC 563 and IC 564, collectively known as Arp 303, are more than 275 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Sextans.

An image was created using data from two separate Hubble observations of Arp 303. The first observation used Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) to study the pair’s star-forming regions in infrared light. Galaxy clusters such as IC 563 and IC 564 are very bright at infrared wavelengths and show many bright star-forming regions.

Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) was used to observe bright, interesting galaxies in the sky for the second time. Hubble, the James Webb Telescope, and other telescopes will examine these new observations to find promising candidates for further study, and they will fill gaps in Hubble’s archive.

The recent discoveries helped Hubble fill in the gaps in its archive of potential materials to analyze further with Hubble, the James Webb Telescope, and other telescopes.

The Hubble Telescope also recently captured a stunning image of a giant elliptical galaxy that’s more than 2.5 times the size of our own Milky Way galaxy, which is located approximately 100 million light-years from Earth.

India and China are to collaborate soon in space after a joint commission on space cooperation for the Brics bloc was formed at a meeting of the leading space agencies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, on Wednesday, as reported by official Chinese media.

The BRICS remote sensing constellation will include six existing satellites chipped in by the space agencies of Brics countries including the CBERS-4, a combined development by Brazil and China, Russia’s Kanopus-V-type, and China’s Gaofen-6 and Ziyuan III 02. The Indian satellites Resourcesat-2 and 2A will be part of the “virtual constellation of remote sensing satellites”.

The video meeting held on Wednesday, among the leaders of the four-space agencies, is a sign of progress in the agreement for cooperation in remote sensing satellite data sharing signed in August 2021 under India’s chairship of BRICS. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) stated in August last year that This would “contribute to strengthening multilateral cooperation among Brics space agencies in meeting the challenges faced by mankind, such as global climate change, major disasters, and environmental protection”.

The official Chinese report on the meeting did not provide a date or schedule for when the virtual satellite constellation will start functioning.

US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met on Monday in Tokyo and put forward their plans of working together to help a Japanese astronaut, accompanied by a US cosmonaut, to set foot on the lunar surface. The long-term allies aim to strengthen their partnership to combat China, which asserts to become a space power soon.

The two countries released a joint statement stating to work together on human and robotic missions on the Moon including a cumulative desire to see a Japanese astronaut on the surface of the moon in the near future and sign a contract for the same this year. It also said that both countries are committed to expanding the Artemis collaboration- a US-backed initiative to return astronauts to the moon and in due course send humans to Mars.

Biden said at a press conference that he was excited about the US-Japan space collaboration taking wings,  eyeing the Moon and Mars. Both countries are looking to establish close ties on space exploration after a warning issued by NASA officials regarding the flaring tension between the capitals of both countries. More than 12 Japanese nationals have travelled to space so far and the country’s space budget rose to 450 billion Yen in 2021.

On Friday, May 20, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft docked at the International Space Station’s Harmony module for the first time at 8:28 p.m. EDT (5:28 p.m. (PDT).

A day before, On May 19, the spacecraft was launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on a flight test at 6:45 pm to the International Space Station from Space Launch Complex-42 at Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

NASA schedules a teleconference to update Starliner’s progress that will be streamed on NASA’s official website. The hatch opening will be done on Saturday and coverage will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app and on the agency’s website.

The departure of the Starliner is scheduled for Wednesday, May 25. It will be undocked and return back on Earth with a desert landing in the western U.S. More than 600 pounds of cargo will be aboard the spacecraft, including reusable Nitrogen Oxygen Recharge System tanks that provide breathable air to station crew members. A future flight will return the refurbished tanks to the space station.

A crew of four members will be aboard Starliner later to increase the amount of science and research that can be performed in the orbiting laboratory.

On Tuesday, a two-seater flying trainer aircraft HANSA-NG successfully completed an in-flight engine relight test. Designed and developed by CSIR-NAL the aircraft was ferried to DRDO’s Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) facility at Challakere on May 16 after DGCA’s approval.

The flight test was carried out by Aircraft and System Testing Establishment’s (ASTE) test pilots Wg Cdr K V Prakash and Wg Cdr NDS Reddy which was monitored by Abbani Rinku, Project Director of HANSA along with the design team of CSIR-NAL and ASTE crew- Wg Cdr Senthil Kumar, Flight Test Director, Sq Ldr Sahil Sarin, safety pilot and Gp Capt M Rangachari, Chief Test Pilot.

NAL disclosed in a release that the test was carried out at an altitude of 7000-8000 feet with a speed range of 60 to 70 knots. A windmilling propeller and starter assisted start was used to demonstrate the aircraft’s in-flight relight capability. During this test flight, the aircraft’s handling characteristics and flight parameters were found to be normal.

According to CSIR-NAL, the in-flight engine relight test is considered one of the most critical and crucial milestones toward the certification of the aircraft by DGCA.

On Friday, four astronauts were brought home by SpaceX with a midnight splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

The crew consisted of three U.S. astronauts and one German. Within 24 hours of leaving the International Space Station, they were bogging off the coast of Florida near Tampa. NASA demanded them back in Houston later in the morning.

Before saying their goodbyes to the seven astronauts remaining aboard the station, NASA’s Raja Chari, NASA’s Tom Marshburn, NASA’s Kayla Barron and ESA’s Matthias Maurer embraced each other. Mr Maurer said, “It’s the end of a six-month mission, but I think the space dream lives on”. Following a charter flight to the station for three businessmen, SpaceX brought up their American and Italian replacements last week.

After decades of resistance, the newly returned astronauts said the three visitors and an ex-astronaut escort who visited the station in April were a highlight of their mission.

Two crew launches and two splashdowns within a month. In less than two years since Musk started ferrying NASA astronauts, his company has launched 26 people into orbit. Among them, eight were space tourists.

There are three Russians, three Americans and one Italian up on the space station.

On Monday, the US government allocated more than $3 billion in infrastructure funding to finance electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing. The US Department of Energy will allocate these funds from the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that was signed by President Biden last year.

By 2030, Biden wants half of all new vehicles to be electronic, with an aim to boost unionized manufacturing jobs in important election battleground states, fend off Chinese competition in a fast-growing market, and cut climate-changing carbon emissions. Moreover, the administration is positioning the measures as a means to cut the long-term inflation pressures caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

However, these funds will not be used to develop new domestic mines to supply lithium, nickel, cobalt and other high-demand minerals needed for batteries. To support the mining and processing of those minerals, Biden invoked the Cold War-era Defense Production Act in March.

Biden’s national climate adviser Gina McCarthy said, “These resources are about battery supply chain, which includes producing, recycling critical minerals without new extraction or mining”.

These fundings are said to help establish and retrofit battery factories. Additionally, the infrastructure law allocates billions of dollars to purchase electric buses and install chargers for electric vehicles.